Kishida Wenxiong: Japan has resumed free travel since October 11, and the upper limit of the number of entry is canceled

Japan's Prime Minister Kishida Kishita announced on the 22nd local time that Japan will let go of the entry tour since October 11, cancel a series of border control measures adopted for epidemic prevention, and revive the tourism industry. In addition to the restrictions on the number of daily entry, Japan will also resume visa -free and free travel. Public opinion believes that this move marked a major policy change, and Japan may hope to attract foreign tourists during the depreciation of the yen. In the past two and a half years, Japan has implemented strict epidemic prevention regulations on international tourists, causing a huge blow to entry tourism.

Major change

On the 22nd of local time, Kishida Wento, who was participating in the United Nations Conference in New York, held a press conference, announcing that it would further let go of the border control and "see it with the United States" to support the difficult accommodation, tourism and entertainment industry during the epidemic.

Kishida Wenxiong said that Japan will cancel the current policy of not more than 50,000 in a single -day entry. Individual tourists will be allowed to enter the country, and Japan will also restore visa exemptions. These policies will take effect from October 11.

From the perspective of the outside world, this means that the Japanese entry policy has changed significantly.

The Wall Street Journal pointed out that in the past two and a half years, Japan basically banned individual tourists from visiting the country.

Since June of this year, Japan has only begun to "loosen" international tourists, but still has a upper limit of the number of people in the country, and has also restricted tourists, including the need to enter the country in the travel agency, and the whole process must be wearing masks.

Kishida had previously been cautious about opening up and received praise from voters. Many people in Japan still worried about the epidemic. However, the Japanese business leader was damaged by the economic damage and urged him to reopen the country.

Before the epidemic, Japan vigorously promoted the economic strategy of tourism rejuvenation, allowing visitors from 68 countries and regions such as the United States and South Korea to stay for up to 90 days. In 2019, the number of entry tourists in Japan reached a record of 31.9 million.

But since the epidemic, the Japanese tourism industry has been thousands of feet. In 2021, there were only 246,000 entry tourists in Japan. In August of this year, after the restriction of the entry policy was "loose", the number of entry tourists in Japan was only about 169,800.

Grab the time window

From the perspective of the outside world, Japan is hoping to seize the time window where the red leaf season and the epidemic tend to ease the weak yen, attract more foreign tourists, and help the tourism recovery.

October to November is the best season for international tourists to enjoy red leaves in Japan. The cool weather and gorgeous scenery make Japan's autumn popular in autumn.

In terms of epidemic, the number of new crowns in Japan has created the world's best in the world for 9 consecutive weeks. During the week from the 12th to 18th, the number of new infections in Japan increased by 13%to 605,000 from last week. However, according to Kyodo News, the number of new crowns in Japan decreased by 31%compared with last week, and 1162, and the number of severe persons continued to decrease.

In addition, the current yen's exchange rate to the US dollar has fallen to the lowest level in 24 years. The analysis believes that the Japanese government wants to use the opportunity to devalue the yen to bring "win -win" to Japan and international tourists.

On the one hand, the yen's softness reduces the cost of travel to Japan to travel to Japan and increases the desire to consume tourists.

"Previous data shows that whenever the Japanese yen goes soft, international tourists often increase consumption on cosmetics, souvenirs and other items." SMBC Naoto Sekiguchi (transliteration) said. Experts estimate that international tourists now spend about 190,000 yen, which is about 20%higher than 160,000 yen in 2019.

On the other hand, economists stated that the recovery of inbound tourism will help improve the weakening of the yen, increase the demand for yen, and will affect the yen against the US dollar exchange rate.

According to Yamato Securities Economists, if international tourists spend more than Japanese consumption in Japan overseas, and this tourist surplus can be restored to about 3 trillion yen per year before the epidemic, this will give the yen against The US dollar exchange rate has picked up.

Although the Japanese government is full of ambition, there are also analysis that the recovery of Japan's tourism industry may be slower in the short term.

The Wall Street Journal pointed out that from New Zealand, Thailand, South Korea and other countries, it shows that it takes several years to resume the tourism industry in Asia Pacific in 2019. For example, a major challenge facing Australia and other places is that the new crown virus is still an important reason for employees.

In addition, the absence of international tourists such as China has also affected the recovery of the Japanese tourism industry. Official data show that in 2019, there are more than 9 million tourists from mainland China to Japan, which is the largest market for Japan to travel to Japan.

Tokyo's First Life Institute of Economist, Masato Koike (transliteration), believes that if the tourism industry is required to return to the level before the epidemic, it is not only Japan, but other countries also need to relax border control.

Liberation Daily · Shangguan News Original manuscript, reprinting without permission

Author: Qiu Wenhan

WeChat editor: nano

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