Japan on Wednesday loosened its restrictions for travelers, raising its arrival cap from 20,000 to 50,000 daily visitors and dropping its prearrival COVID-19 test requirement for those with three vaccination shots.
The new guidelines include more flexibility for visitors as well, allowing the entry of unescorted tourists on package tours as opposed to the guided tours previously required for entry since June.
“Right now, we are still seeing less than 20% of the international travel (to Hawaii) that occurred prepandemic, and Japan is really struggling,” Gov. David Ige said regarding Hawaii’s tourism rates during a livestream with the Honolulu Star Advertiser on Wednesday. Ige recently returned from a trip to Japan to help promote Hawaii tourism.
“We are hopeful there will be a significant increase with these changes,” he said.
Before the pandemic in 2019, there were roughly 31.88 million foreign travelers to Japan, but in 2021, the total dropped to just 250,000, or roughly 0.8%. When the country dropped its total ban on tourists in June, just 252 visitors came in, and only 7,903 in July.
Tourists will still be required to apply for a short-term, 90-day, single-entry visa before traveling.
The process takes an average five days to complete and costs roughly $21.
“All of the travel partners in Japan have said that it’s really the Japanese government restrictions that’s stopping people from traveling,” Ige said. “We do anticipate a significant increase, and that was part of the reason that I went to Japan.”
Additional travel barriers mentioned by Ige included the required testing for leaving and entering the country, which cost roughly $250 per test for Japanese residents. The restriction is no longer in place for vaccinated individuals.
“It is clear that the number one destination that people want to travel to among Japanese residents is Hawaii,” said Ige. “They haven’t been able to travel for three years now. Many are wanting to travel but have been concerned about COVID and the restrictions.”
Ige’s visit to Japan coincided with the 25th anniversary of the Hiroshima-Hawaii sister prefecture arrangement.
“There was a delegation of more than 60 people that went to Hiroshima to celebrate the 25 anniversary,” he said. “Governor (Hidehiko) Yuzaki and a delegation from Hiroshima will be visiting Hawaii in October to celebrate the 25th anniversary with us. We’re really looking forward to that.”
Ige added that during his visit to Japan, he noticed people took precautions to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.
“Even though COVID cases in Hiroshima were at a peak, we were able to travel there safely and it’s remarkable in Japan to see everyone is wearing a mask, people are taking precautions,” he said.
“They are implementing a lot of the same things we did here during the height of our COVID pandemic.”
Email Grant Phillips at gphillips@hawaiitribune-herald.com
