Japan lifts strict Covid-19 restrictions, fueling hopes that a tourism boom will reinvigorate the economy
Japan has fully opened its doors after more than two years of isolation due to the pandemic.
On Tuesday, the country reinstated visa waiver to dozens of countries, ending some of the strictest Covid-19 border controls in the world. news firm Kyodo reported.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is counting on tourism to revitalize the economy and capitalize on the yen’s slide to a 24-year low, but hopes for a tourism boom face headwinds: hotel worker shortages, lingering considerations about the pandemic and economists’ predictions. that tourism returns would be gradual.
Kishida said last week that the government aims to attract five billion yen ($34. 5 billion) in annual tourism spending. This purpose would possibly be too ambitious for a sector that has been easing the pandemic.
Foreign guest spending will reach just 2. 1 billion yen through 2023 and will not exceed pre-Covid grades until 2025, economist Takahide Kiuchi wrote in a report by Nomura Research Institute.
Since June, Japan allows tourists to travel as a team accompanied by guides, a requirement that has been more comfortable to come with self-guided tour packages.
Just over half a million visitors have come to Japan in 2022, up from a record 31. 8 million in 2019.
Arata Sawa is among those who need the return of foreign visitors, who in the past accounted for up to 90% of visitors to his classic inn.
“I hope and anticipate that many foreigners will come to Japan, just like before Covid,” Sawa, third-generation owner of Sawanoya Ryokan in Tokyo.
Japan Airlines Co has noted that inbound bookings have tripled since the border easing was announced, President Yuji Akasaka told the Nikkei newspaper last week, but demand from foreigners probably won’t fully recover until around 2025.
“I don’t think there will be a sudden return to the pre-pandemic situation,” said Sawato Shindo, president of Amina Collection Co, a 120-store gift and souvenir chain.
Hopes for a meteoric decline in tourism are also tempered by labour shortages. Nearly 73 percent of the country’s hotels said they lacked normal staff in August, up from 27 percent a year earlier, according to market research firm Teikoku Databank.
Akihisa Inaba, general manager of Yokikan Spa in Shizuoka in central Japan, said a lack of staff during the summer meant staff had to give up time off.
“Naturally, the shortage of hard work will become more pronounced when entry returns,” Inaba said. “So I’m not sure we can be excited. “
It is concerning whether foreign visitors will wear face masks and comply with other infection checks not unusual in Japan. Strict border controls have been very popular for most of the pandemic, and fears persist about the emergence of new viral variants.
On Friday, the government approved adjustments to hotel regulations so operators can turn away visitors who fail to comply with infection controls in the event of an outbreak.
“From the beginning of the pandemic until now, we have only had a few foreign guests,” said Sawa, the Tokyo innkeeper. “Almost everyone wore masks, but I don’t know if other people visiting here will do the same. “
One of the most likely forces to favor the retreat of visitors is the fall of the yen: the yen has weakened considerably against the dollar, providing some visitors with much greater buying force and making Japan angry about lowering the prices of hunters targeting electronics. Luxury Commercial and merchandise districts.
In Tokyo’s Akihabara electronics district, Hideyuki Abe’s shelves are filled with watches and memorabilia like samurai swords and rickety toy cats. Abe employs another 50 people and resorted to layoffs after the pandemic in 2020. He has bided his time.
“No more lies of force,” Abe said. “Now I’m a little worried about the shortage of hard work. “
With pandemic restrictions and the dollar at a three-decade high of around 145 yen, he believes tourists will return.
“This time,” he said, “is the best opportunity. “
Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report.