After more than two years of closed border policies, Japan is set to welcome international travelers this week.
Come June 10, foreign tourists traveling on a packaged tour can enter Japan.
However, the government’s priority still lies in boosting domestic tourism numbers, said Tadashi Shimura, president of the Japan Association of Travel Agents.
According to Jata, even before the pandemic, domestic tourism contributed far more to Japan’s overall GDP than foreign tourism.
tourist number
Overall tourism contributed 28 trillion yen ($211 billion) to Japan’s economy in 2019, with about 80% – or 22 trillion yen – coming from domestic tourists, according to a Japan Tourism Agency reports.
The JTA said that despite an increase in Covid cases in 2021, tourism spending from those living in Japan still managed to bring in 9.2 trillion yen.
Nevertheless, it is still important to boost international arrivals in Japan, especially for the highly affected hospitality, transportation and travel sectors, Shimura said.
During a webinar on June 1, Ejaz Ahmed, a research analyst with the Economist Intelligence Unit, said Japan welcomed around 32 million foreign visitors in 2019 and was on track to achieve its target of 40 million in 2022.
However, the pandemic caused a sharp drop in arrival numbers, and there were only 250,000 foreign visitors in 2021, government data previously showed.
Japan has “lost about 10 trillion yen over the past two years” because of the loss of international travelers, Shimura said, averaging 4.3 per capita per year in the form of spending from international students and long-term foreign residents. million yen was brought in. a report by Nomura Research Institute,
Travel agencies in Japan are gearing up for the return of tourists with packaged tours to famous destinations across the country.
All Japan Tours It has six tour packages, including the “Golden Route Japan Tour,” which takes participants on an eight-day tour of Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto for $2,698.
What are the rules?
According to the Japan National Tourism Organization, the daily limit on arrivals of visitors – which includes Japanese nationals and returning foreign residents – doubled from 10,000 to 20,000 on June 1.
local report There are indications the government may raise the limit to 30,000 people in July.
Still, Shimura said, those limits are too low, because the country is “140,000.” used to welcome [visitors] Everyday.”
Countries are classified into three categories – blue, red and yellow – and travelers may be subject to additional restrictions depending on where they are coming from. Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan,
Travelers from 98 countries and territories – including the United States, the United Kingdom, Singapore and China – fall under the “blue” category and are not required to be tested on arrival or quarantined or vaccinated to enter.
Travelers from any of the 99 countries in the “yellow” category are also exempted from testing and quarantine on arrival if they have had three doses of an approved COVID-19 vaccination. Countries such as India, Vietnam and Sri Lanka are included in this category.
Those arriving from “red” countries such as Fiji, Pakistan and Sierra Leone will be required to be tested on arrival and quarantined for a period of three to seven days.
