Wary of foreign 'bad manners', Japan eases borders to aid hobbled tourism industry
30/05/2022 08:09
By Maki Shiraki, Yuki Nitta and Rocky Swift
TOKYO, May 30 (Reuters) - Japan's easing of a two-year ban
on foreign tourists seeks to balance the enormous economic
importance of tourism with concerns that travellers would
trigger a COVID outbreak, insiders say.
The decision means Japan will allow in a limited number of
foreign tourists on package tours starting June 10. Last week a
few "test tours", mainly of overseas travel agents, started to
arrive.
Relaxing some of the world's strictest pandemic border
measures required months of pressure from travel and tourism
executives, three insiders told Reuters, describing both the
government's fears of public backlash if infections spiked and
the industry's concerns of an economic wipeout.
"There were worries that foreign tourists would include a
lot of people with bad manners - people who don't wear masks or
don't use hand sanitiser and that infections could spread
again," said one tourism company executive, who like the others
spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of
the issue.
The industry pressed Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's ruling
Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its junior partner as well as
government ministries, he said, but initially found them
unresponsive.
Government resistance softened after Japan's "Golden Week"
holidays in May, when people travelled domestically but
infections didn't sharply increase, the executive said.
"If the government doesn't open up the country, more
companies will go bankrupt, and that's no good politically," he
said.
Kishida's LDP faces an election in July. Although the
closed-border policy was overwhelmingly popular early on, the
public has warmed up to reopening as the pandemic has eased and
the cost of closure became more apparent. A recent Nikkei poll
showed 67% of respondents felt it was "reasonable" to allow in
foreign tourists.
The foreign ministry felt pressure from overseas on the
measures, and was one of a handful of ministries that tried to
persuade Kishida's government, another insider said.
Ultimately, foreign pressure may have helped ensure the
change, said an industry executive.
Local governments remain worried that foreign tourists will
bring in the coronavirus, the industry executive said, making it
difficult to open the country fully.
Japan, where guidelines such as mask wearing and hand
sanitising are scrupulously followed, has avoided the kind of
massive infections that have swept through other countries.
TOTAL BUST
Hotel operator Resol Holdings Co Ltd 5261.T opened four
new locations in the run-up to the Tokyo Olympics, expecting a
massive influx of foreign tourists. It was a total bust, said
operations manager Hideaki Kageyama.
"You can't pay the bills, the rent, the labour without
inbound tourism," he said, adding that the border easing would
not be enough to quickly revive the industry.
The number of hotels that shut down nationwide rose to the
highest in five years last year, and hotel debt levels have more
than doubled since 2019, according to researcher Teikoku
Databank Ltd.
Government subsidies have helped stave off widespread
bankruptcies. Resol might have gone under if it weren't for side
businesses such as golf courses and solar plants, Kageyama said.
Tourism was a rare bright spot for Japan before the
pandemic. A record of about 32 million foreign tourists visited
in 2019, spending some $38 billion. The government still aims to
bring in 60 million tourists a year by 2030.
The rickshaw pullers in Tokyo's Asakusa temple district have
gotten by giving rides to domestic tourists instead of the
throngs of Chinese who used to come.
"I want the foreigners to return," said Yui Oikawa of Rise
Up Tokyo Rickshaw. "It was more lively that way, with people
from all over coming to Asakusa to pray or have a drink."
There's also a lost opportunity: the yen is at its weakest
level in 20 years, making Japan a cheaper destination for
travellers.
For now, tourists can only come on guided, package tours and
as part of a quota of 20,000 arrivals each day, including
residents.
Singapore and Thailand began welcoming back tourists in the
second half of 2021 and in April further eased entry rules.
Japan doesn't have a timeline for a resumption of full-scale,
independent tourism, and the easing could be reversed it COVID
worsens, the government says.
The small test tours that started last week are mainly made
up of foreign travel agents. They have been subject to strict
itineraries that have been mocked online as reminiscent of a
visit to North Korea.
The test tours will help the government flesh out guidelines
for trips from June 10, officials say.
But Clement Kueh, an Australian travel agent who arrived at
Tokyo's Haneda airport last week, said he and his colleagues
still weren't certain how authorities would define what
constitutes "group" travel.
"We're not sure what that means exactly," he said.
(Reporting by Maki Shiraki, Yuki Nitta and Rocky Swift in
Tokyo; Editing by David Dolan and Gerry Doyle)
((rocky.swift@thomsonreuters.com;))