Russian, Japanese representatives discussing development of tourism

The problems and prospects of developing Russian-Japanese cooperation in tourism are on the agenda of the joint session that opened on Thursday in Khabarovsk, a Russian city in the Far East.

The Japanese delegation gave the following figures at the session. In 2000, 18 million Japanese went for a tourist trip abroad, only 30,000 of them were to Russia. "For an average Japanese citizen Russia and its Far East are almost unknown as travelling districts," said the head of the delegation, Noriaki Hori.

The session discussed a number of routes that could be interesting for Japanese tourists. Among them is a national park near Khabarovsk, where Amur tigers live and more than 100 rare plants can be found.

The participants agreed that the development of tourist exchange was profitable for both countries.