Courtesy Call on Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda from Mr. Taleb D. Rifai, Secretary-General of the World Tourism Organization

On Tuesday, October 4, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda received a courtesy call from Mr. Taleb D. Rifai, Secretary-General of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), at the Prime Minister's Office. The overview of the meeting is as follows.

1. At the start of the meeting, Prime Minister Noda expressed his gratitude for assistance extended by UNWTO following the Great East Japan Earthquake, as well as his resolve to steadily promote Japan as a tourism nation.
2. Prime Minister Noda also said that he will work at information communication so that more foreign tourists will visit Japan, noting that there are a number of attractive places to visit, especially in the countryside.
3.  In response, Secretary-General Rifai said that UNWTO is prepared to support to Japan as a tourism destination in increasing the number of foreign tourists visiting the country, while continuing its support toward reviving Japan’s tourist industry following the Great East Japan Earthquake, in cooperation with the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC).

 * The foregoing is a provisional translation. The date indicated above denotes the date of issue of the original press release in Japanese.