On February 13, the Japanese government and the Myanmar government jointly co-hosted the ASEM Symposium on Promoting Tourism in Yangon, Myanmar, which will chair ASEM (＊) Foreign Ministers’ meeting this year.

This symposium aims to improve the connectivity within the ASEM region from the viewpoint of promoting tourism, following the first seminar, which was held in Tokyo in September 2015.

In the symposium, Professor Yasuhiro Watanabe (Tourism) from Obirin University delivered a keynote speech, focusing on the importance of marketing of tourism promotion, showing concrete examples such as branding and utilization of the world heritage. During the question and answer session, attendees exchanged their views from the viewpoint of attracting inbound tourists to Myanmar.

The seminar was attended by approximately 150 people from public and private sectors engaged in tourism of both Myanmar and Japan, including U Ohn Myint, Deputy Director-General from Ministry of Hotels and Tourism and diplomatic delegation from ASEM members.

(＊) The Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) consists of 51 countries and 2 institutional members from the Asian side (21 countries and 1 institution) and the Europe side (30 countries and 1 organization). Based on the spirit of respect and equality, we aim to strengthen cooperative relations between Asia and Europe, and we are undertaking various activities based on the three pillars of political, economic and society and culture etc.