TOKYO: Japan's easing of a two-year ban on foreign tourists seeks to balance the enormous economic importance of tourism with concerns that travellers would trigger a COVID-19 outbreak, insiders say.
"There were worries that foreign tourists would include a lot of people with bad manners - people who don't wear masks or don't use hand sanitiser and that infections could spread again," said one tourism company executive, who like the others spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
"If the government doesn't open up the country, more companies will go bankrupt, and that's no good politically," he said. Japan, where guidelines such as mask wearing and hand sanitising are scrupulously followed, has avoided the kind of massive infections that have swept through other countries.Hotel operator Resol Holdings Co Ltd opened four new locations in the run-up to the Tokyo Olympics, expecting a massive influx of foreign tourists. It was a total bust, said operations manager Hideaki Kageyama.
Government subsidies have helped stave off widespread bankruptcies. Resol might have gone under if it weren't for side businesses such as golf courses and solar plants, Kageyama said. "I want the foreigners to return," said Yui Oikawa of Rise Up Tokyo Rickshaw."It was more lively that way, with people from all over coming to Asakusa to pray or have a drink."
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