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Cannix Yau

Danny Mok

Japan has announced it will welcome tour groups from Hong Kong, Taiwan and mainland China and roughly 100 countries and regions next month without requiring they undergo testing upon arrival or quarantine for Covid-19.
Hong Kong, the mainland and Taiwan were included in an extensive list released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday of places that will enjoy the preferential treatment.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida also told an international conference in Tokyo attended by several Asian leaders that his country would reopen its borders to international tourists on June 10, starting with groups on guided tours.
“We will resume accepting tourists on escorted package tours on June 10,” Kishida said.
Coronavirus: Japan tops world tourism ranking despite Covid-19 restrictions
The government was preparing to resume international flights at Hokkaido’s New Chitose Airport and Okinawa’s Naha Airport by the end of next month, Kishida added.
The country had already announced that small-group package tours from Australia, Singapore, Thailand and the United States would be allowed to enter this month.
A source familiar with the situation said the country considered Hong Kong an important market for tourists and was looking to move the city into the “blue” category of its three-tiered system for arrivals. Travellers from places listed in the most liberal category will not be required to undergo quarantine, submit test results or be vaccinated against Covid-19.
Travellers from the lowest-risk “blue” group will be exempt from testing upon arrival in Japan, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said earlier this month. They will still need to show a pre-departure negative test result.
But local tourism leaders earlier warned the proposal would have little impact if the Hong Kong government continued to adhere to its seven-day quarantine requirement for all arrivals.
Japan has long been one of the top tourist destinations for Hongkongers, with some fans of the culture willing to fly north for stays as short as a weekend in trips they viewed as akin to a “homecoming”.
According to data compiled by the Japanese National Tourism Organisation, Hongkongers accounted for 7.1 per cent of the 31.8 million visitor arrivals logged in 2019, while US travellers only made up 5.4 per cent of the number.
Hong Kong commerce minister Edward Yau Tang-wah and several tourism industry leaders had previously lobbied the Japanese government to allow the city to participate in a second, wider tourism trial.

Industry leaders warned that the entry relaxation would prove a futile exercise if the city still required all travellers to undergo quarantine.
Johnny So, chairman of the Hong Kong Outbound Tour Operators’ Association, said the city’s seven-day quarantine period for inbound visitors and returning residents discouraged travel.
“There will be no incentives for Hong Kong people to travel to Japan if they still need to undergo a seven-day quarantine in Hong Kong upon arrival,” he said.
Japan to ease Covid border controls in June allowing for more overseas arrivals
So also called for the city’s flight suspension mechanism to be scrapped as it would create uncertainty for travellers’ flight schedules and hotel bookings.
Under the mechanism, incoming flights carrying infected passengers will be suspended for five days if five, or 5 per cent of the passengers on a single flight, whichever is greater, are infected with Covid-19.
Freddy Yip Hing-ning, president of the Hong Kong Travel Agent Owners Association, reiterated So’s remarks, saying the biggest hurdle for the travel scheme was the city’s quarantine requirements.
“Hong Kong is a big market for Japan’s inbound tourism. I am sure Japan will never shut its door on Hong Kong in its tourism drive,” he said. “The most important thing is whether Hong Kong can allow arrivals to skip quarantine in hotels.”
Also as Hong Kong requires all arrivals to have received Covid-19 jabs, any unvaccinated resident who took a trip to Japan would not be able to re-enter the city.


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Hong Kong

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Hong Kong included in list released by Ministry of Foreign Affairs that also includes mainland China and Taiwan
Japan will restart small tour groups, with participants exempted from testing or quarantine requirements



Japan will restart small tour groups, with participants exempted from testing or quarantine requirements.


Japan

Coronavirus Hong Kong

Hong Kong social distancing

Coronavirus pandemic

Coronavirus: Japan scraps travel curbs on small group tours from Hong Kong and roughly 100 countries

Hong Kong included in list released by Ministry of Foreign Affairs that also includes mainland China and Taiwan Japan will restart small tour groups, with participants exempted from testing or quarantine requirements

Hong Kong included in list released by Ministry of Foreign Affairs that also includes mainland China and Taiwan

Japan will restart small tour groups, with participants exempted from testing or quarantine requirements