#021 Good signs for overseas travellers?
In the middle of the 7th wave of the pandemic, it's not all bad things.
Last week “Obon” holiday which is a Buddhist event to pray to the spirits of ancestors was over and people came back to the normality. According to the old Japanese saying summer heat is until the Bon Festival. And the temperature seems to drop since last week as Obon was over. It has been marked 16 days of extremely hot day (i.e. 35 degrees Celsius or greater) Japanese Met office has been warned not to go out during the day. As there are some signs of autumn, there are some signs in tourism in Japan, which may be important steps before the Japanese government may open its door to more foreign tourist. In this newsletter I will write about these signs which can be significant factors for those who are eager to visit Japan.
When we take a look at the number of people who used the domestic airport during this summer holiday season in August, Haneda Airport doubled in comparison with the same time of previous year in 2021 and the similar trends were observed in many places. The important point is this trend was observed during the 7th wave of the pandemic under no restriction. I presume this trend underlies the following points.
Japanese people are no longer conscious of infection too much since the current valiant is not so much fatal.
The third or fourth vaccination gives a peace of mind, even though high infection rate.
This can be the major reason, but people can no longer wait to travel and there are ways to test ourselves before travel.
Travel industry can’t afford more sacrifices after wasting its business chance more than two years.
From these factors, we may be able to make a kind of assumption for next stage of easing foreign travellers restrictions in the near future.
Approval for buying antigen test kits on the internet
On 17 March, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) held a meeting of experts and decided to lift the ban on sales over the internet. I personally think that it is too late to take that decision since most of western countries started much earlier. The Japanese Government had reached the limit of its ability to identify positive cases using conventional testing methods due to the rapid increase in the number of new infections. More social activity will increase the need for simple testing by individuals. This in turn lowers the barriers for people to engage in various activities. This summer is the first one to see lots of families are moving with suitcases since the pandemic started and superficially situation seems to be back before the pandemic. The above suggests that the flow of people is unstoppable because of pandemic.
Travel discount campaign
As a measure to support the tourism industry, which has been hit hard by the spread of the outbreak, the national government and local authorities have considered and partly implemented measures to stimulate tourism demand, which include various discounts. However, the rapid spread of the infection on a number of occasions has forced a review of the timing and scale of the measures.
Currently there are two different travel discounts. One is a National Travel Assistance and another one is Prefectural Discount. National Travel Assistance is currently postponed and Prefectural Discount is available except Tokyo, Osaka and Hiroshima. This is a travel discount campaign that allows prefectural residents to save up to ¥7,000 on travel within the prefecture through accommodation discounts and coupon distribution. From April, the scope of the Prefectural Discount has been extended to regional block units, allowing travel discounts on a regional block basis.
The reason why National Travel Assistance is postponed is that to control the movement of people under the 7th wave of infection. When it starts people have more choices to travel among more choices and destinations. So the timing of implementation is very important to get an idea for the assessment of the government. Currently National Travel Assistance will start as early as this September, but I haven’t heard any news yet. I really hope that there will be an announcement soon and it will trigger to the easing the restriction for foreign travellers.
There is one good news. Tokyo will start Prefectural Discount from 1st of September as a test run and this may encourage to expand the travel discount campaign. There are scattered bright elements of news which may ease the restriction to enter Japan. It is going to be 3 months on the 10th of September after the 1st stage of easing restriction. When the government started the first stage of easing the restriction, they said that the next step will be taken based on the assessment of the first stage.
If it is not long enough to gather information, we may have to allow another a couple of months. We may have to face irritating time until the end of the year, but please don’t give up and try to be patient. Please don’t laugh, but there is no rain which doesn’t stop. There are thousands of people who are engaged in the tourism industry and the Japanese government can’t leave them like now forever.
I will write whatever signs of the new movement. I really hope that the gate will open for most of travellers soon.
Daruma
I have chosen this photo because I would like to pray for travellers who are eager to come Japan and all tour operators in Japan. The Japanese use this papier-mache doll quite often praying for their wish come true. When we make wishes, we put one eye and when it comes true, we finish putting another eye. I would like to make a strong wish to recover Japanese tourism.