TOKYO: The Japanese government is now considering compensating for travel cancellations prompted by a revision to a subsidy program under its Go To Travel campaign, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga suggested July 20. 

“We’ll immediately consider necessary measures after grasping the actual situation” over the revised program, Suga told a press conference.

Suga indicated that the government will make a decision on the matter before the travel subsidy program will start on July 22.

On July 17, the top government spokesman had denied that the government would compensate for travel cancellations following the program revision.

Last week, the government excluded trips to or from Tokyo for the time being from the subsidy program, in light of a recent surge in COVID-19 infections in the Japanese capital.

The exclusion triggered a spate of cancellations of travel bookings, with both ruling and opposition lawmakers calling for government compensation.

JIJI Press