From tomorrow, September 7, Japan will permit significantly more foreign tourists as it continues to relax its Covid-19 border controls. People on non-guided group tours will be allowed into the country for the first time since the pandemic began, as Bloomberg reports.
This restriction change will increase the daily entry cap to 50,000 people, from its current 20,000 limit. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida also said he wanted to eventually loosen border restrictions to the same level as other industrialised nations, hoping to ease restrictions to spark an influx of visits from people taking advantage of a weak yen.
However, the announcement made by Kishida stated how individual tourists will still not be permitted. The high bar for entering the country with regards to visa restrictions also looks set to remain having stopped visa waivers during the pandemic, with British passport holders needing to apply to the Japanese Consulate-General for a visa in advance.
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Those visiting as part of a non-guided package tour must still follow travel agencies’ itineraries. Following the trend set by the banning of individual tourists, individuals will not be allowed to depart the group and explore on their own under the relaxed rules.
The Japanese PM also said that the requirement to show a negative Covid-19 result upon entering the country would be scrapped for visitors who have received three doses of the vaccine.
Japan has taken longer to ease its Coronavirus restrictions than many of its tourism-hotspot counterparts. Limited numbers of people were being allowed into the country from June earlier this year, permitting they were following strict rules such as wearing a face mask and being part of a package tour.
Kishida’s government is faced with the challenge of recovering its foreign visitor numbers to the pre-pandemic heights of 31.9 million throughout 2019. Japan had just 246,000 foreign visitors last year, and the latest relaxation in the rules hopes to go some way to making a recovery.
According to the Japan Tourism Agency, foreigners spent 120 billion yen in 2021, 40 times less than in 2019 when 4.8 trillion yen was spent. The impact of Kishida’s announcement was immediately felt by tourism companies, as tourism-related shares began to rise, including Japan Airlines Co. whose stocks rose by 3.4%.
All the foreign travel advice for British holidaymakers visiting Japan can be found on the government website.
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