Photo/Illutration The Arashiyama district in Kyoto is bustling with tourists on April 8. (Kenta Sujino)

The regional travel subsidy program “kenmin wari” to spur tourism will not apply to the upcoming Golden Week holidays to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the government decided on April 19. 

It plans to officially announce the decision on April 20.

Golden Week is an annual popular travel season in Japan, which will run from April 29 to May 8.

The decision comes as a blow to the travel industry, which had hoped that the travel subsidies would apply to the week-long holiday period.

The industry was banking on the tendency that Japanese travelers have developed during the pandemic to wait until the last minute to book trips. It had hoped that travelers would rush to make bookings if they were eligible for the travel subsidies during Golden Week. 

Under the program, half of travel expenses, or up to 5,000 yen ($39) per overnight stay, and shopping vouchers of up to 2,000 yen are subsidized by the government per person.

The program was originally designed for travel that prefectural residents made in their own prefectures and neighboring prefectures.

However, from April 1, the program applies to travel conducted within prefectures of the same group. From this date, prefectures were divided into six groups under the program.

In addition, only travelers who checked into accommodations by April 28 were originally eligible. The government also decided on April 19 that this date will be extended to May 31.

According to the Japan Tourism Agency, the program has been put in place in 44 prefectures as of April 15.

The nationwide travel subsidy program Go To Travel, which was suspended at the end of 2020, is not expected to resume any time soon.

As the nationwide number of new COVID-19 cases remains high, the government intends to support the travel industry with the kenmin wari program, which can be suspended or be resumed on a prefecture-by-prefecture basis.

Related News