Tourists at an attraction in Japan (Photo: VNA)Before the COVID-19 pandemic brokeout, tourism was a major contributor to the economy of Japan. The number offoreign visitors to this country continually broke records between 2013 and2019, and hit an all-time high of 31.88 million in 2019. However, the pandemictriggered a nosedive in this figure to nearly 4.12 million in 2020 and 246,000last year, mostly due to border closures.
The Northeast Asian nation reopenedits borders to international tourists in mid-June 2022 after an over-two-yearshutdown, but certain restrictions remained.
On October 11, it completely liftedborder control measures for foreigners and reintroduced the visa-free policyfor short-term travellers. Besides, the depreciation of the Japanese yencompared to the US dollar and Vietnamese dong has also helped Japan become moreattractive to foreign tourists.
Estimates by the Japan NationalTourism Organisation show that in October, this country welcomed 498,600international arrivals, more than doubling that in the previous month andsurging 22.5-fold from the same period last year. Notably, visitors from Vietnamnumbered 30,800, shooting up 30-fold year on year.
Inthe first 10 months of 2022, Japan recorded over 1.5 million internationalarrivals, up 616.7% year on year. That included 222,400 visitors from Vietnam,soaring 809.9% and ranking second among sources of foreign tourists to thiscountry.
Talking to the Vietnam News Agency, LeThi Lua, a Vietnamese entrepreneur who has lived in Japan for 24 years, said Japanesepeople like the Vietnamese cuisine very much. The economy of Japan has beenrecovering after the pandemic while its Government has also completely reopenedto foreign travellers since October, which is generating numerous opportunitiesfor the restaurant and hotel sector.
Given this, she decided to open an80-seat restaurant named Vietnam Sky in Arakawa Ward in downtown Tokyo. She saidthe newly opened restaurant has attracted many customers, including bothJapanese and Vietnamese.
In recent months, Yo Group, a companysupplying low-cost Japan tours for Vietnamese travellers, have also madepreparations to welcome tourists from the Southeast Asian country, includingpurchasing some new buses.
Meanwhile, the number of Japanesevisitors to Vietnam remains modest though Vietnam has fully reopened to foreignarrivals since March 15 and dropped the COVID-19 testing requirement for airtravellers since May 15, and many airlines, especially national flag carrier VietnamAirlines, has increased flights between the two countries.
Vietnam welcomed over 484,300international arrivals in October, up 112%, including 23,800 from Japan -ranking fifth among sources of foreign visitors to Vietnam. The 10-month numberof foreign visitors approximated 2.14 million, including only more than 77,200from Japan, according to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism.
Masahiko Inada, head of the outboundtourism promotion division at the Japan Association of Travel Agents (JATA),said Japanese people love travelling Vietnam, but they are still a littleworrying about pandemic safety when it comes to overseas trips.
However, he held that the number ofJapanese travelling abroad will gradually bounce back.
Echoing the view, Tran Thuy, Directorfor Vietnam at Vivu Journeys of the Thien Minh Group (TMG), said Japanesepeople are generally prudent tourists and pay attention to all safety factors.
To attract Japanese visitors toVietnam, the TMG has designed suitable packages for them while expandingits hotel system, she said, adding that it has worked almost continuously forthe last two years, when it has carried out many investment activities but manyother firms chose to “hibernate” amid international tourism suspension./.
VNA
