TOKYO — Eager to appreciate the colorful foliage, eat sushi and shop, many foreign tourists began arriving in Japan Tuesday. It was a welcome influx, which marked the end of more than two years of coronavirus border restrictions that have run out of steam in the tourism sector. “We learned that, despite everything, we can come. We’re really, really happy,” said Nadine Lackmann, a German who was part of the crowd of tourists who arrived Tuesday at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport. Travelers like Lackmann are expected to supply a much-needed five-trillion yen ($35 billion) seasoning to the world’s third-largest economy, and visitor numbers are expected to continue to grow.
A daily limit of 50,000 arrivals was removed. Airlines added flights in reaction to the complete reopening of borders. Without visa he returned for short-term business visits and tourism from more than 60 countries.
David Beall, a Los Angeles-based photographer who has been to Japan 12 times, said he had already booked a flight, making plans to move on to Fukui, Kyoto, Osaka and Tokyo. The last time he was in Japan was in October 2019. But it’s the things Americans look forward to, like dining on tonkatsu, Japan’s popular red meat chop dish.
“Although it sounds cliché, just being back in Japan after all this time is what I look forward to the most. This includes, of course, I hope to meet new people, eat the food I missed out on like a smart tonkatsu, being in nature at this time of year, taking the trains,” he said.
Japan’s National Tourism Association said the country received just under 32 million incoming tourists in 2019, before the pandemic hit. numbers like this again.
One of the reasons for this is China’s strict “zero-COVID” policy.
Before the pandemic, approximately 12 million people visited China and Hong Kong annually, accounting for about one-third of overall tourist arrivals to Japan. in Japan in 2019, or about $33 billion.
So, while Japan rolled out the welcome mat to all travelers on Tuesday, there may not be many Chinese among them. Chinese citizens who leave their country still face lengthy quarantines when they return home. Value it, and Chinese tour operators are not yet offering overseas excursions.
Some Japanese regions that were welcoming large numbers of Chinese tourists, such as Shizuoka, just west of Mount Fuji, will want to start presenting their landscapes and cuisine more aggressively to potential tourists from around the world.
The only protocols still in place for access to Japan are that travelers will need to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, with a booster or have a negative PCR within 72 hours prior to departure. Virtually all visitors from the United States, the rest of Asia, Europe, and South America who find themselves in those situations will not have to quarantine. Visitors will likely have to adapt to the face mask, which most Japanese wear outside their homes. Many department stores and restaurants require consumers to wear masks and sanitize their hands. Some institutions are still definitive ahead of time or have closed completely.