The Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) has announced that the number of foreign visitors to Japan in August 2021 was just 25,900, down 99.0% versus 2019 but higher than most COVID-impacted months due to the Olympic Games. The 25,900 arrivals compared with 51,100 in July, also boosted by Olympic arrivals, and 9,300 in June.
Due to the spread of COVID-19 since the end of January 2020, many countries have taken measures to curtail overseas travel and Japan has made quarantine even stricter and invalidated visas. Due to the changing situation of the pandemic, these measures in both Japan and abroad have been repeatedly eased and reinstated.
Japan has prevented new entrants to the country, suspended operation of the business track and residence track, and enhanced quarantine measures to prevent the spread of variants and reduce the infection rate in Japan.
Continuing from the previous month, August exceeded numbers from the same month last year due to athletes and officials from the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games entering the country.
The JNTO commented, “As part of the measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19, international movement for tourism continues to be restricted. While the vaccine rollout continues in some countries, especially in Europe such as France, we have seen an easing of entrance restrictions and as the pandemic situation changes we will need to pay close attention to immigration regulations and market trends for various countries.”
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