Japan’s new COVID 19 cases fell below 200 for the first time since July 2020

Japan’s tourism industry hopes visitors come back as more than 70% of population get the second dose

The number of new infections of COVID-19 in Japan continues to decline in many prefectures and total newly infected cases in Japan hit the lowest level this year. The cases have been declining since the end of August while the number of newly infected people at the beginning of November dropped sharply to about 200. 

The number of newly infected people in Tokyo decreased to around 20, which is the lowest level this year. The similar downward trend has been seen in Osaka Prefecture with the number declining to below 40. 

The fact that more than 70% of the people have been vaccinated for the second jab in Japan has people in the tourism industry hope for the improvement in the industry’s revenue due to the resumption of economic activities. Countries around the world with improved vaccination rates have begun to relax restrictions on those who enter their countries. 

Japan has announced that it will ease quarantine conditions on those who enter the country with a copy of the vaccination certificate from October 2021. Foreign visitors visiting Japan are expected to increase gradually with those tailwinds brought by proceeding vaccine rollout. At some popular tourist spots tourists already begun to increase after the Coronavirus emergency was lifted.

 

COVID-19 state of emergency lifted across Japan pushing consumer confidence to the highest

Furthermore, the Japanese government lifted the state of emergency on October 1 and limitations on operating hours and an alcohol-service ban imposed on restaurants in metropolitan areas including Tokyo were removed on October 25. 

It boosted Japan’s consumer confidence in October to the highest level in almost two and a half years as a sharp fall in COVID-19 infections nationwide led the government to fully lift its state of emergency, government data reported on October 29 showed. 

The seasonally adjusted index of sentiment among households made up of two or more people climbed 1.4 points from September to 39.2, the highest since May 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic. 

According to the Japan National Tourism Organization, the number of foreign tourists visiting Japan in September 2021 was 17,700, an increase of 29.3% from the same month of the previous year. The number of seats on international flights arriving at six major airports in Japan including Narita Airport in September was 685,182, an increase of 7.6% from the same month of the previous year. Both the number of flights and seats increased by 20% at Narita Airport. 

ANA Holdings Inc. announced on October 29 that the number of passengers on domestic flights in the six months to September increased to 7.14 million from 4.67 million a year earlier although it expects its financial results to remain in the red for the second straight year with a net loss of 100 billion yen in the entire fiscal term of 2021.

 

Takayama attracts newly opened hotels and inns while companies expect visitors to return after the coronavirus infection subsides

In Takayama City, Gifu prefecture which is known as a popular tourist destination among foreign tourists and dubbed the “Little Kyoto of Hida” for its old quarter (called “Sanmachi”), hotels are opening one after another. 

For example, Greens, the exclusive franchisor of the Comfort brand hotels in Japan, opened a large-scale hotel of the new brand, "Hotel around TAKAYAMA" in July. In August, Marriott International and Sekisui House, Ltd. have also jointly opened a new hotel in Shokawa, Takayama City. In addition, AJ Interbridge, which operates hotels mainly for foreign tourists, has newly opened a hotel near Takayama Station. The hotel industry expects that the number of tourists to Takayama will soon recover after the coronavirus infection subsides and proceeds with the construction of accommodation facilities in Hida region including Takayama City. 

Nakatsugawa City, which is also in Gifu Prefecture, started a day trip bus tour to local theaters to enjoy local Kabuki performance, which is a well known as a traditional culture in the region to entice tourists from Nagoya, the largest city in the Chubu region. The tour course includes Magome-juku, which is famous as a post town in the Edo period and popular souvenir shops around the area so that a plethora of tourists are interested in joining the tour. The city hopes the number of tourists and income from tourism recover as vaccination roll out proceeds and newly infected cases continue to decline. 

Sign of recovering economy is also observed in the job market. Japan's job availability improved for the first time in two months in September as businesses sought staff forecasting the government to lift the COVID-19 state of emergency, government data showed. The job availability figure showed that employers tried to secure more workers in anticipation of the restart of the economy in October, especially among manufacturers and construction companies.