The Japanese government is considering launching a nationwide travel discount program as early as this autumn, after a delay due to a surge in COVID-19 cases, sources familiar with the matter said Friday. 

Initially, the government planned to start the program, intended to support the hotel and transportation industries that were hit hard by the pandemic, in July.

The program will expand the existing scheme offering discounts and coupons for travel inside local regions.

Under the new program, costs for public transportation and accommodation will be reduced by up to 8,000 yen per night per person. Costs will be cut by up to 5,000 yen for accommodation only.

In addition, people will get coupons worth 3,000 yen on a weekday and 1,000 yen on weekends for use at restaurants.

The new program may not be available in some areas of the country depending on the COVID-19 situation, as decisions to introduce it will be left entirely up to prefectural governments.

In addition to the travel discount program, the Japanese government is considering removing its daily limit on the number of incoming travelers, reopening borders to individual foreign travelers and enabling visa-free travel next month.

The visa waiver program will be available for people from about 70 nations and regions, including the United States, who were eligible for visa-free short stays in Japan before the pandemic, a Japanese government official said.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is expected to announce the easing of border control measures during a trip to New York next week in order to tout the move to the international community.

Kishida told a meeting of Asian business leaders in Tokyo Thursday that Japan will soon relax its border control measures even further. “Free and lively people-to-people exchanges are the foundations of the economy and society,” he said.

He recently told aides that Japan-bound tourism and exports are key to the country’s economy amid a weaker yen, according to people familiar with their discussion.

JIJI Press