Society

Japan Tourism Agency to survey visitors from overseas about travel insurance

Nov 01 (Japan Times) - The Japan Tourism Agency will start a survey to check the number of visitors from abroad who have bought travel insurance, hoping to draw up measures to encourage more foreign visitors to get coverage, according to sources.

Some visitors enter Japan without travel insurance, receive medical treatment during their time here and then leave the country without paying for it.

The interview survey is likely to be conducted at airports when visitors leave Japan. The agency plans to work out the questions to be asked within the year and carry out the survey until the end of next March, the sources said.

The agency plans to ask whether visitors have bought travel insurance for their stays in Japan, and if so, what type of insurance it is.

Other questions are expected to include whether they suffered injury or illness during their stay, and if so whether they visited a medical institution.

A 2013 trial survey by the agency found that some 30 percent of foreign visitors did not buy travel or other insurance to cover potential medical costs during their stay.

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