Japan To Allow Foreign Tour Groups As Soon As This Month

Above, fans may be able to visit the Big G at Toho
Studios as soon as this month. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Japan is looking to allow foreign tourist groups into the country as soon a this month.

The Japan Times is reporting that this "experiment" will be a "lifeline" for Japan's ailing tourism industry. This is good news for tour operators and for those looking to participate in this year's G-TOUR by Daikaiju Enterprises set for this autumn.

According to the Japan Times:

Japan is set to experiment with opening its borders to small groups of vaccinated foreign tourists as soon as this month, Fuji News Network reported Friday, in a potential lifeline for the country’s ailing travel industry.

Those wishing to visit must have undergone three COVID-19 vaccination shots and be part of a package tour with a fixed itinerary, FNN said, citing multiple government officials. The limited resumption of inbound tourism will be treated as an experiment and, if infections do not spread, the program will be expanded, it said.

Japan is also looking at doubling the daily entry cap to 20,000 and accepting overseas tourists from June, the Nikkei newspaper reported, citing unnamed sources. That report said a decision could come by the end of this month.

The reports came a day after Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said in a speech in London that he planned to relax pandemic-related border restrictions starting in June, in line with other wealthy democracies. He later added a note of caution, telling reporters he needed to look at the state of infections after the Golden Week holiday period, which wraps up this weekend.

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