Japan's bid to spur domestic tourism draws ire and praise

TOKYO • A Japanese government campaign to spur domestic tourism has drawn both enthusiasm and ire, with some social media users telling urbanites to stay away from rural areas after Covid-19 cases hit a record high in Tokyo.

The government aims to subsidise as much as half of eligible domestic travel costs through discounts and coupons during its "Go To Travel" campaign.

The campaign start was moved forward to July 22 - ahead of a four-day weekend - from August, Tourism Minister Kazuyoshi Akaba said last Friday.

"Despite the impact of the coronavirus crisis, people have passionate expectations for travel," he said.

Despite the government's push, "Please don't come here" was a common theme in tweets from those outside the capital.

Others asked whether official assurances that the health system still has room to handle new cases would still apply if infections spread outside major cities.

The pandemic has been felt differently across Japan's 47 prefectures.

Tokyo confirmed 243 new virus cases last Friday, a fresh daily record, 206 on Saturday and another 206 yesterday.

Meanwhile, Iwate, located on the coast north-east of Tokyo and offering the prospect of cooler summer weather than the capital, has had no confirmed cases at all.

"I know it's painful if we don't get the economy moving, but my prefecture's been at zero this whole time," one tweet on Friday read. "Rethink the Go To campaign."

The campaign is the tourism component of a broader initiative to aid local economies sapped by the pandemic. Border controls prompted by the virus saw the country's international tourism boom of the past several years abruptly vanish.

Just 1,700 foreign visitors arrived in May, down 99.9 per cent year on year for the second month running. Before the crisis, Japan had targeted 40 million visitor arrivals this year.

While kicking off cheaper travel during a holiday period sounds like an effective economic tonic, "it shouldn't be applied to trips to and from areas where community spread is feared at the moment", professor of Japanese politics and public administration Izuru Makihara of the University of Tokyo said by e-mail. "It would be best to flexibly adjust the applicable areas and dates in response to local infection conditions."

Infectious diseases professor Kentaro Iwata of Kobe University tweeted on Friday that Tokyo has fully entered the second wave of the pandemic. Responding to the "Go To Travel" launch date, he suggested the same "peer pressure" that has driven Japanese residents to voluntarily take measures against the virus is now being used to justify safety in numbers.

Mr Kenichi Furutachi, a spokesman for Taibokaku hotel in southern Japan, said: "I'm grateful for the initiative, given how much hotels are struggling."

But the sudden decision to bring the campaign start date forward has also created confusion on the ground, he said.

Officials said the situation has changed since April, when rising cases triggered a nationwide state of emergency that lasted into May.

They attributed the latest surge to increased testing, particularly connected with nightclubs, and emphasised that the medical system has not been overwhelmed.

Mr Yasutoshi Nishimura, the minister in charge of Japan's coronavirus response, took a slightly more guarded tone at a news conference yesterday, saying Japan must proceed with caution. "We are at a stage where we need to aim to prevent the further spread of infection, while maintaining economic and social activities."

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