Breaking News English

Japan will reopen to overseas tourists and end its two-year pandemic [closure / enclosure] . The government has decided to allow tourists from 98 countries from June the 10th. However, the [opener / opening] will be tightly controlled. Initially, only [packaging / package] tour groups will be allowed in. A daily [cap / hat] of 20,000 arrivals has been [let / set] . Authorities will monitor their movements to track any [spread / spared] of Covid-19. All visitors have to test negative for Covid before they travel to Japan. Some may have to [undergo / overdo] an additional test and quarantine for three days. Japan has among the [strictest / strictly] border controls of any country. Its self-imposed [isolation / resolution] has played a part in its [relatively / relative] low number of coronavirus cases.

Japan's change of [stage / stance] is welcome news for its tourism industry, which has suffered [heavy / heavily] over the past two years. The number of overseas visitors has [felled / fallen] by over 99 per cent since pre-pandemic days. Japan saw a record 32 million foreign visitors in 2019. It was on [trick / track] to achieve its goal of 40 million in 2020. However, Covid caused the number of [outbound / inbound] tourists to [plummet / plumbing] to just 250,000 in 2021. The president of the Japanese airline ANA said: "I hope the border controls are [lost / loosened] at the same pace as in other G7 countries to revitalize the [locals / local] economy." Japan's loosening of its entry restrictions is [timely / timed] . Last week, the World Economic Forum ranked Japan highest on its list of global travel [destination / destinations] .