"Go to Travel" and the Japanese Government’s Role In Restoring Japan’s Tourism Sector during the COVID-19 pandemic
Keywords:
Covid-19 pandemic, tourism, economic recovery plan, Japan, role of governmentAbstract
"Go to Travel" was the Japanese government's campaign, from July to December 2020, to revive Japan’s domestic tourism sector which had been severely impacted by COVID-19 since January 2020. This article aims to study the management procedures, the detail, and the economical effect of "Go to Travel" campaign, and the role of the Japanese government in restoring the tourism sector through the campaign. According to official government documents, the objectives of the campaign were to aid the domestic tourism sector and to promote a new kind of tourism in the COVID era. Although the campaign faced regulatory issues and new waves of COVID-19, the discounts for traveling packages and discount coupons for local tourist attractions increased hotel occupancy rates. The loss of room operating rates (when compared to the rate of the same months from 2019 to 2020) were lower in October and November 2020. These figures demonstrate that “Go to Travel” campaign was successful to a certain extent. The Japanese government took part in the allocation of budget, providing staff, and monitoring accordingly to the subcommittee, whose role was to provide consultation on policies relating to COVID-19. However, some reports suggest that the government neglected similar problems in the previous similar campaigns.
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