Update: The expenses being covered are said to be for domestic travel (meaning foreign travellers won’t have their expenses covered). There are plans for ways to entice foreign travellers to visit Japan once they’re able to. Information was from this PDF (translated). We’ll update if anything changes. As with most things, plans can change and information becomes outside. We do our best to provide accurate information. 

It’s no question that the travel industry has been hit hard. This week, Japan’s tourism numbers were released and they’re down 99% for April 2020, with about 2900 foreign travellers to the country. In March 2020, tourism numbers were down 93%.

This doesn’t come as a surprise since Japan have travel bans that don’t allow travellers from a number of countries to enter.

The most interesting news is the Japanese government is planning a program that could cover half, yes half, of traveller’s expenses in the form of discounts on hotels, restaurants, events, and shopping. In hopes to entice people to visit Japan. This year was supposed to be the 2020 Summer Olympics, which has since been postponed until 2021, and tourism was increasing dramatically until COVID-19 stalled everything. The Japanese government is also helping those living in Japan with a 100,000 yen (US$930) payment.

This 1.35 trillion ($12.5 billion) program could start as early as July. Providing things calm down with COVID-19 and travellers are able to travel to Japan.

What could this mean for your future Japan trip?

An important note: This program is still in the planning stages. It’s not known what these “expenses” could cover in the end.

The first obvious thing is, saving money on your trip within Japan. This gives you more to spend on things to help the Japanese economy. On top of that, flights look like they’ll be cheap for the next while.

For those Explorers, who have trips booked later this year and beyond. There’s potential for you to save on your expenses. There’s plenty planned to, hopefully, open in 2020 such as the Beauty and the Beast expansion at Tokyo Disneyland and Super Nintendo World at Universal Studios Japan.

Saving money and experiencing world-class attractions? That’s a winning combination. However, would you feel comfortable travelling with the current state of the world?

Would you still travel?

We don’t know when things will begin to open up in a way that allows us to travel freely. Even then, would you want to? My question to you Explorers: Would you travel to Japan if the Japanese government is footing half the bill?

When you do decide to travel to Japan (whenever it’s safe) then make sure to bookmark our extensive travel guides to help with your planning.