VisitBritain has formed an alliance with its Japanese counterpart which will see the national tourism body’s experience of successfully marketing London 2012 utilised in the build-up to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Recently at the British Chamber of Commerce in Tokyo, VisitBritain chair Christopher Rodrigues and president of Japan National Tourism Organisation (JNTO) Ryoichi Matsuyama, signed a memorandum of understanding committing both countries to the mutual exchange of tourism experience and information.

The MoU sees VisitBritain and JNTO team up to increase the number of visitors travelling between the two countries. In anticipation of the Tokyo Games, JNTO will promote Japan to overseas visitors, drawing on first-hand information and experiences shared by VisitBritain, which capitalised on the hosting of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games to boost inbound tourism to record levels.

The first project was a Japan-UK tourism symposium, Growth Strategy for Tourism, Making the Best Use of the Olympic and Paralympic Games held in London on 2 October at the Japanese Embassy, with further events to follow shortly.

“2013 was a record year for British tourism and we didn’t experience a drop in Olympic year either,” said VisitBritain’s Rodrigues.

“This agreement with our friends at JNTO will enable us to pass on invaluable knowledge and help deliver a lasting tourism legacy for Japanese tourism.”

The ‘Land of the Rising Sun’ has set its sights on attracting 20 million tourists a year in time for the 2020 Games.Last year Japan increased the number of inbound tourists from five million in 2003 to 10 million in 2013, which included 192,000 Brits – a 10 per cent increase on the previous year.