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.
Under the decision, Japan will allow in a limited number of foreign tourists on package tours, starting 10 June. Last week a few "test tours", mainly of overseas travel agents, started to arrive.
Relaxing some of the world's strictest pandemic border measures required months of pressure from travel and tourism executives, three insiders told Reuters, describing both the government's fears of public backlash if infections spiked and the industry's concerns of an economic wipeout.
