Korea, China and Japan on Sept. 11 adopted a joint statement at their trilateral summit of tourism ministers in Kobe, Japan, with (from left) Chinese Vice Minister of Culture and Tourism Zhang Zheng, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Yu In Chon and Japanese Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Tetsuo Saito. (Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism)

By Gil Kyuyoung

Korea, China and Japan have agreed to raise the annual scale of human exchange among the three countries to 40 million people by 2030.

Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Yu In Chon, Japanese Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Tetsuo Saito, and Chinese Vice Minister of Culture and Tourism Zhang Zheng from Sept. 10-11 attended their 10th trilateral summit of tourism ministers in Kobe, Japan, and adopted a joint statement containing the announcement.

This was their first such gathering in five years since their ninth in August 2019 in Incheon. The dialogue had been postponed due to reasons such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ministers discussed cooperation in three areas: swift recovery of trilateral tourism exchange after the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of sustainable tourism and stimulation of tourism in provincial regions.

They set a joint goal of raising the scale of human exchange among the three nations from 30 million to 40 million by 2030 and pledged specific cooperation to fulfill this objective.

The ministers also agreed to raise cooperation to attract tourists from outside of Northeast Asia through joint projects such as consultations and seminars to promote trilateral tourism products to visitors from outside of the three nations.

"The three countries all face the joint problem of low birth rates and provincial extinction, and must make every effort to stimulate tourism in provincial areas to solve these national challenges," Minister Yu said. "We will alleviate concentration in select cities and seek balanced growth by expanding exchanges between provincial cities and diversifying interactive content and tourist routes."

On the morning of Sept. 12, Minister Yu held a bilateral summit with Vice Minister Zhang in Kyoto, Japan, on raising tourist convenience through promoting human exchange, expanding cooperation between the travel industries of both countries and jointly cracking down on low-cost products.

gilkyuyoung@korea.kr