Japan announced on Thursday that it will lift tough Covid restrictions on foreign tourists, reopening its borders after two and a half years.
Speaking at the New York Stock Exchange, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said the pandemic had disrupted the free flow of people, goods and capital that had helped the nation flourish.
“But from October 11, Japan will relax border control measures to match the US, as well as resume visa-free travel and individual travel,” said Kishida, who is at the city for the United Nations General Assembly.
Japan, along with China, has been a resister of continued tough restrictions on visitors as much of the world has moved on from the pandemic.
But unlike China, Japan never imposed a strict lockdown during the crisis.
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Tourists coming to Japan will enjoy a weak yen, which has sunk so low against the dollar that the finance ministry intervened in the foreign exchange market on Thursday for the first time since 1998.
The return of the suspended visa waiver program in March 2020 will restore the ease of access that brought 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 tour packages.
The cautious approach to reopening has been deliberate, said James Brady, head of Japan analysis at US-based consultancy Teneo.
Kishida “took office a year ago knowing that the perceived mismanagement of the pandemic had been a key factor in undermining public confidence” in his predecessor’s government, Brady told AFP.
“He has been very careful not to repeat these mistakes.”
Japan has recorded around 42,600 coronavirus deaths in total, a much lower rate than many other countries, and 90 percent of residents aged 65 and older have received three vaccinations.
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There is no law requiring people to wear masks, but they are still almost ubiquitous in public places such as trains and shops, with many Japanese willing to wear masks when sick even before the pandemic.
On the streets of Tokyo, the public praised the announcement.
“I think it’s a good thing to gradually bring foreign tourists here,” said Michio Kano, 76, who runs a bar.
He called for the move to be followed by a loosening of anti-Covid rules.
“You can’t relax the rules on one side for foreigners and still tell the Japanese, ‘Don’t do this or that,'” he said.
Katsunori Mukai, 28, said Japan should welcome tourists as long as there are no increases in cases.
“It is true that here we still have the culture of wearing masks and other things but I think that if there is no serious danger of catching a serious disease in general, people can come as often as they want,” he said.
While the return of mass tourism should provide a “slight bump” to the Japanese economy, benefits are likely to be limited by China’s zero-Covid policy, said Brady, the analyst.
“Much of the economic benefit before the pandemic came from a large number of Chinese visitors who came and spent a lot of money on technology (and) cosmetic products,” he explained.
But “currently, Chinese citizens face their own travel restrictions at home and will not travel to Japan in large numbers.”
However, there is pent-up demand for travel in the country, according to Olivier Ponti, vice president of information at travel analytics firm ForwardKeys.
“Travel searches in Japan reached their highest point this year in late August,” and while flight bookings were only 16 percent of 2019 levels in early September, “we expect bookings increase” when visa rules are lifted. said Ponti.
Demand from Europe may still be subdued “due to the rising cost of living in Europe caused by the Russian-Ukrainian crisis and rising fuel costs driving up air travel costs,” he said Liz Ortiguera, CEO of the Asia Pacific Travel Association.
