Kozaburo Yazawa, manager of Digital Ship and the owner of a Japanese restaurant in Da Nang, said the website will provide tourism information about the Japanese community in Hoi An and Da Nang.

Most Japanese don’t know anything about Da Nang and Hội An, he added. But as the two cities host this year’s annual Vietnam-Japan Culture Exchange Festival, the time is ripe to spread the word.

Da Nang officially launched a direct air route connecting Da Nang to Tokyo’s Narita airport with seven flights a week. A direct flight to Osaka will soon be launched with four flights a week.

According to the municipal Culture, Sports and Tourism Department, the city hosted 4.6 million tourists last year, of whom 1.25 million were foreigners.

The number of Japanese tourists visiting Da Nang has rapidly doubled: 66,000 Japanese visited the city in 2015.

The city is home to 160 Japanese investors and 37 company representatives, with a total investment of US$500 million.

Japanese investment projects create 40,000 jobs for the city and neighbouring provinces.

Da Nang and Japan will start construction of the first Vietnam-Japan Culture Exchange Park in Ngu Hanh Son District later this month, and they will reserve a 134ha industrial park for medium and small-size businesses from Japan. 

VNS