Kerala Tourism made its foray into the vast outbound tourism market of Japan, holding a first-time road show in Tokyo.

As many as 55 leading trade participants from the Japanese travel and tourism industry participated in the road show held on Monday, a release said in Japan.

The road show follows the assurance given by the Japanese government to support the state in promoting tourism during the meeting between Kerala Tourism Secretary G Kamala Vardhana Rao and Japan's Ambassador to India, Takeshi Yagi, in New Delhi on Oct 6.

"As the world's third largest economy, Japan is a very important market for us," state Tourism Minister A P Anil Kumar said.

"After the 2009 global financial meltdown, Japan has been on the path of recovery with increased employment and income in the recent years," he added.

This is the first time Kerala Tourism has organised a road show in Japan though the state tourism department had taken part in the biggest travel and trade show in Japan, JATA Tourism Expo, in the last two years.

"The road show in Tokyo is a significant step for us to position our state as a top destination for Japanese travellers as well as a MICE destination for CEOs of its major companies to conduct meetings and conferences," he said.

The Kerala Tourism delegation was led by Additional Director (General) Anupama T V, who made a detailed presentation about the tourism products at the road show.

"There was an enthusiastic response to the road show from the Japanese industry," she said.

"Japan is certainly going to be big market for Kerala Tourism in the future," Anupama said adding products like Ayurveda treatment packages came in for special attention at the road show.

Tourist arrivals from Japan have witnessed a 25 per cent growth in the last five years. The number of Japanese tourists to Kerala last year was 8,785.

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