International spectators will not be allowed to attend the Tokyo Olympics this summer. The decision was announced on Saturday, after an online meeting between the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the Japanese government, the Tokyo government, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), and local organizers.
The IOC and IPC says that this decision was reached after the Japanese organizing parties came to the conclusion to prohibit overseas spectators.
“We share the disappointment of all enthusiastic Olympic fans from around the world, and of course the families and friends of the athletes, who were planning to come to the Games,” said IOC President Thomas Bach in the statement. “I know that our Japanese partners and friends did not reach this conclusion lightly," adding that the top priority is holding a "safe Olympic and Paralympic Games for everyone: all the participants and, of course, our gracious hosts, the Japanese people. We stand shoulder-to-shoulder at the side of our Japanese partners and friends, without any kind of reservation, to make the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020 a great success."
This news comes after more than a year of speculation and news reports surrounding the fate of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, including heightening concerns over the last few months—from the Japanese public, and athletes themselves, among others—about the risk of not only holding the postponed Olympics this summer, but of welcoming spectators from around the world. As new, more-infectious variants have begun to circulate, these concerns have become even louder (according to a Kyodo News story published earlier this month, 345 people throughout the country already had confirmed infections of one of the new variants from the U.K., Brazil, or South Africa). Currently, Japan's borders remain closed to foreign nationals, with speculation on when they may reopen. In a recent virtual event hosted by Condé Nast Traveler with the Tokyo Convention and Visitors Bureau, destination specialists predicted that even if the country were to open its borders to some travelers this spring, Americans would not be among the nationalities allowed in at that time.
The organizers say that this announcement will help travelers who had planned to visit for the event. "In order to give clarity to ticket holders living overseas and to enable them to adjust their travel plans at this stage, the parties on the Japanese side have come to the conclusion that they will not be able to enter into Japan at the time of the Olympic and Paralympic Games," the Tokyo organizing committee said in a statement.
Overseas ticketholders will be refunded—some 600,000 tickets were sold to those outside Japan—though travelers will be responsible for canceling all other travel arrangements, and any costs incurred in doing so. According to Tokyo 2020's website, all refund processes and policies will be organized by the authorized ticket sellers fans purchased tickets from, not the IOC and POC.
Hosting the Games without spectators is one of the few ways that this summer's pandemic-era Olympics have been predicted to play out (particularly as inside sources have repeatedly said that all-out cancellation of the international event is not an option, and that further postponement is also extremely unlikely). It is not yet clear what capacity limits will be set for Japanese spectators, though the spectator “playbook” released last month includes guidelines on attendee behavior, including restrictions on chanting or singing in the stands to reduce risk of COVID-19 transmission.
This article was originally published on March 10. It has been updated with new information.
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