Lifestyle

Japan wants to pay for part of your flights when it’s safe to travel again


Kawaguchiko Lake and Mt Fuji in Japan (Picture: Getty Images)

Japan was hoping 2020 would be a huge year for tourism after the success of the 2019 Men’s Rugby World cup and then the Olympics and Paralympics this summer.

But with the outbreak of the coronavirus and the sporting events postponed until next year, the country saw a 99.9% drop in visitors year-on-year.

Currently, Japan has banned visitors from over 100 countries across the world, unless there are exceptional circumstances.

Anyone entering the country also has to quarantine for 14 days and refrain from using public transportation.

There have been 16,628 confirmed cases in the country and 851 deaths.

They hope to attract people to Tokyo again (Picture: Getty Images)

Looking forward to when restrictions can be eased (although no one knows when that will be exactly) and they can start welcoming visitors again, the government is starting to put plans in place to try to revive the tourism industry.

According to The Japan Times, Hiroshi Tabata, head of the Japan Tourism Agency, said that the government wants to boost domestic tourism by subsidising some of the flight costs for visitors, once the outbreak is under control.

A ¥1.35 trillion (£10bn) funding package could be launched in July if coronavirus infections continue to subside.

You could visit the Chureito Pagoda (Picture: Getty Images)

The exact details of the programme have not yet been revealed and it would all depend on what can be done safely as they don’t want to risk a second spike in infections.

It could be something like a scheme in Sicily in Italy, where visitors will get half of flight costs, a third of hotel costs and tickets to museums covered.

Eager tourists will apparently be able to get a voucher soon after the country reopens its borders to visit soon after.

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