Japan scraps COVID border controls, implements domestic travel subsidy program

Agencies —

Numerous tourist spots in Japan saw visitors return Saturday ( Oct. 11 ) , the first weekend after the government scrapped coronavirus border controls and implemented a domestic travel subsidy program in a bid to spur inbound and local tourism.

The changes implemented on Oct. 11 are part of government efforts to “live with the coronavirus” by reviving the economy while curbing the spread of COVID-19.

Japan removed its 50,000-person daily entry cap and its ban on individual travelers and non-prearranged trips, allowing foreign tourists to travel freely in the country.

Along with more inbound travelers, the tourism industry is hoping that the National Travel Discount program will help the sector to emerge from a slump caused by the pandemic.

The program has started in all 47 prefectures, except Tokyo that will join on Oct. 20. It offers residents of Japan subsidies of up to 11,000 yen ($74) per night up to a total of seven nights, reports KYODO.

According to AFP , Japan reopened its doors to tourists on Oct 11 after two-and-a-half years of tough COVID-19 restrictions, with officials hoping an influx of travellers enticed by a weak yen will boost the economy.

Japan slammed its borders shut early in the pandemic, at one point even barring foreign residents from returning, and has only recently begun cautiously reopening.

Visa-free entry resumed for travellers from 68 countries and territories from Tuesday( Oct.11).

Before COVID-19, Japan’s government was on track to achieve a goal of 40 million visitors by 2020, the year Tokyo was supposed to host the Summer Olympics.

Japan received a record 31.9 million foreign visitors in 2019, but that plummeted to just 250,000 in 2021.

In Japan, tourists will find a country that is still adhering to many of the health guidelines that helped it to keep pandemic deaths to around 45,500, lower than many other developed economies.

Another major change for tourists will be the weakness of the yen, which is hovering around 145 to the dollar, a level not seen for two decades.

The government has already had to intervene once to prop up the currency, and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida cited the yen’s weakness as a factor he hoped would draw tourists when he announced the reopening.

Still, for now at least, tickets are not coming cheap, with fuel prices soaring and airlines forced to take circuitous routes to avoid Russian airspace.

And for all the rebound in demand, there is little expectation that tourist numbers will soon reach their 2019 levels.

Before the pandemic, travellers from Hong Kong and China made up 37 per cent of all foreign visitors to Japan, and 44 per cent of tourism income.

But tough COVID-19 restrictions in China make it unlikely visitors from there will be flocking back to Japan anytime soon. ( With inputs from KYODO and AFP )

October 16 , 2022

Photo : People stroll along a popular tourist area in Kyoto, Japan on Oct 11, 2022. (Photo: AFP/Fred Mery)