Japan Govt Eyeing Extension of "Go To Travel" Campaign

Tokyo, Oct. 28 (Jiji Press)--The Japanese government is considering extending its Go To Travel campaign to continue supporting the tourism industry, which has been hit hard by the novel coronavirus epidemic, it was learned Wednesday.

Currently, the campaign is supposed to last until the end of January next year. Some in the ruling bloc are calling on the government to keep it in place until next year's Golden Week holiday period between late April and early May.

Go To Travel, which kicked off in July, offers discounts equivalent to 35 pct of travel costs and distributes coupons worth 15 pct of such costs that can be used at souvenir shops, eateries and other stores in travel destinations.

While the government has budgeted 1.35 trillion yen for the tourism promotion campaign, the amount of discounts totaled only 109.9 billion yen as of the end of September, according to the Japan Tourism Agency.

In October, the Go To Travel campaign started to cover trips to and from Tokyo, which were initially excluded due to a spike in novel coronavirus infection cases in the Japanese capital. The distribution of shopping coupons is starting in many areas of the country.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]