Tokyo Olympics bans overseas spectators this year due to the fear of coronavirus spread. Various stakeholders of the Olympics and Paralympics came to this conclusion after a video conference.
Tokyo Olympics bans overseas spectators amidst fear of coronavirus spread
Soon, a statement was released from the Olympic organizing committee. It stated that the current pandemic situation had forced them not to allow people to fly down to Japan during summers for the Olympics. They wanted to clarify this to everyone who has booked or plans to book tickets to travel to Japan for the event. The announcement will help the people to change their travel plans.
People who plan to travel to Japan to witness the Olympics and Paralympics will not be allowed. Parties on the Japanese side have stressed this ban to safeguard the interest of their citizens. The international committees for the Olympics and Paralympics respect their move and accept it too.
President of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, said that there have to sacrifices to make the event work.
Information related to ticket refund
Fans who had booked their tickets overseas for the events will receive a full refund. They stated that there would be more information on this statement as they process how to go about it.
Tokyo Olympics was supposed to happen in 2020 but was postponed due to the pandemic. Before that, the organizers had revealed that around 4.5 million were sold to Japanese residents for Olympics and around 9,70,000 for Paralympics. However, there were no details shared about purchases from overseas.
According to the deputy executive director of marketing of the organizing team, Hidenori Suzuki, around 10% to 20% of total sales were from abroad.
Flak against Olympics Games in Japan
There is a lot of skepticism about having the Olympics Games in Japan. According to Anthony Kuhn from NPR, the public is going against the Olympics.
According to a recent poll held by NHK, 80% of Japanese support the cancelation of the event amidst coronavirus fear. However, delaying the event further will affect the organizers.
Anthony Kuhn stated that the costs jumped by 22% at around $15.5 billion. The estimates show that this Tokyo Olympics will be the most expensive event on record.
Concluding facts
The Olympics will start on July 23, while Paralympics from August 24.
Athletes have their hopes and desires to participate in the Tokyo Olympics amidst the fear of cancelation and COVID-19.
With a population of 126 million people, Japan has handled the COVID crisis much better than many other countries. The death toll is 9251, and much lower than most countries.
