Japan to Relax Covid-19 Rules for UK Visitors

Japan will relax its Covid-19 rules for UK visitors next month, raising hopes that international tourism will resume soon.

Hirokazu Matsuno, chief cabinet secretary, stated that beginning 1st June, Japan will not require quarantine or airport testing for arrivals from nations in its “low-rate group,” which includes the United Kingdom.

Japan will also boost the amount of overseas arrivals from 10,000 to 20,000 per day beginning June 1.

Travelers will still be required to take a pre-departure test.

InsideJapan, a specialist tour operator, has two employees participating in ‘test tours’ revealed earlier this week, and the firm intends to receive more information regarding tourist trends by the end of May.

InsideJapan co-founder Simon King stated: “This is the first major step towards reopening the borders to tourism.

“Although 20,000 international daily arrivals is still relatively small, the removal of testing requirements paves the way for a considerable increase in daily entry numbers that come with tourism.

“We believe that there is more significant easing of restrictions to come at the beginning of June and that Japan remains on track for a restart of inbound international tourism this summer.

“As a Japan travel specialist, this is hugely exciting and cannot come soon enough.”

This year, about 2,500 people have registered with InsideJapan to travel.

Since the Japanese prime minister spoke about reopening borders earlier this month in London, the specialist has noticed a significant surge in inquiries and bookings for cultural excursions and small group tours to the country.