Tokyo, June 10 (BNA): Japan on Friday eased its limits for foreign tourists and began accepting visa applications, but only for those on guided tours who want to follow mask-wearing and other anti-virus measures as the country cautiously tries to balance work and infection concerns.
Friday is the first day to begin procedures for entry and arrivals, and it is not expected until late June at the earliest, although immigration and quarantine offices at the airport were standing by for any potential arrivals, the Associated Press reports.
The Japan Tourism Agency says tours have been accepted from 98 countries and regions, including the United States, Britain, China, South Korea, Thailand and Singapore, which are considered to have a low infection risk.
The partial resumption of international tourism to Japan that was halted during the coronavirus pandemic is being implemented under guidelines based on an experiment conducted in late May.
About 50 participants took part in it, mostly employees of tour agencies from Australia, Singapore, Thailand and the United States.
In one case, a four-member group tour was canceled when a participant tested positive for COVID-19 after arriving in Japan.
“We expect the resumption of incoming tourism to help stimulate the local economy,” Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Minister Tetsuo Saito told reporters on Friday.
“We will continue to make efforts to restore tourism demand while balancing infection control measures with social and economic activities.”
Under the guidelines, participants are required to wear face masks most of the time and purchase insurance to cover medical costs should they contract COVID-19.
The rules do not specify a maximum number of people in one group, but the tour guides must be present throughout the tour.
Japan began easing restrictions earlier this year. On June 1, it doubled the daily intake limit to 20,000 people per day, including Japanese citizens, foreign students and some business travelers.
The daily limit will include package tour participants for now, and officials say it will take some time before foreign visitors can come to Japan for free solo tourism.
Japan-based business groups representing the Group of Seven and the European Union, in a joint statement on Friday, welcomed Japan’s gradual resumption of foreign tourism, but called on the government to “further facilitate border control procedures to facilitate an environment in which people and goods dominate, money and digital technologies can move freely, thus promoting Japan’s economic growth.”
They called on Japan to follow the lead of other G7 countries and resume individual tourism, cancel tests at airports, raise daily entry ceilings and resume international flights at more than a dozen regional airports.
Japan’s domestic tourism business has remained dormant during the pandemic, and although the country welcomes and spends tourists, contagion fears linger among Japanese, especially in popular tourist destinations.
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