Japan Reopens and Tourist Interest Skyrockets – But Risk Remains


The time has finally come for tourism to come back full-force in Japan. Border sanctions will be lifted on October 11th, and tourists will be able to move in and out of the country just as they had before the pandemic started. And the announcement has led to a huge spike in interest from abroad.

Online searches for Japan tourism spike

People in Shibuya

After the government announced the complete opening of borders on September 22nd, searches for flights to Japan have increased by 49%. Searches for hotels in Japan increased 29%.

These searches have come from primarily Asian countries like Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, and South Korea, which weighed in with the most searches for Japanese flights and hotels the day after the border announcement. Following South Korea was the United States, Hong Kong, Australia, and Singapore.

The most searched place name was Osaka, then Tokyo, followed by Shinjuku, Shibuya, Fukuoka, Kyoto, Sapporo, Okinawa and Niseko.

Interest in local experiences is also on the rise, with travel website Klook receiving ten times as many searches for local tourist experiences in Japan.

With these numbers in mind, Japan’s streets are set to be flooded with tourists come mid-October.

There’s still the pandemic

From these statistics, it’s obvious that there is a lot of excitement about getting to visit Japan again. However, this doesn’t mean that the pandemic that brought about the closed borders in the first place is over.

Even before the pandemic, Japan has been such a popular destination that tourists overcrowding streets was a legitimate problem. But now we are living in different times, in a definitely not yet post-pandemic world. As of this writing, for example, Tokyo is still seeing upwards of 3,000 new cases a day[3].

It was important then, but even more important now to remember that Japan is not a playground, but a place where very real people live their very real lives. This includes immunocompromised people, who now have to deal with an influx of new pathogens on their commute to work or school, or even just to a trip to the combini.

A petri dish for immunocompromised Japanese citizens

Kyoto - tourism
Picture: y.uemura / PIXTA(ピクスタ)

People all over the world are experiencing pandemic fatigue. Japanese citizens are no exception. On October 3rd, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced that, to alleviate public fatigue, masks will no longer be required outdoors.

While it is proven that the risk of getting Covid-19 is much lower outdoors, the risk is not zero. And with tourists looking to pack the streets in droves, the risk is greatly increased. This is going to make it much harder for people with underlying conditions to go about their daily lives. The newly crowded streets will likely make it harder for immunocompromised people to protect themselves from a potentially deadly virus.

Foreigners, mask up.

On top of lifting mask requirements outdoors, there is no guarantee that tourists will be respectful of any sort of mask mandate. Many other countries, such as the United States, have done away with any sort of mask mandate to the point where walking into a store with a mask on can garner the wearer dirty looks.

Tourists from countries where mask-wearing has become so openly rejected and politicized may not be too eager to follow the rules and put the mask back on. Even while mask mandates were in full effect in the United States, there was regularly incidents of angry anti-mask customers making a scene or even assaulting employees of establishments that required them to wear masks. Employees of tourist-frequented establishments may have to deal with violent anti-masking foreigners who refuse to respect the indoor mask mandate.

If you’re planning a trip to Japan once it reopens, please consider masking in public. If not for you, then for others. There is a very real possibility of a spike in COVID-19 cases being blamed on the irresponsibility of foreigners.

Sources

[1] インバウンド上限撤廃の発表で、日本行きフライト検索49%増、現地体験予約では10倍も|トラベルボイス(観光産業ニュース) (travelvoice.jp)

[2] https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/8e0a22c8d8d2893075a3bc6d58aedd5f3b0fc5c9

[3] <新型コロナ・7日>東京都で新たに3016人感染、7人死亡. Tokyo Shimbun

Want more great Japan content? We rely on support from our readers. Become a member starting at just USD $1/month today to get exclusive content, social media shout-outs, and more!



Source link

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *