Most tourist destinations are returning to normal and the big cities such as Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto are pulling out all the stops to welcome tourists back.

Japanese authorities are offering promotional campaigns to stimulate the country’s tourism sector. According to an article in Lonely Planet Magazine, the world’s big airlines are offering promotion programs and discount airfares for flights to Japan.

Many tourists are still worried about radiation fears. However, American experts, the U.K. government and the World Health Organization have said tourists will have no problems in the country as long as they are at least 80 kilometers from the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant which is 240km from capital city Tokyo.

On June 25, Ben Thanh Tourist will kickstart their tours to Japan with an eight-day package trip to Tokyo, Owakudani, Kyoto, Nagoya and many other cities for US$2,250/guest.

TST Tourist expects to restart Japanese tours in June or July while Samurai Tours will make a fact-finding trip to the country and “if everything is good, we will reopen these tours in July,” Tran Thanh Hanh, tour operation manager of Samurai Tours, said.

Japan is a key market to Vietnam’s tourism sector. In 2010, arrivals from Japan to Vietnam numbered 440,000 and brought substantial revenue to the local tourism market.

Vietravel will reopen a seven-day trip to Tokyo-Mount Fuji-Nagoya-Kyoto-Osaka, departing from HCMC on June 26 and July 17 and priced at VND45 million, a discount of VND8 million compared to the pre-disaster period. A similar tour on June 16 departs from Hanoi at VND38 million per person. (Source: SGT)