Japan's domestic summer travel discount, not another Go To Travel

Domestic travelers in Japan could be set to enjoy discounted travel this summer after the government announced on Friday a new stimulus program for domestic tourism targeting the entire country. 

Announced by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, the new as yet unnamed program is set to begin in the first half of July 2022. It will differ from the previous Go To Travel subsidy program and current prefectural travel discounts as authorities look to achieve a better regional spread of tourism demand and reach the small to medium-sized businesses which the Go To Travel subsidy was criticized for failing to have reached. 

Under the new measures a discount of 40 percent will be offered on travel packages that make use of public transportation, providing a subsidy of up to 8,000 yen per person per night. The coupons that can be used at souvenir stores, among other travel-related businesses, will be making a comeback, too - 3,000 yen’s worth available on weekdays, 1,000 yen on weekends and holidays. In total then, travelers could take advantage of up to 11,000 yen in discounts per night under the new stimulus program. The new subsidies look set to be made available for travel packages with any region of Japan as a destination. 

The period of duration for the new subsidy is, for now, from the first half of July to the end of August, excluding Obon and other peak travel periods.

Currently, a prefectural discount program offers a 50 percent discount on the cost of travel within the target prefecture, with a maximum subsidy of 5,000 yen per person per night and 2,000 yen in coupons. This program will end on July 14, according to the ministry. The Go To Travel subsidy program, which began in July 2020, offered a discount of 50 percent on overnight-stay travel packages (in the combination of a straight discount and coupons) with a limit of 20,000 yen per person per night.  

While ‘Go To’ looks to have offered better savings for domestic Japan travelers compared to the new subsidy, the larger discounts and limits on long-distance travel during the latter program saw many travelers use the subsidy to enjoy higher-end accommodation and other travel-related services than they might have otherwise, meaning small-to-mid-sized accommodations in particular missed out on any increase in demand. 

The new program is aimed at “leveling the playing field,” according to Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Tetsuo Saito.  

“Based on analysis of the issues that arose during the previous Go To Travel subsidy and the trends in tourism demand to date, one of the measures is to increase the maximum discount amount for travel products with transportation in order to reach tourism in rural areas and to diversify travel demand,” Saito told a press conference on Friday. 

“By implementing nationwide tourism demand stimulus measures, we expect to encourage travelers to travel further afield and disperse demand from holidays to weekdays.”

Perhaps wary of criticism aimed at the Go To Travel subsidy for having been launched too early during the coronavirus pandemic - garnering it the moniker ‘go to trouble’ - the government seems to be distancing the new stimulus program from its predecessor.  

Under the new measures prefectural authorities will have greater autonomy to decide whether or not they want the subsidy to be made available to travelers to their region, based on local conditions regarding the coronavirus.

“If a prefecture does not wish to encourage the visit of travelers, this will be respected. This is a difference from ‘Go To,’ Saito said. 

With fears surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan appearing to be on the wane in 2022 the domestic travel industry seems to be showing shoots of recovery. Spending on domestic travel for the period of January-March in 2022 was 2.2 trillion yen, an increase of 35.4 percent from the same period of the previous year, although still down 47.7 percent from the same period in 2019, according to preliminary data released by the Japan Tourism Agency.  

Announcement of the new subsidy comes as the government looks to restore the country’s economy and lifestyle to something resembling pre-pandemic days. However, the government said it will assess the situation regarding coronavirus infections for June and launch the new domestic travel subsidy program if the situation has improved. 

“The first point is creating domestic demand for tourism,” Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told a press conference on June 15.  

“If improvements in the state of infections can be confirmed, then from early July in order to support local tourism even more vigorously, with regard to support for local tourism businesses, we will implement measures to precipitate tourism demand, with the entire country covered by these measures,” he said. 

Assessment of the situation regarding coronavirus infections for June will also likely take into consideration the effect, if any, of the first international ‘tourists’ to have arrived in Japan in around two years after the government resumed procedures to accept foreign leisure visitors from June 10. As of Friday, more than 1,300 people had applied to travel to Japan on the strictly guided tours, according to news reports.  

Japan’s hesitant resumption of entry into the country for tourism purposes has been met with some derision by would-be international travelers hungry to visit the country, many of whom have been separated from loved ones based in Japan throughout the pandemic. Taking to social media platforms some overseas observers have described the guided tours as xenophobic and something they might have expected from North Korea.