As COVID fears recede, Japan welcomes 1300 tourists

A government agency in Japan revealed on Friday that more than 1,300 individuals have filed for guided tour visas to visit the nation since the country began visa processes to welcome select leisure travellers from outside a week ago.

More than 300 requests have been submitted for the month of June, according to the chairman of the Tourism Industry of Japan, Koichi Wada.

As of now, the first wave of tourists have landed in Japan, but their nationalities have not yet been revealed, he added.

Wada predicted that the number of people entering Japan will "increase steadily," with the majority of those arriving coming from Southeast Asian nations, as well as the United States and South Korea.

As a precaution, tour participants in Japan are encouraged to wear masks and apply for medical insurance in the likelihood that they get coronavirus. Customers on package tours must be informed by tour operators that failure to adhere to the rules may result in their trip being cancelled.

As part of the process of applying for a visa, tourists must have their travel companies submit their personal information, including their names and passport numbers, into the border and immigration registration website.

On June 10, the Japanese government restarted the process of allowing foreign visitors into the country for the first time in two years.

These relaxations are for tourists from 98 nations which are considered to be low risk for transmission of coronavirus. They include Britain, South Korea, United States, China, Thailand and Indonesia. 

Japan has gradually increased the number of people allowed admission, and on June 1 that number was doubled to 20,000. When the Olympics and Paralympics were initially slated to take place in 2020 but were delayed by a year due to the epidemic, the government had hoped to welcome 40 million tourists.

There is no word yet from the administration on when individual passengers will be permitted again. On the basis of considerations such as infection rates at home and abroad, "suitable judgments" will be taken about additional relaxations.