The Transport Ministry will implement a tourism promotion plan beginning April 2001 that aims to increase visitors from 4.44 million to 8 million by around 2007, ministry officials said Tuesday.

The ministry is now discussing program details with relative parties from the tourism industry, which will jointly submit a recommendation to the ministry at the end of the month, the officials said.

The ministry, which is in charge of tourism promotion, is currently implementing Welcome Plan 21, aimed at promoting travel to Japan.

Welcome Plan 21 includes advertising campaigns and discounts for foreign tourists as well as tourist information services.

It aims to increase foreign tourists to around 7 million in 2005.

The new initiative will be designed to accelerate this existing plan, the ministry said.

In addition, the new initiative will be tailored to specific countries' needs, such as the strong interests of South Koreans in urban life and trends in Japan, a ministry official said.

"We'll focus on marketing. Interests of Asian tourists and those from Europe and America are totally different," he said, adding that ads and promotion campaigns have tended to emphasize traditional Japanese culture, which appeals more to Westerners.

Some in the tourist industry, however, doubt that even the current 2005 target of 7 million can be met. The ministry is now discussing a realistic target under the new initiative, the official said.

According to the Japan National Tourist Organization, foreign tourists to Japan hit a record high of 4.44 million in 1999, an 8.1 percent rise from the previous year.

Tourists from Asian countries posted an 11.5 percent year-on-year increase to 2.83 million in 1999, recovering from the slump which ensued after the Asian currency crisis of 1997, JNTO said.