JAPAN MARKET UPDATE
DF operators prepare to reopen as Japan declares ‘coronavirus emergency over’
Japan’s travel industry is preparing to welcome foreign visitors again after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe declared that the country’s Covid-19 emergency was over on 25 May. David Hayes reports on how Japan’s duty free operators are readying their stores and staff for returning customers.
Above: Despite the lack of passengers, FaSoLa decided to open this Dior store in March.
T
he Japanese government lifted its coronavirus state of emergency on 25 May,
seven weeks after enforcing lockdown measures initially in Tokyo, Osaka and five other cities on 7 April, followed by all 47 of Japan’s prefectures. A total of 18,305 people had
tested positive in Japan for Covid-19 infections at the time of writing (mid-June), including 712 from the Diamond Princess and 149 from the Costa Atlantica cruise ships,
“Our shops have installed plastic sheets to provide a barrier between customers and our staff at the cash register and have marked spacing at the cash register queue lines.”
Spokesperson, NAA Retailing Corporation’s FaSoLa Shops
22 TRBUSINESS
plus 14 from government-chartered repatriation flights. The number of Covid-related
deaths recently surpassed 930, of which about one third occurred in Tokyo. And while Abe’s comments spell optimism, the threat from Covid-19 has not been extinguished entirely with new reported clusters of infections emerging at press time. Notwithstanding this, Japan is
only now emerging from almost total isolation, with a small number of travellers entering or departing the country since the 7 April lockdown was announced. In May, an estimated 1,700 foreign travellers entered Japan, an all-time low for the second consecutive month, according to government data. May’s miniscule figure, down
99.9% year-on-year and even lower than the 2,900 foreign arrivals recorded in April, is the lowest since
government records began in 1964. The total number of foreign visitors
arriving in Japan from January to May 2020 declined by 71.3% to 3.94 million, compared with the same period last year.
Tentative travel returns Japan plans to re-open to foreign visitors by easing its Covid-19 travel restrictions and will initially permit up to 250 foreigners a day to enter from Australia, New Zealand, Thailand and Vietnam. The four countries have reportedly
been selected as they have the Covid-19 outbreak ‘under control’ and have close connections with Japan. Other countries will be added to the list as the global situation improves in the future, say government authorities. As expected, arriving passengers will be asked to produce proof of
JULY 2020
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