The spread of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) infection which occurred in late 2019 caused a type of freeze on all tourism activity.
In this magazine, we assembled a special feature spanning the past three issues (Issue No. 246-248) on the current circumstances and responses of tourism areas and the tourism industry.
As of the present time, roughly a year and a half since the publication of issue No. 248 (February 2021), there has been progress internationally on vaccination, and there has also been movement toward further steps to resume tourism activities in the near future.
In Japan as well, possibilities are being explored toward a future full-scale “relaunch” of tourism. In this issue, we analyze the big picture view of trends in the past year and a half since 2021 from the perspectives of the overseas travel market, immigration restrictions and their loosening, tourism areas, and tourism policy to examine a relaunch following the freeze caused by coronavirus.