Thursday, the Japanese government announced the opening of its borders to 98 new countries, including France. Supervised groups will be able to travel from June 10. Japanese opinion, however, remains reluctant to the arrival of tourists.
Le Monde with AFP
This is an announcement that ends more than two years of closure of borders linked to the pandemic. Japan announced Thursday that it would reopen to tourists from 98 countries, including France, from June 10, but travelers can only enter group. These countries include France, Great Britain, Spain, the United States, Canada and Malaysia.
Aala Kanzali, Franco-Tunisian entrepreneur and photographer, has lived in Japan since 2011. He was looking forward to, as he said to the world: “I was waiting for this decision, to be able to fully resume my work, which is in The foreign tourism sector in Japan, but also to review my family. I have a young child who has not seen his grandparents, my parents, for four years. “
The first signals had been sent by Tokyo recently. The government had announced last week that it would test travel organized in small groups with tourists from the United States, Australia, Thailand and Singapore from May.
All arrivals will have to be tested negative before going to Japan and, sometimes, be tested again when they arrive. Vaccinated triple people from certain countries can avoid the additional test, as well as a three -day isolation. Tourism groups will be supervised and will have to ensure that foreign visitors respect the port of the mask and other measures that have made it possible to maintain the number of victims of the COVVI-19 at a relatively low level in Japan.
“No stranger here”
During most of the health crisis, Japan has prohibited access to its territory to all tourists and has only authorized Japanese citizens and foreign residents to come back, even if the latter were periodically excluded. “This government is able to make radical decisions overnight, this is what it did and which has prejudiced a large number of foreign students,” recalls Aala Kanzali.
Before the pandemic, Japan was gaining more and more on tourism to support its economy. In 2019, he welcomed 31.9 million foreign visitors, a new record, and aimed at 40 million in 2020, the year when the Tokyo Olympic Games were initially held. The pandemic ruined this objective and the Olympic Games held in camera in 2021.