Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga instructed government ministries Thursday to include "effective and bold" measures to lure more foreign tourists in their budget requests for fiscal 2017.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's administration has set a target of 40 million foreign visitors in 2020, when Tokyo hosts the Olympics.
Suga also asked officials to work harder to make the nation's less-traveled regions more attractive to visitors, for example by fixing up infrastructure.
Suga made the call during a meeting Thursday morning of a task force composed of senior officials from the Cabinet Secretariat and ministries tasked with executing the government's tourism strategy. The blueprint was drawn up in March.
"Having heard explanations today, I felt that from the visitors' perspective there are still many things we should do," Suga told reporters following the meeting.
He said the officials discussed the implementation of the strategy, which calls for getting more out of cultural properties and state-owned parks, improving transport such as railways and highway buses, and further opening up state guesthouses.
The officials also mulled providing more thorough multilingual guidance at cultural sites and extending the opening hours of art galleries nationwide.
More than 10 million foreign visitors entered the country in the first six months of this year, suggesting the total number for the year will top 20 million, sources said Tuesday.
The monthly figure hit a record 2.08 million in April amid increased flight routes, relaxed visa requirements and the expansion of tax-free goods.