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.allow in a limited number of foreign tourists on package tours starting June 10.
Government resistance softened after Japan's"Golden Week" holidays in May, when people travelled domestically but infections didn't sharply increase, the executive said. A recent Nikkei poll showed 67 per cent of respondents felt it was"reasonable" to allow in foreign tourists. 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, Mr Kageyama said. "I want the foreigners to return," said Mr 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."
straits_times « Wary of foreign 'bad manners' ». This is called xenophobia.