The extra efforts would better meet the demands of Japanese visitors, a promising market, said the department director Dinh Hai.

These localities are home to well-known heritage sites such as Hue, Hoi An and My Son, and special festivals like the Hue Festival, the Quang Nam Festival – Heritage Journey and the Danang International Fireworks Festival.

However, they have failed to attract large numbers of Japanese tourists. Out of 2.1 million foreign travellers to the three localities last year, Japanese visitors only made up 4%.

Iijima Yukichika, former director of Yokohama Bay Sheraton Hotel&Towers, Yokohama, Japan, emphasised the need for an adequate understanding of the travel expectations and habits of Japanese visitors in order to develop suitable tourism products.

Work commitments for many Japanese people could affect their travel habits. They tended to limit their travel to a maximum of one week at a time, said Yukichika.

Yoshiaki Noguchi, chairman of the board of HRI Institute Co, called on stronger links among hotels and restaurants to create a greater attraction for visitors from the entire region. Only with this co-operation could they work to improve the quality of tourism products, he said.

One hundred giant posters showing images of the Vietnamese countryside and people will be hung in 45 Tokyo subway stations this year, according to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT).

Nguyen Thi Thanh Huong, Deputy Director of Department of Market under VNAT, said that in addition to the subway ads, Vietnam would also hang a big poster at the Vietnamese consulate in Osaka.

Vietnam welcomed about 147,000 Japanese visitors in the first four months of this year, a 14% year on year increase, according to VNAT statistics.