The programme is aimed at promoting tourism during the off-season months of February and March, avoiding the year-end and New Year holidays.
The subsidies’ limit will be lowered to ¥13,000, down from ¥20,000 before it was suspended last December due to the rise in Covid-19 cases. It was initially launched in July 2020.
A final decision will be made after assessing the status of the new coronavirus outbreak.
The subsidies have been reduced in consideration of the organic increase in demand in response to a decline in Covid-19 cases. To avoid their use being concentrated on weekends, subsidies for weekdays will be higher.
The maximum discount on lodging and other travel expenses will be reduced from ¥14,000 to ¥10,000, and coupons that can be used at travel destinations will be reduced from ¥6,000 to ¥3,000 on weekdays and ¥1,000 on holidays.
The timing of the travel campaign’s resumption will likely be mid-January and February to avoid the year-end and New Year holidays when many people return home and travel.
Natsuo Yamaguchi, leader of ruling coalition member Komeito, said on television on Saturday that “February 2022 is a reasonable time” to reopen.
For the time being, the Go To Travel programme is expected to last until the spring holidays starting in late April.
There is a proposal to continue the programme after the holidays by lowering the maximum amount by one more level in order to reduce a flood of demand at the end of the programme and the reactionary decline after the holidays.
The tourism industry is calling on the government to resume the Go To Travel programme as soon as possible, given the decrease in the number of infected people.
The government will first expand the prefectural government’s own subsidy system for in-prefecture travel discounts within this year, and then consider adding discounts for travel to neighbouring prefectures.
The government suffered criticism for continuing the Go To programme in the fall of 2020, even when a third wave of infections began to spread.
This time, the government plans to reassess the timing of the resumption if it determines that the situation has reached a point where the medical system may be strained by a sixth wave, which is expected to arrive in the winter.
It will also consider whether the new oral Covid-19 treatment drugs can be put to practical use.