Japan to allow more group tours from next month

Kyoto, Japan - December 1, 2012: Toji Pagoda during the fall season. The pagoda is the tallest in the country.

Another piece of the Japan tourism puzzle has been put in place today, with the latest announcement from the Japanese Prime Minister.

Ahead of the previously announced doubling of daily entries from 1 June and with the ‘test tours’ currently taking place in Japan, it has been announced that from 10 June, Japan will open to foreign tourists, initially limited to guided group tours, into the country.

“We will resume accepting tourists on package tours with guides from the 10th of next month,” Kishida said in Tokyo.

“Step by step we will aim to accept (tourists) as we did in normal times, taking into consideration the status of infections.”

Simon King, the co-founder Japan travel specialist, InsideJapan said, “We welcome yet another step in the right direction for tourism and look forward to showcasing Japan again on our small group tours this summer onwards.

“We hope that this will be another small but quick step towards opening the country for all our customers, including those that are booked to travel on one of our Self-Guided cultural adventures, and expect more clarity in the coming weeks.”

Small group tours make up approximately 20 per cent of InsideJapan’s business and have been part of the company’s portfolio since day one.

InsideJapan’s small group tours have a maximum of fourteen people, are led mainly by the specialist’s own ‘Insider’ tour leaders, utilise the country’s excellent public transport network, stay at independent hotels and traditional guest houses, use their vast cultural network and aim to get people ‘beneath the surface’ of well-known and lesser-known parts of Japan.  

“Our Insider tour leaders, private guides and partners cannot wait to welcome actual people again to help them discover this special place. We look forward to the further repealing of Covid restrictions soon,” King added.

InsideJapan has a range of small group tours with a programme still in place for the rest of 2022, into 2023. 

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