Sapporo City and Osaka City have temporarily withdrawn from Japan’s “Go Travel” activity subsidies. Why is this?

Japan is a major international tourist country. Due to the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic, the number of tourists in Japan has dropped significantly this year compared to previous years. This has really had a huge impact on Japan’s tourism industry, especially For merchants who want to make a profit by relying on the tourism industry's revival this year, this is really a big blow. Therefore, in order to revive the domestic tourism market and prevent the domestic tourism industry from being too sluggish, the Japanese government has launched a "travel" activity subsidy. However, due to the recent apparent rebound of the local epidemic, the Japanese government has to reconsider adjustments or even withdraw this Subsidies for "travel" activities, especially recently, Sapporo City and Osaka City have taken the lead in withdrawing from this "travel" activity subsidy. The withdrawal time will be about three weeks. The decision on the time must be made after considering the future development of the epidemic.

In view of the current rebound of the epidemic in Japan, the number of infections has increased in many places. For example, on the 18th, the number of new cases in a single day in Japan exceeded 2,000 for the first time, and then exceeded this number for four consecutive days. As of the 23rd, Tokyo has the largest number of cumulative cases, with more than 38,000 cases, followed by Osaka Prefecture with nearly 18,000 cases, and Hokkaido with nearly 7,400 cases. In the past week, the top three regions with the highest number of infected people per 100,000 people were Hokkaido, Osaka Prefecture and Tokyo. ?

Therefore, Hokkaido Governor Suzuki Naomichi, who has always had a positive attitude in fighting the epidemic, announced on the 23rd that Sapporo City will suspend activity subsidies for "travel". On the same day, Osaka Governor Yoshimura Hirofumi also said that Osaka City would also temporarily withdraw its "travel" activity subsidies to prevent the epidemic from worsening.

The Japanese government’s new coronavirus infection countermeasures group meeting made a decision on the 20th. It will make adjustments to the activity subsidies for "travel". The adjustment will depend on the local epidemic situation and must be issued as soon as possible. Conclusion; The National Governors’ Meeting on the 23rd also stated that even within the same prefecture, there are differences in the epidemic situation, and asked the government to allow the option of regional restrictions.