Mr. Yamashita : I would like to express my gratitude to you all for giving up your time to participate in this symposium. Today's symposium features international tourism exchange through travel and it has been organized with the assistance of the Ministry of Transport, Osaka Prefecture and the World Tourism Organization (WTO). I would like to express my special thanks in advance to Mr. Wada, who is Director General of the Tourism Department for the Ministry of Transport, for his contribution to this symposium.
The Asia-Pacific Tourism Exchange Center is an organization which was established last September and is supported by the Ministry of Transport. Osaka Prefecture and other local governments and related bodies. Last year the WTO Regional Support Office for Asia and the Pacific opened as the second international institute in the Kansai region, and our center has been developing various activities to support it and promote tourism exchange with the countries in the Asia-Pacific region. Last year we hosted the WTO Asia-Pacific Regional Committee conference, the first time it has been held in Japan. Within this convention we also co-sponsored various successful activities here in Osaka, such as the International Tourism Symposium and Tourism Exposition. Our sponsorship partner was the WTO and I am very grateful for the generous support and assistance that has been extended to us.
This year we are preparing to sponsor, jointly with the WTO and UNESCO, an international forum on the Silk Road which will be held in Nara and we plan to call upon the participation of related countries. We have also formulated a five-year program and sent working parties to various areas along the Silk Road in a place which is a precious cultural heritage site for mankind. Other center activities include running a contest for academic researchers writing theses on tourism, establishing tourism as a science, as well as sponsoring various seminars and symposiums.
Today's symposium has been designed to pro-mote tourism exchange in the Asia-Pacific region, which is one of our targets, and we have invited guest speakers from both Japan and abroad. Prior to the symposium, we had requested cooperation from the local governments in the Kansai region in the completion of a postal questionnaire, the results of which will tie in with the theme of today's symposium.
As shown in the material, the questionnaire revealed that international tourism exchange is an issue of great concern to all local governments. At present the number of foreign tourists to Japan is very small in comparison with the number of Japanese tourists going abroad, creating an imbalance from the viewpoint of international tourism exchange. Therefore, the Ministry of Transport's recent announcement concerning the "Welcome Plan 21," a scheme to double the number of for-deign tourists to Japan within the next 10 years, is very timely.
With a keynote speech motivating us to ponder over the origin of travel and a panel discussion covering successful case studies of overseas countries as well as tourism strategies in the Kansai region, this symposium consists of distinguished speakers from various fields and we expect it to be a very successful forum. I would appreciate it if the coordinator could conclude the symposium with a brief summary of the most important suggestions for future improvement.
We at the Asia-Pacific Tourism Exchange Center intend to enhance international tourism exchange through a variety of projects. I would like to conclude with wishing for your continuous support and cooperation. Thank you.
