Tokyo may be added to Japan’s tourism campaign from October

The Japan News / ANN

The Yomiuri Shimbun

The government may add Tokyo to its “Go To Travel” tourism promotion campaign from Oct. 1, after so far excluding travel to and from the capital due to the surge in novel coronavirus infections there.

New cases of infection in Tokyo have been on a downward trend since mid-August. The government will decide after taking into account the opinion of experts at a subcommittee meeting on novel coronavirus infection measures, to be held on Friday.

“Go To Travel” is aimed at stimulating consumption while balancing economic activity and prevention of the virus’ spread. The government subsidizes 35% of domestic travel costs, and coupons that can be used at tourist facilities during a trip will also be distributed, in amounts equal to a maximum of 15% of a person’s travel expenses.

This scheme to subsidize travel costs was supposed to start nationwide on July 22, but the government decided to exclude Tokyo at the last minute.

According to the Tokyo metropolitan government, the average daily number of new coronavirus infections in the week to Wednesday was 148.6. This is lower than the figure of 186.6 cases on July 15, when the metropolitan government raised its four-level alert assessment concerning the spread of the virus to the most serious level.

Wednesday’s figure is also lower than the maximum seen during the state of emergency, which was 167.0 cases. The average positive rate of PCR tests was 3.5%, down more than two percentage points from 6.0% on July 15.

In light of this situation, the Tokyo metropolitan government judged that the spread of infections has been halted to some extent, and decided to lower the alert to the second-highest level on Thursday.

As for the alert level for the medical services system, the metropolitan government maintained the current second-most serious level, as the number of hospitalized patients and deaths has not fallen markedly.

The Tokyo metropolitan government also decided to lift, from Sept. 16, its request that restaurants serving alcohol in the capital’s 23 wards close by 10 p.m. The current request is effective through Sep. 15.

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