TOKYO: The Shinzo Abe-led Japanese government is all set to launch an electronic system for tourist visa applications to achieve its target of attracting 60 million foreign visitors every year by 2030, government sources told Japan Times.
The online system will first be available to Chinese tourists for single-entry visa applications and then to travellers from other countries. The foreign ministry claims that tourist visas for Chinese visitors accounted for nearly 60 percent of all the visas issued in 2017. It will be introduced in April 2020, few months before the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo.
The electronic visa is designed to simplify the application process, reduce the workload at diplomatic missions and tighten immigration control, with visa data to be shared with airlines. Tourists will then be able to apply for visas online through travel agencies. The government plans to add other types of visas to the new system as well.
Japan had a record 28.7 million foreign visitors in 2017, up 19.3 percent from the previous year, and their spending last year rose 17.8 percent to an all-time high of ¥4.42 trillion ($39 billion).
As part of its strategy, Japan has eased visa requirements and increased the number of low-cost carriers and other flights to enhance in-bound tourism.
