A "Go To" sign seen at a shop in Tokyo. (Image via Japan Today)

Go To Travel program to continue partially

On Thursday, Japan's Tourism Minister, Kazuyoshi Akaba, stated that the Government is considering resuming the "Go To Travel" subsidy program to enhance domestic tourism only in some parts of Japan. The policy seems to stay even though the state of emergency will be over by 7 March. 

The decision to resume the travel subsidy campaign came since the Japanese Government is most likely to lift the state of emergency against the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), second of its kind, for five prefectures at the end of February. The decision for the early lift of state of emergency is because these five prefectures have shown improvements and COVID-19 infection is no longer dire. They are Osaka, Kyoto, Hyogo, Aichi, and Gifu.

The decision for the early lift in these five prefectures will be effective on Friday after Japan's COVID-19 task force has consulted with the health panels.  While Fukuoka also pleaded to be excluded from the state of emergency list, no decision has been heard yet since the medical experts need to run more supervision and the bed occupancy is still high.

Announced on 7 January, the state of emergency was then extended to 7 March. Less strict than the previous state of emergency in Spring 2020, the second state of emergency only covered 11 prefectures hit the hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, as the pandemic is still raging in the capital and its vicinities, the Japanese Government doubts that the state of emergency in Tokyo and its vicinities is going to end on 7 March.

Speaking at a parliamentary session, Akaba revealed that the government does not have any plan to resume the travel subsidy program even after the state of emergency has been lifted. It requires a meticulous approach and supervision of each Japanese region before resuming the program, halted on 28 December 2020. Akaba also took the strident accusation that he was also partly responsible for another COVID-19 infection spike.

Source: https://bit.ly/3uJpghI