Japan, which has been among the most cautious countries in opening up after Covid, is lifting pre-entry Covid-19 testing for fully vaccinated travellers with at least one booster shot.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced that the change will be effective from September 7, Travel Mole reported.
“We plan to gradually ease border controls to allow entry procedures to be as smooth as those of other countries,” Kishida said.
“We will speed up our efforts while balancing infection measures and social and economic activities.”
Japan is one of the last major countries to drop pre-travel testing, although neighbours China and South Korea still require it.
The isolation period for people who test positive will also be reduced but Japan will continue to insist on a cap of 20,000 inbound daily visitors. Tourists are currently only allowed as part of a tour group.
Inbound tourism so far has been sluggish with just 387,000 visitors this year, the Japan National Tourism Organisation reported.
Before the pandemic, Japan had around 32 million foreign visitors in 2019 but the number plunged to around 246,000 in 2021.
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