China said Thursday that it has approved the resumption of Japan-bound group tours for its citizens, lifting restrictions introduced in January 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in a move expected to revitalize Japan's inbound tourism sector.
The resumption of the tours comes amid strained bilateral relations over Tokyo's plan to start releasing treated radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant into the sea as early as the end of this month.
Chinese Ambassador to Japan Wu Jianghao said the restart of group tours to Japan was a measure to "boost people-to-people exchanges and promote mutual understanding" between the two countries.
"Friendship is the only correct choice" for China and Japan, Wu said at a Tokyo event for experts discussing improving bilateral ties.
Japan's public and business sectors have welcomed the resumption, as the world's third-largest economy has made inbound tourism one of the key pillars of its growth strategy following the end of the coronavirus pandemic.
Prime Minster Fumio Kishida told reporters on Thursday that the government hopes inbound travel from China will recover further due to resumed tours.
The Chinese Ministry of Culture and Tourism said in a statement that it has given its approval for the resumption of group tours to Japan and over 70 other countries and territories, including the United States, Germany, Australia and South Korea.
Since 2017, China had banned group tours to South Korea over the deployment of a U.S. antiballistic missile system in the country.
In February and March, China announced the resumption of overseas group tours for Chinese citizens after a roughly three-year hiatus, but the tours were limited to a total of 60 countries, with Japan excluded from the list.
The lifting in January of the country's strict "zero-COVID" policy involving quarantine has made it easier for Chinese citizens to travel abroad. Visas for individual Japan-bound Chinese travelers are already available.
Representatives from the Japanese tourism industry had called for the resumption of Japan-bound Chinese group tours.
Hopes of the tours from China being resumed boosted tourism-related shares in Tokyo as stocks ended higher, aided by optimistic earnings forecasts from some major Japanese companies.
The number of Chinese visitors to Japan amounted to 9.59 million in 2019, accounting for some 30 percent of all inbound tourists. They spent a total of 1.77 trillion yen ($12 billion), official data showed.
Arrivals from China stood at about 208,500 in June, down 76.3 percent from the same month in 2019, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization.
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