Japan begins testing with 7 tourists from USA

Japan on Tuesday began testing to see if tourists would be allowed to return to the country along with seven people from the United States.

The seven people landed at Narita Airport on Tuesday and will take part in tours designed to show whether the measures taken to prevent the spread of the coronavirus are having an impact.

Tourists are divided into two tours

Tourists are divided into two groups, one of which includes Nikko Toshogu Shrine in Tochigi Prefecture and Zenkoji Temple in Nagano Prefecture, and the other includes the site of Hanamakyunsen Hot Springs in Iwate Prefecture and Mogami River in Yamagata Prefecture.

The test flights are open to people from the United States, Australia, Thailand and Singapore. About 50 people, including travel agency employees, Divided into 15 groupsand sightseeing in twelve provinces.

As part of infection prevention measures, groups will not exceed four people, and participants will be required to wear a mask when visiting attractions or using transportation.

A correspondence system will also be created for cases where a person is positive during the flight.

The number of foreign visitors to Japan in 2019 reached 31.88 million, an all-time high. Due to entry restrictions, the number has dropped to 245,900 in 2021.

There is no concrete statement yet on the resumption of tourism

Although some restrictions are due to be eased, including doubling the daily limit allowed for arrivals from abroad to 20,000 from June, there is no definitive data on when tourists will be allowed to enter the country again.

Also from June, quarantine regulations for entering Japan will be relaxed.

In December 2020, Japan temporarily suspended entry for foreigners to prevent the spread of infection. After a short relaxation of the measures, entry was suspended again in November 2021 in response to the sudden appearance of the Omicron variant.

Japan is one of the last countries to not allow tourists into the country, and most countries have already opened up to tourism.