Coronavirus: Japan drops guide requirement for tourists; South Korea ditches pre-testing rule for inbound travellers

From next week, tourists to Japan will be able to visit without a guide – but they still need to be booked on a package tour through an agent

Elsewhere in the region, South Korea will from Saturday no longer require travellers to the country to test for Covid-19 before departure

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Visitors pose for a selfie in a sunflower field in Hokuto city, Japan’s Yamanashi prefecture, earlier this month. Photo: AP

Published: 3:06pm, 31 Aug 2022Updated: 3:10pm, 31 Aug 2022

Tourists will be able to visit Japan from next week on package tours without a guide, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Wednesday, as the country moves to ease strict Covid-19 controls.

From September 7, Japan will also raise its daily cap on the number of people allowed to enter the country to 50,000, Kishida told reporters.

Japan has kept strict border restrictions in place longer than many other major economies, and only in June began allowing tourists to visit on the condition they came in tour groups accompanied by guides.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Japan could take advantage of a weak yen by encouraging more tourism. Photo: EPA-EFE

“As international exchange becomes more active worldwide, Japan will join this movement – also from the viewpoint of taking advantage of a cheap yen,” said Kishida, who has himself just recovered from Covid-19.

From the same date, “we’ll also make it possible for tourists from all countries to enter the country on package tours without tour guides, and we will proceed with making entry procedures smoother at airports,” he added.

But the measures fall short of a full reopening and visitors are still required to book their trips through agents and obtain visas.

Public broadcaster NHK and other local media have reported that tourists will be asked to follow isolation guidelines if they test positive for Covid-19 in Japan.