Japanese authorities now want to tap this soft power for tourism, amid an ambitious drive by the Abe administration to double burgeoning foreign tourist arrivals to 40 million by 2020. [...] The association, working with industry members and local governments, wants to create a whole suite of services and products, from shuttle buses to merchandising, to boost the experience for visitors - and bring in the yen.
 

Sitting on both ends of Asia, China and Turkey have voiced their readiness to revive the ancient Silk Road, along which the links are expected to extend from China to Central Asia and the Middle East, and then on to Europe via Turkey. In China, President Xi Jinping put forth the Belt and Road initiative three years ago, seeking to connect trading partners along the ancient Silk Road through land and sea routes.

A stroll around the UAE section at the recent World Travel Market (WTM) in London confirms the country’s tourism industry is in rude health. Every booth, table and VIP area of each opulent stand was occupied, with Emirati representatives in deep discussions with tourism professionals from all over the world. [...] While Dubai and, more recently Abu Dhabi, have both become firmly placed on the international tourism map, the country’s smaller emirates are also pushing to attract more overseas visitors, as evidenced by their presence at the WTM.

The video, running 48 to 120 times each day from Nov 14 to Nov 28, is a prelude to the launching of the closing ceremony of the 2016 China-US Tourism Year and a grand event with 5,000 Chinese tourists visiting the US in Washing DC and other parts of the United States in late November

To Nicholas Bonner, North Korea, or the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), is not as isolated as most outsiders believe. Bonner, who runs Koryo Tours in Beijing and offers Westerners trips to North Korea, believes that engagement with North Koreans is an important way to connect the country with the rest of the world, through travel, sports, art and films.

Branding consultancies have developed methods to estimate the value of global product brands and regularly publish rankings based on those estimates. I teamed up with US News & World Report and WPP’s BAV Consulting on the “Best Countries” study to measure nation brands—and how nations’ brands affect their economies.

Veteran film journalist Esin Kucuktepepinar had just arrived back in Turkey after attending the Tokyo International Film Festival when she spoke by phone to Al-Monitor on Nov. 3 from the Istanbul airport. During the interview, she offered her impressions on the success of Turkish TV soap opera series. “Interest in Turkish series is growing everywhere,”