The Japanese authorities have said that the country will put an end to the mandatory COVID-19 testing requirement for travelers from China.
Announcing the news, the Chief Cabinet Secretary of Japan, Hirokazu Matsuno, said the government would adopt a selective approach instead of requiring all travelers from China to undergo testing.
This means that only certain travelers from China who get randomly selected upon their arrival in Japan will be required to take a COVID test, VisaGuide.World reports.
Even though the Japanese government did not give a date when the measure will be dropped, it is believed that the mandatory testing requirement will end on March 1. Nonetheless, the authorities still need to come out with an official statement confirming the date.
The decision of Japan to ease the entry rules for travelers from China was taken after evaluating the current Coronavirus developments and concluding that the current situation permits the lifting of the measure.
Data provided by the World Health Organization (WHO) show that China has registered 116,704 new Coronavirus infection cases in the last seven days. During this same period, the country registered 526 new deaths.
As for Japan, WHO figures show that the country has registered 139,178 new infection cases and 949 deaths in the last seven days.
Japan has been keeping facilitated entry rules for travelers from countries that are not part of the high-risk list for some months now.
Since the restrictions have been eased, it is expected that the tourism figures will increase this year as more travelers are being permitted to enter the country for tourism purposes.
Data provided by Japan Tourism Statistics show that around 1,497,300 international travelers entered Japan on January 2023 alone. Even though this is a positive trend compared to the last year, international tourist arrivals in Japan still remain below the pre-pandemic levels when Japan recorded about 2,604,322 international tourist arrivals.
Regarding the nationality of tourists, Japan Tourism Statistics shows that the highest number of arrivals in January 2023 was from South Korea, with around 565,200 arrivals.
A high number of arrivals was also registered from Taiwan (259,300), Hong Kong (151,900), the United States (88,100), Australia (52,600), and the Philippines (29,700), among others.
On the other hand, the number of Japanese tourists who traveled outside the country was lower. Data show that on January 2023, around 443,100 citizens of Japan took a trip outside the country, representing a 69.5 percent decrease from January 2019.
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