HONG KONG — After 2 and a half years of strict controls to curb the coronavirus pandemic, some of Asia’s last holdouts are opening their borders and taking steps to boost their economies and catch up with a world that has largely learned to live with the virus.

Hong Kong said on Friday it would scrap mandatory hotel quarantine requirements for arrivals from this week, following a similar announcement by Taiwan. Japan said it would lift its daily limit on the number of arrivals and fully open to tourists from Oct. 11.

After the flurry of announcements last week, China became the only major country still implementing strict border controls, as the ruling Communist Party remains unwilling to abandon its “zero COVID-19” policy. Entry into China is mainly for its own citizens, who are still required to quarantine in a hotel for seven days at their own expense.

When the coronavirus pandemic swept the world in early 2020, many governments in Asia quickly closed their borders, with most regions not allowing non-residents to enter. Reopening borders has been a difficult and slow process, with officials concerned about the vulnerability of their elderly populations to the virus and fears that their health systems would collapse.

But staying in isolation has become unbearable, especially as much of the world has fully reopened. With their economies struggling and free of big-spending tourists, business leaders in Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan are increasingly pressuring officials to rethink their virus policies.

Over the past two years, both Japan and Hong Kong have missed out on hosting major global gatherings that are crucial to their status as important regional hubs.

Although the Tokyo Olympics, originally scheduled to open in August 2020, has been postponed for one year,Spectators are not allowed to attend most eventsHong Kong’s high-profile events, such as Art Basel, the rugby sevens and a regional finance conference, have been canceled because of the ban on non-residents.

Perceptions of the pandemic are changing. In Asia, while infections are surging in many regions, hospitalizations and deaths are falling as recently circulating variants have proven less virulent. As vaccination rates increase, authorities have been able to withstand higher infection numbers.

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesusexpressthe end of the COVID-19 pandemic is “in sight”, suggesting that many governments are ready to start envisioning a post-COVID world.

“We absolutely understand that we must protect the overall controllable situation of the epidemic while also allowing society to have the maximum normal and economic activities (space),” Hong Kong’s top leader John Lee said before announcing the easing of restrictions last Friday.

It was the most forthright acknowledgment yet that strict rules tied to mainland China’s coronavirus containment policies have exacted a toll that Hong Kong officials are no longer willing to bear.

Hong Kong has had some of the world’s strictest quarantine requirements for much of the pandemic, at one point requiring arrivals to undergo a mandatory 21-day hotel quarantine. Officials announced Friday the policy, which will take effect this week, requiring only that visitors take a COVID-19 test within a few days of arriving and undergo home medical monitoring.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida also affirmed the importance of international tourists to Japan’s economy.

“People around the world have been asking, ‘When can we go to Japan?'” Kishida said before the new rules were announced last Wednesday, according to public broadcaster NHK. “Now, I want them to make plans to visit Japan and come here to taste Japanese food.”

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen said the country is ready to rebuild ties with the rest of the world.

“We have finally reached the final stage of the epidemic,” Tsai wrote on her Facebook page. “Now, we must do our utmost to revive tourism, stimulate the economy, and lead Taiwan’s economic development!”

Tourism in much of East Asia has been slow to recover due to entry restrictions. Willie Walsh, director general of the International Air Transport Association, said in April that Hong Kong, once a major aviation hub, has “now virtually disappeared from the route map.”statisticsThe number of passenger flights taking off and landing was only 5,080, compared with 30,000 in the same period of 2019.

According to the Japan External Trade Organization, Japan earned about $46.1 billion from foreign tourists in 2019. After the outbreak of the epidemic, this income almost disappeared.

Before the latest measures, Japan had tried intermittently to restart tourism. The government adjusted its rules in June to allow foreign groups of tourists to enter the country, and changed entry rules again in September, but still kept strict controls on the number of tourists.

Tourism has been slow to recover: just 12,405 tourists arrived in June, according to Japanese government data.

Japan’s reopening could unleash a huge amount of pent-up travel demand, providing a much-needed boost to the country’s tourism and hospitality industries.Government datanearly 32 million international tourists visited Japan in 2019, three times the number six years ago.

But inbound tourism is unlikely to return to pre-pandemic levels any time soon. Chinese tourists accounted for about 30% of inbound visitors to Japan in 2019, and Chinese outbound travel is strictly restricted under the Chinese government’s strict COVID-19 policy.

To encourage domestic tourism, Japan plans to offer residents government-subsidized discounts on hotels, restaurants and certain entertainment activities, Kishida said, reviving the “Go To Travel” program launched by Kishida’s predecessor to boost domestic tourism, which was hit hard in the early months of the pandemic.

Hong Kong will also find that tourism will not return too quickly. Hong Kong needs to find a balance between obeying Beijing, which has the final say over Hong Kong affairs, and meeting the demands of the international community, so it cannot go as far as its neighbors in opening up.

While Hong Kong’s new rules are a significant change, they still prohibit tourists from going to restaurants and bars during the three-day mandatory medical monitoring period, raising questions about whether the new rules will be attractive enough for tourists who want to visit Hong Kong briefly.

The new rules will be tested in the coming weeks, with global bank chiefs expected to descend on Hong Kong for a summit the government has billed as proof that the city still lives up to its self-proclaimed title of “Asia’s world city.” Hong Kong will also host a financial technology conference and the rugby sevens in November, an annual tournament that was one of the city’s biggest events before the pandemic.

But whether Beijing changes its strict rules is what matters most to the many small businesses in Hong Kong that rely on mainland tourists.

“This policy doesn’t help us much because our business still depends mainly on tourists from the mainland, who have stronger spending power than tourists from Europe and the United States,” said Wang Da, 50, who runs a seafood restaurant on Lamma Island that specializes in local delicacies such as fried crab with ginger and clams in black bean sauce.

“I hope more European and American tourists can come (to Lamma Island), so that our business will be better, but I think our revenue may not be able to return to the pre-epidemic level,” said Mr. Wang, who also said that there was basically no business during the epidemic.

Asian governments need to do more to help their economies.

Japan’s economy has slowly begun to recover, with more shoppers filling malls and families dining out.The yen has plummetedThe slowdown has inflicted pain on domestic consumers, with the yen recently hovering at its lowest level in nearly 25 years.

Unable to recover from the measures that have forced restaurants and bars to close for weeks or months at a time, thousands of small businesses in Hong Kong have closed permanently. The tough measures, along with a government crackdown on opposition in the former British colony, have prompted young people, expats and multinational companies to leave the city permanently.

Although Taiwan’s economy remains relatively healthy thanks to the semiconductor industry, the tourism industry has also been greatly affected. Taiwan has restricted the number of visitors during the epidemic, and for a period of time even completely banned non-residents from entering. In 2019, the number of tourists visiting Taiwan reached 11.8 million, but last year there were only 140,479.

“The days of counting the days until we can travel abroad are finally coming to an end,” said Apoliel Lin, a 36-year-old tour guide who lives in Taichung. “This is a timely relief for the tourism industry.”