Chapter　7　 Promotion of Tourism and Recreation

1.　Promotion of Tourism

　 　Tourism contributes greatly to the revitalization of regional economies, realization of a relaxed way of life and furtherance of international mutual understanding. In view of this, the Ministry of Transport, in a bid to promote tourism further toward the 21st century, is now exerting endeavors such as promoting "Tourism Action Program in the Nineties"(TAP90's) helding the "Tourism Development and Promotion Conferences", improving resort areas, consolidating the "New Sites of Discovery" (new international tourism areas) program and promoting international conventions (Table 11). In this way, the ministry is carrying out tourism promotion measures systematically on a comprehensive basis. Again, in accordance with the "Ten Million Program"(Program for Doubling Japanese Tourist Going Abroad) formulated to ecourage overseas travel by many more Japanese people, the ministry has revised relevant measures to improve the safety of Japanese travelers abroad and to enable people to enjoy long-term vacations, thereby aggressively pushing forward with measures based on the Ten Million Program, in close cooperation with the private sector. The numner of Japanese tourists going abroad in 1988 reached to 8,430,000 increased by 23.4 percent compared with previous year, in part because the yen's appreciation in recent years has made overseas trip less expensive for Japanese.

2.　Promotion of Marine Recreation

　 　In response to growing demand for marine recreation, the Ministry of Transport is pushing ahead with various measures to promote marine reaction in accordance with the "Marine '99 Plan," formulated in July 1988 concerning the improvement of infrastructures for marine recreation, while, at the same time, ensuring that such activities are safe on the basis of the following five pillars:
(1) Upgrading functions for the berthing of pleasure boats;
(2) Creation of more attractive waterfront space;
(3) Securing of safety;
(4) Bolstering of information supply systems; and
(5) Response to demand for cruising.
　 　In recent years, the number of Japanese traveling overseas has registered a remarkable increase. Against this background, the number of Japanese going abroad by sea has also increased over the past several years. At present, Japanese shipping companies plan to build ocean-going passenger ships to serve the regular passenger routes that have been opened to link Japan and neighboring countries, hence increases in the number of Japanese traveling by sea are expected, and there is a need to study steps to ensure the safety of shipping operations and protect passengers from possible accidents in view of the progress of sea travel (Table 12).