Editor's note: China, Japan and South Korea are focusing on tourism industry development. The following are statements submitted by the nations' top tourism executives.

Shao Qiwei, chairman of China National Tourism Administration

The development of tourism should go hand in hand with global environmental protection.

Tourism is an environmentally-friendly and resource-conserving industry. Thus we should always underline the need for an efficient tourism industry that can make contributions to the betterment of the environment.

The proper development of tourism resources, discussion of key environmental issues, education of tourism operators, expanded detailed communication and promotion of green tourism are all on the agenda.

Our objective is that by 2020, all the tourism attractions in China - including hotels and resorts - will reduce carbon emissions by 20 percent.

Nowadays, tourism services face greater challenges. In order to promote innovative services, we should recast the development pattern of tourism.

To be specific, we would enhance the criteria of tourism employees, reinforce their communication and training, encourage more interaction between media and the tourism industry, simplify visa application procedures, refine security and crisis management, and protect the lives and property of citizens.

China, Japan and South Korea are all abundant in tourism resources. Therefore, we should work together to explore new development models in which all tourism attractions can share cultural, sports, transportation, and communication resources.

The government will also buttress the development of such rising industries as tourism equipment manufacturing and souvenir manufacturing.

We expect that the three of us can be the pacemaker that will further boost growth of the tourism industry in East Asia.

In 2009, 160 million tourists came to East Asia, accounting for 18 percent of the world's total and 88 percent of Asia-Pacific area totals, according to UN statistics. Data show that by 2015, the number of visitors in China, Japan, and South Korea is expected to hit 2.6 million.

Recent years have seen more and more contact between the three nations, including events like the Shanghai Expo, the Guangzhou Asian Games, and the 2012 Yeosu Expo.

We suggest that each nation should give a hand whenever a global event is held, in order to promote East Asia tourism.

Meanwhile, since we are neighbors with many coterminous areas, we should perfect the communication mechanism that will benefit both local and central governments.

Maehara Seiji, minister of Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Japan

Japan has pledged to reduce its carbon emissions by 25 percent by 2020. The Japanese government over recent years has been working to accelerate the development of eco-tourism by promoting mass transit and reducing the emission of green house gases.

This can be seen in the development path of Yakushima, a world natural heritage site in Japan. The local government, in cooperation with local enterprises and tourism professionals, has established an organization to raise awareness of eco-tourism.

Japan looks to tourism as one of its key factors in economic growth and has established special departments to better allocate tourism resources and attract more foreign travelers.

China, South Korea and Japan should set up a mechanism to share information that affects tourism, and foster closer cooperation. Sports, culture and other social sectors also may become resources for tourism in the days to come.

More to the point, we have to entice regular travelers by improving our service. Now, complaints about souvenirs and accommodation facilities are often heard; we have to face the facts and solve those problems at an early date. The tourism industry also has to intensify its crack down on crimes committed during traveling.

We should aspire to a goal of an annual exchange of 26 million visitors among our countries by 2015.

To achieve such an ambitious goal, we have segmented the overall plan. In addition, we have to advance personnel exchanges to better our mutual understanding. Japan is ready to help cement the links between the parties.

Japan has been working to deal with complaints of Chinese travelers, as evidenced by the introduction of Chinese satellite TV programs in Japanese hotels. What is more, we are planning to expand the use of bank cards in Chinese Unionpay system across Japan.

More efforts are to be taken on our side. The air transport agreement will be amended so that Korean and Chinese visitors will have easier access to Hokkaido - where the Chinese romantic movie, If You Are the One, was shot.

Recently, Japan has lowered entry requirements for Chinese visitors to Japan. More steps will be taken in regards to visa regulation, including law amendment. We will run the currently expanded visa system for a whole year and then conduct a progress check.

Cross-border traveling is crucial to advancing understanding between different countries and fostering a lasting peace. In the past, when talking about global traveling, we referred to the European and American markets. But now, things have changed.

Northeast Asia, led by China, Japan and Korea, is embracing a new wave of tourism exchange. It means much to each party when we hold regular conferences and discuss tourism growth.

The Japanese government is always ready to share winning results with its neighboring countries.

Yoo In-Chon, minister of Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, South Korea

China, Japan and South Korea all have gone through major climate changes resulting in untold damage.

The international community, especially professionals in the tourism industry, should share information and establish a mechanism for closer cooperation in dealing with global environmental issues. Such a mechanism is badly needed by all.

In addition, China, Japan and South Korean should pay more attention to the protection of cultural heritage while developing eco-friendly tourism.

We have to profitably share experience in tourism development so as to embrace a new age in north-east Asia.

When discussing how to facilitate multilateral exchanges, we have to bring together travel agencies, hotels and other tourism-related industries to chart a course for growth.

In addition, governmental and student exchanges help to foster more efficient cooperation. Development requires hard work from all parties.

The growing exchanges among China, Japan and South Korea also constitute a sensible basis for further efforts to cooperate in the tourism industry.

South Korea has changed its visa regulations for Chinese visitors and is working to simplify the procedures to meet the needs of a majority of travelers, if not all.

Improvement can be seen in the food supply, accommodation facilities, mass transit and other fields. We are ready to solve any problems arising among the Chinese travelers.

It is estimated that by 2020, the number of global travelers will reach 220 million. In reaction to such a growing trend, China, Japan and South Korea are working to expand our cooperation.

But we still need more action on the ground, despite the fact that the previous goal of 17 million tourist intervisitations will be reached this year.

Efforts should be taken to improve the professional skills of staff in the tourism industry. They should receive systematic and high-level training. We also have to coordinate complaint settlement procedures.

More significantly, we have to cast our nets far and wide. We have to share our tourism products with travelers from Europe and America to project a global image.

(China Daily 08/27/2010 page7)