The "Go To Travel" tourism promotion campaign got off an uneasy start Wednesday, as a nationwide increase in the number of novel coronavirus infections and a government reversal on the campaign threw would-be travelers and the domestic tourism industry into confusion.
Initially, the government said the costs of trips to and from Tokyo would not be covered by the program, due to an increasing number of infected people in Tokyo, and said it had no plans to provide compensation for the cancellations of bookings. On Tuesday, however, one day before the start of the campaign, the government changed course and said it would shoulder fees for canceling travel bookings.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe commented on the significance of the campaign to reporters at the Prime Minister's Office on Wednesday. "Our policy of cautiously resuming economic activities remains unchanged. We will continue to make sure that we prevent infection and prevent serious illness," Abe said.
The government plans to include 1.3 trillion yen for the program in the budget, to subsidize the cost of up to 35% of domestic trip expenses and provide shopping vouchers for up to a 15% discount during trips.
The 35% discount on travel costs is available starting Wednesday, and the discount vouchers will be distributed from September.
Ahead of a four-day holiday starting Thursday, expectations are high in the tourism industry, which has been severely affected by the new coronavirus, observers said.
A ceremony to welcome visitors was held at Kansai Airport in Osaka Prefecture on Wednesday to coincide with the opening of the program. Before All Nippon Airways flights that departed Wednesday morning for Ishigaki and Miyako, both in Okinawa Prefecture, ANA employees saw the passengers off at the boarding gate of the airport.
JR Group companies have launched their own "Let's go on a trip! Enjoy Japan!" campaign.
However, "Go To Travel" will likely have only a limited economic effect, as the government has excluded Tokyo from the program.
Toshihiro Nagahama, a researcher at Dai-Ichi Life Research Institute Inc. initially predicted the program would boost demand by about 1 trillion yen, equivalent to about 0.2% of gross domestic product, but now he estimates the effect on demand will be to about 600 billion yen.
Many major travel agencies have not yet registered for the government's travel program, and are still unable to launch any significant campaigns.
Travel companies and tourist facilities that participate in the campaign are asked to take proper measures to prevent infections.
The city of Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture, has installed an automatic thermographic measurement system at the exit for disembarking passengers at Shimoda Station on the Izukyu Line. It was to start measuring the body temperatures of passengers using the station from Thursday.
Beachgoers from Kanagawa, Chiba and Ibaraki prefectures are expected to flock to Shimoda, as beaches in those prefectures are not opened due to the spread of the virus.
Shimoda aims to stop the spread of the disease by measuring people's temperatures at the station.
"I'm worried that the number of infected people in Tokyo is on the rise, but we want to take measures and welcome customers," the president of the Shimoda View Hotel said.
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