Japan is considering a travel bubble. Many other countries have toyed with the idea as well. To successfully implement a travel bubble will mean that the counties involved adhere to strict protocol.
Travel bubbles or travel corridors have been formed in light of the coronavirus pandemic. They are essentially an agreement that allows people from one country to travel to another. These can include multiple countries.
So far, only Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, and Vietnam are to be included in Japan’s travel corridor.
Read: Thailand may open ‘travel bubbles’ for tourists
Japan’s cherry blossoms are a popular tourist attraction.
All visitors will have to submit a negative PCR test, an itinerary for their visit, and will also be required to save the GPS data of their movements on a smartphone for contact tracing, according to Time Out.
The travel bubble will operate under a quota of 250 foreigners daily and will give preference business travellers first, then students, followed by tourists, according to The Diplomat.
Japan’s tourism industry has been hit hard. The country is aiming to revive this sector through a campaign called ‘Go To’.
The campaign will offer discount coupons of up to 50% off to customers making bookings with authorized agents including ‘Go To Travel’, ‘Go To Eat’, ‘Go To Event’, and ‘Go To Shopping Strips’.
Japan welcomed a whopping 31.9 million international visitors in 2019, but saw a 99.9% fall in tourists in April 2020, prime tourist time for its popular cherry blossom season, reports The Diplomat.
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