Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday reiterated his administration’s intent to restart economic activities carefully amid the COVID-19 pandemic, as the government launched a “Go To Travel” campaign on July 22 to shore up the hard-hit tourism industry. 

“We haven’t changed our stance of resuming economic activities carefully while seeking support from the people,” Abe told reporters at the prime minister’s office.

“We’ll take thorough measures to prevent coronavirus infections and save people from developing severe symptoms,” Abe stressed.

Under the Go To Travel campaign, the government will partly cover tourists’ costs, excluding those for trips to or from Tokyo for the time being, due to a recent surge in infections in the Japanese capital.

Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan parliamentary affairs chief Jun Azumi criticized the government on the day for starting the tourism promotion campaign before the number of cases in the country declines.

“The cabinet should resign en masse if the campaign leads to a rise in infections” outside Tokyo and other major cities, the senior official of the main opposition party said.

At a press conference, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga pointed to the need for tourism promotion as “regional economies are now in an extremely severe state.”

“It’s crucially important to prevent an explosive rise in infections and minimize the occurrence of infections, severe cases and fatalities,” Suga said.

The top government spokesman called on hotel operators and tourists to conduct body temperature checks, avoid crowds at restaurants and other places and use the government’s contact tracking smartphone app.

JIJI Press