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A multi-billion dollar Japanese campaign to boost domestic tourism faced uncertainty on Thursday as coronavirus cases grew in Tokyo, with government ministers and experts looking at ways to stop the virus being spread from the capital.<\/p>\n
Minister of Transport Kazuyoshi Akaba told reporters he was proposing implementing the \u201cGo To\u201d campaign but without travel to and from the capital, where new cases of the coronavirus are causing alarm.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would like to hear what our experts think about starting it on July 22 with Tokyo residents, or the city as a destination, not included,\u201d Akaba told reporters.<\/p>\n
The concerns in Japan highlight a conundrum facing countries around the world over how to balance reviving economies battered by the coronavirus while safeguarding public health.<\/p>\n
Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura was also due to meet the experts to discuss the tourism campaign a day after Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike questioned its timing and methods.<\/p>\n
Japan has not seen the kind of explosive spread of the coronavirus that has killed tens of thousands in other countries. But Tokyo has raised its coronavirus alert to the highest level after a series of new cases.<\/p>\n
Tokyo on Thursday reported a record 286 new cases, the government said.<\/p>\n
The government\u2019s top spokesman, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, said Japan had 19,000 hospital beds and plenty of medical supplies to cope with the outbreak.<\/p>\n
He also noted the devastating economic impact of the coronavirus on Japan\u2019s regions with most foreign tourists banned from entering the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe hope the Go To campaign supports tourism and the food and beverage industry and brings about a social and economic recovery so that the regions can escape this severe situation,\u201d Suga told a news conference.<\/p>\n
\u2018THINK AGAIN\u2019<\/b><\/p>\n
The campaign will see travellers get subsidies of as much as 50% to boost tourism-reliant economies outside major population areas. <\/p>\n
Nishimura said earlier he wanted to hear the opinions of the experts on containment measures, such as preventing big gatherings and ensuring ventilation on transport.<\/p>\n
The government is keen to avoid a return to the stay-at-home restrictions that helped contain the virus but hurt the economy, putting it on course to shrink at its fastest pace in decades this fiscal year.<\/p>\n
Opposition lawmakers and others have raised concern that with infections in Tokyo running at their highest level since the outbreak began, city folk could spread the virus through regions that have been relatively lightly hit.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t see why it can\u2019t be delayed a bit, or it could be limited to certain regions,\u201d said Ryuta Ibaragi, governor of Okayama in the west of the country, which has had just 29 infections out of Japan\u2019s total tally of 23,000 cases.<\/p>\n
\u201cBased on the current situation with infections, I really want them to think again about the timing and method for implementing\u201d the campaign, Koike said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Underscoring the plight of the travel industry, overseas visitors to Japan totalled just under 4 million in the first half of the year, data showed on Wednesday, just a tenth of the government\u2019s full-year target of 40 million.<\/p>\n
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