Japan to allow limited foreign package tours as experiment

By MARI YAMAGUCHI
Associated Press

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s government says it will begin allowing small package tours from four countries later this month before gradually opening up to foreign tourism for the first time since it imposed tight border restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic. It says the tours will be allowed from Australia, Singapore, Thailand and the United States as an experiment. Participants must be triple-vaccinated and the tours must have guides and fixed itineraries. The Japan Tourism Agency says each tour can have a maximum of four people, and a total of 50 participants are expected to join the experiment. It says the results will be used to compile coronavirus guidelines for tour operators, hotels and other businesses.