International cruises will be welcome to dock at Japanese ports after two years. Japanese transport minister, Tetsuo Saito made the announcement on November 15th, lifting the ban on international cruises. The government has also issued guidelines to be followed after international cruises resume. The ban was placed at the beginning of the pandemic, in March 2020 to curb the spread of the virus.
Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism stated that much consideration has gone into opening up international cruising. They also stated that they have received inputs from experts in crisis management and infectious diseases to create guidelines to prevent the spread of infection among passengers. These guidelines were also reviewed by various government agencies.
According to the newly issued guidelines, passengers who are under suspicion of being infected need to be tested and their close contacts quarantined.
In the event of an outbreak of the virus, the ship may continue sailing if the ship’s resident doctor determines that the virus can be contained. However, the cruise trip will be cut short if more than 10% of the ship’s passengers get infected.
All crew members of the ship must be vaccinated three times and more than 95% of the passengers must be vaccinated at least twice.
The Japanese government has placed these and other guidelines to mitigate any potential damage from opening up international cruising. Before the pandemic, in 2019, almost 2.5 million cruise passengers visited Japan and spent around $575 million. The government hopes that opening up international cruising will help return the levels of inbound tourism to pre-pandemic levels by 2025.
