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Japan will run a new domestic tourism subsidy program from Oct. 11 to the end of December as part of efforts to boost domestic tourism and revive the economy hit by the coronavirus, Tourism Minister Tetsu Saito said.
“National Travel Discount” offers discounts and coupons of up to 11,000 yen ($77) per day per traveler, which can be used for food, shopping and accommodation expenses.
Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Minister Tetsu Saito speaks at a press conference in Tokyo on September 26, 2022. (kyodo)
The move comes alongside plans to remove the daily cap on overseas arrivals, set at 50,000 on October 11, as part of an easing of Covid-19 border control measures.
Japan will continue to allow people to enter the country visa-free on the day.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said at a press conference that Japan’s airports and seaports will begin preparations to resume international operations suspended due to the Covid-19 outbreak.
The national travel discount program, which is only available to Japanese residents, is the result of the “Go To Travel” subsidy program and expands on similar existing programs that operate at the prefectural level.
Under a system in which the national government subsidizes the costs incurred by prefectural authorities to implement such programs, the 47 prefectures are allowed to suspend the plan depending on their jurisdiction’s infection situation.
Presidential governments will have the power to decide whether or not to implement the scheme, making it unlikely that it will be rolled out across the country at once.
The new program was scheduled to begin in July but was postponed due to the country’s seventh wave of infections.
A total of 87.81 million people benefited from the travel program from July 22, 2020 to December 28, 2020 due to the spread of the Corona virus.
A photo taken on a shopping street in Tokyo’s Asakusa area on Dec. 19, 2020 shows a billboard advertising the Japanese government’s travel subsidy program. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
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