From Tuesday, Japan will reinstate visa-free travel to dozens of countries, ending some of world’s strictest border controls to slow the spread of COVID-19. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is counting on tourism to help invigorate the economy and reap some benefits from the yen’s slide to a 24-year low.
Just over half a million visitors have come to Japan so far in 2022, compared with a record 31.8 million in 2019. The government had a goal of 40 million in 2020 timed with the Summer Olympics until both were upended by the coronavirus. Flag carrier Japan Airlines Co. 9201.T has seen inbound bookings triple since the border easing announcement, president Yuji Akasaka said last week, according to the Nikkei newspaper. Even so, international travel demand won’t fully recover until around 2025, he added.Narita Airport, Japan’s biggest international airport some 70 kilometers from Tokyo, remains eerily quiet, with about half of its 260 shops and restaurants shuttered.
The company reallocated staff and supplies from the airport to other locations in its 120-shop chain around Japan as it refocused on domestic tourism during the pandemic. Many service workers found better working conditions and wages in other fields over the past two years, so luring them back may be difficult, said a consultant for tourism companies who asked not to be identified.
In Kawaguchiko, a lake town at the foot of Mt. Fuji, inns had difficulty staffing before the pandemic amid Japan’s tight labor market and they anticipate a similar bottleneck now, said a trade group staffer who asked not to be identified.