As entry rules are eased comparisons with country’s 17th century isolation were clearly unfair, says Inside Travel Group co-founder Alastair Donnelly
After the success of the Rugby World Cup, coinciding with a memorable Abta conference in Tokyo back in 2019, Japan had worked its way on to everyone’s travel ‘list’.
The Tokyo 2020 Olympics planned to put the country and its culture firmly on the travel map, but then things changed.
As the UK’s biggest independent Japan travel specialist, InsideJapan last sent customers to Japan back in March 2020 and almost two years later, the country’s borders are still firmly shut.
As the rest of the world and even other parts of Asia begin to open borders after the pandemic, Japan had drawn comparisons to the Sakoku (locked country) policy and its 214 year ‘period of isolation’ which excluded most foreigners from entering from the mid-17th century.
Thankfully we had a move in the right direction yesterday, when Japan raised its daily cap on entrants and cut its quarantine period from seven days to three.
Although there are some parallels to be had with Sakoku, these are very different times indeed and comparisons are a little unfair.
It’s frustrating, but this is not an anti-foreign policy from Japan as some media are portraying. The government has merely tried to control its borders as a matter of public health and has been extremely successful in protecting its citizens.
Interestingly, New Zealand’s closure to the world hasn’t been talked about in the same way and has even been praised, but people have been quick to judge Japan.
Japan has always been a cautious country.
At the end of 2021, we saw the beginnings of a roadmap to reopening being put in place, pointing towards limited travel, and opening in 2022 but then Omicron emerged.
The easing of restrictions from next month gives us even more confidence that travel will likely begin to happen within the coming months, but the publishing of some sort of roadmap is really important for Japan and now is the time to do that.
There are also suggestions across the media that Japan’s economy is perfectly capable of surviving with domestic tourism alone – as it did for many years before the rapid growth of inbound tourism.
Although it probably could, international tourism is hugely important to Japan both economically and as a vital part of its ‘soft power’ strategy and influence on the world stage.
From the government right down to the ryokan guest house owners, we know that as soon as it is deemed safe, Japan does want those visitors back and the welcome will be warmer than ever.
InsideJapan began back in 2000 after co-founder Simon King and I discovered the country on a cultural exchange programme.
In fact, most of the team at InsideJapan have a similar backstory, and we have all continued sharing the culture, passion, favourite places and travel knowledge with thousands of people since.
In the UK, January 2022 saw the highest numbers of enquiries and bookings for Inside Travel Group since pre-pandemic – with 29% of those bookings coming from the trade and with Japan still the biggest draw.
It is really heartening to see the appetite for travel to Japan there along with the consumer confidence, but also the loyalty of existing customers and agent partners too.
It’s reassuring to know that Japan still has that special cultural hold over people.
As a travel company, it’s been a really difficult two years without travel, but we are still very much here.
We’ve increased our Asia destination offering, including the addition of South Korea which, just like Japan 20 years ago, we feel is ready to be the next big thing in tourism to Asia; we have a fabulous team in place ready to look after enquiries from our trade partners; and we have continued to develop Inside Travel Group as an all-round better business with sustainability at the heart of everything we do.
But now we have a move in the right direction, we can’t wait to get back to sharing a country we love so much with as many people as possible.
The next couple of years are going to be recovery, but it’s going to be rapid and very exciting.
Japan never disappoints and we can’t wait to get people beneath the surface again.