Japan’s government is considering raising the cap on inbound travelers to 30,000 a day at the end of this month. That’s according to Jiji Press, which says there’s also a proposal to eliminate that cap altogether.
Japan limits the number of travelers allowed into the country — including Japanese citizens returning from travel overseas, such as Hawaiʻi.
Last week, the cap on arrivals was raised from 10,000 to 20,000.
Eric Takahata is the managing director of Hawaiʻi Tourism Japan, a marketing arm of the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority.
He says those moves will have a direct impact on travel to Hawaiʻi.
“With these relaxed or eased border restrictions, that allows people to travel from Japan here to Hawaiʻi more and more. And so, the cap has gone up, which means more people can come out and return to Japan," Takahata told HPR's The Conversation.
"Then as we see the summer going on, we see that cap being lifted — and hopefully completely eliminated and that will allow the free travel of Japanese nationals to be able to come to Hawaiʻi," he said.
Takahata was also part of a delegation from Hawaiʻi that accompanied Gov. David Ige to Tokyo last month.
The group met with government and industry officials to encourage increased travel to Hawaiʻi.
