Japan has announced it will lift tough Covid restrictions on foreign tourists, reopening the borders after two and a half years.
The prime minister, Fumio Kishida, said on Thursday that the pandemic had interrupted the free flow of people, goods and capital that had helped the nation flourish.
“But from 11 October, Japan will relax border control measures to be on par with the US, as well as resume visa-free travel and individual travel,” Kishida said at the New York Stock Exchange. He is in the city for the United Nations general assembly.
Japan, along with China, has continued to impose tough restrictions on visitors while much of the world has moved on from the pandemic. But unlike China, it never imposed a strict lockdown during the crisis.
Tourists who come to Japan will benefit from a weak yen, which has plummeted so low against the dollar that the finance ministry intervened in the currency market on Thursday for the first time since 1998.
The return of the visa-waiver program suspended in March 2020 will restore the ease of access that saw a record 31.9 million foreign visitors to the country in 2019.
Since June, Japan has allowed tourists to visit in groups accompanied by guides, a requirement that was further relaxed to include self-guided package tours.
The cautious approach to reopening had been deliberate, said James Brady, the Japan analysis lead at US-based consultancy Teneo.
Kishida “took office a year ago knowing that perceived mishandling of the pandemic had been a key factor in undermining public confidence” in his predecessor’s government, Brady said.
“He has been extremely careful not to repeat those mistakes.”
Japan has recorded about 42,600 coronavirus deaths in total – a vastly lower rate than many other countries – and 90% of residents aged 65 and over have had three vaccine shots.
There is no law requiring people to wear masks, but they are still near-ubiquitous in public places such as trains and shops, with many Japanese willing to sport masks when ill even before the pandemic.
While the return of mass tourism should give a “slight bump” to Japan’s economy, the benefits were likely to be limited by China’s zero-Covid policy, Brady said.
“Much of the economic benefit pre-pandemic came from high numbers of Chinese visitors coming and spending lots of money on tech products, cosmetics.”
But “currently, Chinese citizens face their own travel restrictions at home and won’t be travelling to Japan in large numbers”, Brady said.
There is pent-up demand for travel to the country, however, according to Olivier Ponti, vice-president of insights for travel analytics firm ForwardKeys.
“Searches for travel to Japan reached their highest point this year at the end of August,” he said. And while flight bookings were just 16% of 2019 levels in early September, “we’d expect bookings to jump” when the visa rules are scrapped.
Liz Ortiguera, CEO of the Pacific Asia Travel Association, said demand from Europe might still be subdued “due to the increase in the cost of living in Europe caused by the Russian-Ukraine crisis plus the rising fuel costs driving up air travel costs”.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong announced on Friday it would end mandatory hotel quarantine, scrapping some of the world’s toughest travel restrictions that have battered the economy and kept the finance hub internationally isolated.
The long-awaited move will bring relief to residents and businesses who have been clamouring for the Asian business hub to rejoin the rest of the world in resuming unhindered travel and living alongside the coronavirus.
For the past two and a half years, Hong Kong has adhered to a version of China’s strict zero-Covid rules, deepening a brain drain as rival business hubs reopen.
The announcement leaves mainland China as the only major economy still requiring a lengthy quarantine for international arrivals.
The chief executive of Hong Kong, John Lee, said the current three days of hotel quarantine would be reduced to zero for those arriving into Hong Kong from overseas and Taiwan.
Travellers will be subject to PCR tests on arrival and will be unable to visit restaurants and bars for the first three days under a system authorities have dubbed “0+3”.
“Under this arrangement, the quarantine hotel system will be cancelled,” Lee told reporters.
Source:https://www.theguardian.com/
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