At the Tokyo Olympics scheduled for July and the Tokyo Paralympic Games in August, foreign audiences are not allowed to enter Japan, and entry income is expected to decrease by about 10 billion yen (10 billion won). Japan’s strategy of attracting more than 1 million tourists through the Olympics and making it an opportunity to revive the tourism industry that was plunged by Corona 19 is also expected to be in vain.
Japanese media such as the Nippon Geizai Shimbun (Nikkei) reported on the 10th that the government, the event organizing committee, and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government have set their policy in the direction of not receiving foreign general audiences for the Olympics and Paralympic Games. As the Corona 19 situation continues in each country, mutant species are also spreading, and it seems that such measures are being prepared. The Japanese side is expected to make a final decision and announce it before the 25th of this coming when the torch relay begins after discussions with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) this month.
If it is decided not to receive overseas audiences, the decrease in entry income is likely to be significant.
The game tickets Japan prepared for the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympic Games was about 10 million, and it was planned to increase the entrance income of about 90 billion yen by selling them. There are over 900,000 tickets that have already been sold overseas.
Nikkei predicted that admission revenues would decrease by 10 to 15 billion yen if foreign audiences were not received, considering that overseas sales of admission tickets at the past Olympics were around 10-20%. In addition, it can cost money and time to refund over 900,000 copies that have already been sold.
Japan is also expected to set an upper limit on the number of people admitted to the stadium for domestic audiences next month.
The Japanese government set a goal to make a breakthrough in the recovery of the tourism industry by attracting more than 1 million foreign tourists through this Olympics, but this will be difficult to achieve if entry is not permitted.
[도쿄 = 김규식 특파원]
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