(No Like Yet)
Published on : Tuesday, July 21, 2020
The Japanese government’s upcoming campaign for resurrecting domestic tourism amid the COVID-19 pandemic has given rise to controversy because of recent reappearance in the number of confirmed cases in Japan.
Experts have opined that the outbreak is likely to continue for long, and combating the pandemic while promoting tourism recovery is bound to be difficult. Recovery of Japan’s tourism industry might prove to be a long process.
The beginning of this year has seen number of foreigners visiting Japan dwindle significantly due to the pandemic, with stagnation of domestic travel.
Accommodation, catering, transport and tourism-related retail and souvenir production are all witnessing an extremely difficult condition, with unemployment and bankruptcies increasing rapidly.
The number of foreigners visiting Japan dropped 58.3 per cent in February and 93 per cent in March from a year earlier. Japanese citizens also spent quite less on domestic travel.
As per Japan Tourism Agency of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Japanese people spent about 23.2 trillion Yen ($216.7 billion) on domestic travel last year, accounting for more than 80 per cent of the country’s tourism market.
For assisting the tourism industry, the Japanese government plans to boost domestic travel and launch a domestic travel promotion campaign called “Go To Travel” from 22nd of this month.
Each tourist can get a subsidy of up to 20,000 Yen per day while embarking on a lodging trip, while a one-day round trip can be subsidized up to 10,000 Yen.
In Tokyo, 290 new cases were confirmed on Saturday.