Tourism is a basic industry of the 21st century as well as one of the national strategic industries leading to culture. It is not only a high value-added industry with huge economic impact of income creation, job creation and foreign currency earnings but also a peaceful industry to extend mutual understandings by experiencing other cultures and history.
Through cultural and personal exchanges, tourism gives the opportunities to understand other histories, customs and arts one another and plays a major role in promoting peace. For those reasons, tourism is called as 'Passport toward peace'. Tourism which can link peace and economy is a cultural phenomenon representing the civilization of this century.
Recognizing these importance, Inter-Islands Tourism Policy Forum was founded in 1997 with the attendance of 4 provincial governments of Bali, Indonesia, Hainan, China, Okinawa, Japan and Jeju, South Korea led by Jeju. This Forum is aimed at exploring the world tourism market jointly by bring together islands that have cultural sympathy and similar tourism structure and policy. This forum has become 11 member countries and 3 observer countries.
This organization is a consultative body of regional government for consulting and supporting common tourism policies.