The government has set a goal of increasing the number of visitors from Southeast Asia to 2 million in 2016, a 2.5-fold rise, according to the 2013 white paper on tourism adopted Tuesday.
To help meet the target, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Cabinet decided at a meeting the same day to waive visa requirements for tourists from Thailand and Malaysia and to permit the issuance of multiple-entry visas for Filipino and Vietnamese travelers, starting this summer.
The eased visa requirements for the fast-growing Southeast Asian nations are part of efforts to spur economic growth.