Japan's Prime Minister Kishida Fumio has said the country will resume allowing inbound tourism which had been suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Kishida said on Thursday that Japan will reopen its borders to foreign tourists, starting on June 10. Only visitors on escorted package tours will be allowed to enter for the time being, to prevent the spread of the virus.

The government will double its current cap on the number of arrivals from overseas to 20,000 per day from June 1. The figure will include foreign sightseers.

Japan will let in tourists from 98 countries and territories that are classified as having the lowest coronavirus positivity rates. They will include the United States, South Korea and China.

Visitors from the lowest-risk group will be exempt from virus testing and self-quarantine even if they have not been vaccinated against COVID-19.

Reopening the border to foreign sightseers is expected to rejuvenate the tourism industry and local economies that have been hit hard by the pandemic.

However, analysts say it will take time for Japan's inbound tourism to return to its pre-pandemic levels, when foreign visitors topped 30 million per year.

Attention is focused on whether the country will be able to let in more foreign tourists while keeping the domestic infection situation under control.