ĐÀ NẴNG — The central coastal city of Đà Nẵng and the Japanese software company Digital Ship have teamed up to build a Japanese-English website called "Happy Đà Nẵng" aimed at boosting Japanese tourism in central Việt Nam.

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

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

Đà Nẵng officially launched a direct air route connecting Đà Nẵng 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 Đà Nẵng 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.

Đà Nẵng and Japan will start construction of the first Việt Nam-Japan Culture Exchange Park in Ngũ Hành Sơn District later this month, and they will reserve a 134ha industrial park for medium and small-size businesses from Japan. — VNS