Japan to open borders to foreign tourists in June

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Japan to open borders to foreign tourists in June

Japan will open its borders to foreign tourists in June for the first time since imposing tight travel restrictions about two years ago, but only for package tours, the prime minister said Thursday.

Beginning June 10, Japan will allow entry of people on tours with fixed schedules and guides, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said.

Tourists from areas with low COVID 19 infection rates who have received three vaccine doses will be exempt from testing and quarantine after entry.

This week, Japan is hosting small experimental package tours from four countries, Australia, Singapore, Thailand and the United States. It will end May 31 with only 50 people who received special visas, not tourist visas.

After facing criticism that its strict border controls were xenophobic, Japan began easing its restrictions earlier this year, which allows entry of up to 10,000 people a day, including Japanese citizens, foreign students and some business travelers.

From June 1, Japan will double the cap to 20,000 a day, which will include package tour participants, said Makoto Shimoaraiso, a Cabinet official in charge of the pandemic measures.

After officials evaluate the results of the current experimental tours, the scale of the package tours and other details will be finalized.

It will take a while before foreign visitors can come to Japan for individual tourism, said Shimoaraiso.

Japan's tourism industry, hit hard by border controls, is eager for foreign tourism to resume. Since the beginning of this year, COVID 19 infections have slowed in Japan and the government is gradually expanding social and economic activity.

Kishida said during a visit to London earlier this month that he planned to ease border controls as early as June in line with the policies of other Group of Seven industrialized countries, but gave no further details.

In 2020 foreign tourist arrivals fell more than 90% from a record 31.9 million the year before, almost wiping out the pre-pandemic inbound tourism market of more than 4 trillion yen $31 billion.