Japan reopened to international tourism on Tuesday, with the elimination of the daily quota for tourists to enter the country, after almost three years of restrictions, in the hope of revitalizing the Japanese economy.
Japan also resumed short-term (up to three months) bilateral visa waiver agreements with 68 countries and territories, a list that includes Portugal and China’s Macau special administrative region.
The deals had been suspended at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, forcing any and all foreign nationals to obtain a visa to enter Japan.
The measures eliminate the entry quota, set at 50,000 tourists a day from September 7, and the obligation to use a travel agency as a mediator to organize the visit.
People with at least three doses of a Covid-19 vaccine, approved by the World Health Organization (WHO), will not be required to submit a negative test certificate within 72 hours before departure to Japan.
Passengers with complete vaccination or with a negative result will not have to be tested on arrival or undergo quarantine, measures that will be applied in specific cases.
The requirement of vaccination or a negative test “is something that we have to consider in order to strike a good balance between infection prevention and the need to revitalize the economy,” Japan’s Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said today in a Press conference.
In early September, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced a reduction in the isolation period from ten to seven days, from the moment a person begins to have symptoms, to allow workers to return to their jobs sooner. Quick.
Japan has imposed some of the strictest border measures among world powers, something that analysts say discourages tourists from traveling to the archipelago, limiting tourism and the country’s economic recovery.
In 2019, before the outbreak of the pandemic, Japan received 31.9 million tourists. In 2021, the number was 246,000, according to data from the Japan Tourism Office.
Source: TSF
