Return to Japan: Intrepid Travel Leads Surge of New Tours
byBill Fink/In October 2022, Japan re-opened for unrestricted foreign tourism for the first time in two years since the pandemic closed its borders.
Tour operators like Intrepid Travel are seeing a boom in visitors as pent-up demand is making the country one of the prime destinations for 2023. Intrepid has announced more than 240 Japan trip departures in 2023, according to Kenny Onishi, Intrepid’s general manager in Japan.
What should visitors expect on these re-introduced Japan tours, and what tips should travel advisors give customers? I joined one of Intrepid’s first Japan tours after the opening, and share below both tour highlights and key learnings from my experience.
访客应该知道关于前往日本的旅行:
- No Visa for Americans, but pre-registration is required:日本已经结束了美国游客的临时签证要求,但即将到来的游客仍然必须通过访问日本网络通过疫苗接种或最近的测试结果证明。应建议客户(和旅游公司)检查S. Embassy in Japan website有关最新信息。
- JApan在历史上现在很便宜。尽管美元从最近的30年高点撤退,但目前的130日元至美元的数字平均会看到国内价格将比流行前便宜约25%。这意味着更多负担得起的购物,餐饮,景点,运输和住宿。以美元有组织的旅游价格保持稳定。
- Mask-wearing is still nearly universal in Japan.游客应意识到,尽管没有官方的政府任务,但许多商店,酒店大堂,运输和景点仍需要防止口罩来防止Covid-19。大多数日本人仍然始终在公共场合戴口罩,除了餐饮和一些户外活动。
- 日本的游客更少意味着现在是一个好时机。鉴于中国持续缺乏旅游业,通常会占用入站游客的60%,根据Intrepid的Onishi的说法,日本的游客人物仍在下降。至少在短期到中期的旅游景点的游客更少,这意味着现在是预订旅行的好时机。
Tour Highlights: Intrepid Travel’s Premium Japan Tour
勇敢的旅行是日本巡回赛的长期领导者,在2023年的十几个独特行程中,有240次预定的旅行出发阵列。可用的动作冒险选项。
我加入了无畏的Premium Japan Tour这是为期12天的旅程,涵盖了该国的文化和风景秀丽的亮点。“高级”体验(旅行的起价为每人7435美元,不包括机票)为客户提供了更高水平的住宿和用餐选择,以及独特的体验,例如寿司制作班,以及经典的京都Zen Shrine的冥想度假胜地。
双语本地专家主导我们的巡回演出,使我们的八名客人每天游览,并为空闲时间活动提供建议和导航技巧。旅游尺寸通常为8-12人,夫妻俩和独奏旅行者的组合。
Our trip began in Tokyo, which is at once the most intimidating and accessible city in Japan. The crowded, sprawling, neon-lit metropolis can be overwhelming on one’s own, but is actually highly accessible with its ultra-efficient rail system. Our guide navigated the rainbow spaghetti maps of two dozen different train lines to whisk us around town like VIPs.
The tour’s hotel for the first couple of nights was on the upper end of a three-star hotel (typical for the trip), with inclusive breakfast buffets, great views, and nearby access to prime sightseeing locations. Tokyo’s famed Asakusa shrine was footsteps away, enabling us to visit early morning to beat the crowds.
The highlight of the Tokyo tour, for me, was the full foodie immersion walking through Tokyo’s Tsukiji street markets sampling every manner of freshly prepared seafood followed by a sushi-making class.
The tour took efforts to balance the urban with the rural, taking us to the UNESCO heritage site of the Takayama mountain farming community, with traditional straw A-frame homes set amidst stunning alpine scenery. We also sailed the dazzling blue lake waters in Hakone National Park near snow-peaked Mt. Fuji, feeling as if we were in the middle of a picture postcard.
这次旅行继续进行,通过Shinkansen子弹列车到广岛,在和平公园纪念馆举行了醒目的历史课。对当地美食和公园的探索使心情降低了。
京都作为日本的古典资本的地位it an essential stop on any Japan tour. The Intrepid journey concluded there, with visits to centuries-old classic shrines and temples, interspersed with dining on traditional Kaiseki meals that were as tasty as they were artistic.
For first-timers to Japan, Intrepid’s Premium Japan Tour hits all the highlights, providing both a breadth and depth of experience to supply visitors with stories to share for years to come. The only downside of such a comprehensive tour is the time spent on transport between locations, with multiple multi-hour train rides required. For clients looking for more depth and less travel, I’d recommend tours with less geographic scope, focused on a specific region. Clients can always return for more!