Japan gives green light to non-guided package tours

Japan will conditionally allow foreign tourists to travel without a chaperone from next Wednesday, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has said.

The daily limit for all arrivals – including Japanese nationals, foreign residents, as well as those entering on business and tourist visas – will be raised to 50,000 from 20,000 people.

Since June, Japan has mandated guided tours for all leisure travellers – a hurdle too high for many prospective visitors who have lamented the lack of freedom.

Japan, which in 2019 received a record 31.9 million visitors, welcomed 8,155 tourists in June and July, said the Immigration Services Agency of Japan. Figures from the Japan Tourism Agency as of last Friday showed that 12,112 tourist visas had been granted for September and another 8,710 for October onwards.

The measures, announced at a news conference on Wednesday, have been cheered as a positive step in Japan’s reopening to tourism, with the country still lagging behind most of the world in easing Covid-19 border controls.

Among the other Group of Seven member countries, Britain, France, Germany and Italy have fully reopened to unvaccinated travellers and have no Covid-19 testing and quarantine requirements.

In the region, Australia, Malaysia and Vietnam have also dropped their border controls.

Source: https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/japan-to-allow-non-guided-group-tours-and-raise-daily-entry-caps