Japan Says It Will NOT Cover Cover Half of Your Travel Expenses

Japan has seen a decline of 99% in tourists. In April for example, only 2,900 tourists visited Japan. That is 99% less than the 2,926,685 people who visited the country last year in the same month.

A report from Japan Times a few days ago, said that the Japanese government was considering a plan to cover half of tourists’ expenses. That probably got some people looking at Japan as their next travel destination, once it is safe to do so. I also wrote about it here at Danny the Deal Guru. Tourist refund was supposed to be part of a $12.5 billion plan to attract foreigners once the COVID-19 pandemic was under control. But apparently it was too good to be true.

With the publicity that the proposal received, the Japan Tourism Agency was forced to dismiss these reports in a series of tweets posted on its official twitter account in both Japanese and English. The agency clarified that the plan is aimed at boosting domestic travel demand within Japan.

Regarding reports by some news outlets that “The Japanese government is considering a campaign to help foreign tourists visiting Japan by offering support for half of their travel expenses,” please note that the Go to Travel Campaign under consideration by the Japanese government is to stimulate domestic travel demand within Japan after the Covid-19 pandemic and only cover a portion of domestic travel expenses.