Japan will be welcoming tourists back for the first time since the pandemic, starting with small groups of 50.
According to the Japan Tourism Agency, the country will allow about 50 vaccinated-and-boosted tourists to visit at the end of this month. Tourists will be part of organized tours. This will be a test to open the borders to more people.
Travelers from the United States, Australia, Thailand, and Singapore will be able to enter. These countries are priority markets to Japan.
Each tour group will have four people. It is unclear how the traveler selection process will go.
The Japan Tourism Agency says in a statement the limited visits will test infection prevention and emergency response. Information from the tours will go to travel agencies, travel businesses, and hotels. All tourists must be with a guide and go to areas cleared by government officials.
Starting in November, Japan allowed students, foreign workers, and business travelers, but cut back later that month. In March, some visitors were allowed again, but tourists were still not allowed.
Other Asian countries started welcoming visitors including Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, and South Korea. The tourism agency estimated over 100,000 people visited Japan between January and March of this year in comparison to the same months in 2019.
Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida says Japan would ease border restrictions in June, according to Kyodo News.
