The "National Travel Assistance" program started by the Japan Tourism Agency on October 11 was sold out in the morning of October 14 in many areas.
I also tried to make a reservation on the JAL website to take advantage of this opportunity to return to my hometown in Fukuoka, but access to the website was so heavy from the first day that I was unable to make a reservation.
In some areas, reservations can still be made, and in others, they were closed and then reopened, leaving the field in confusion.
The "National Travel Support Program" is a nationwide extension of the prefectural discount program, which was initiated to support travel-related businesses and local restaurants that have been suffering from the Corona disaster. The budget for this project is said to be about 560 billion yen, but this amount includes the prefectural residents' discount, and it seems that some prefectures have already spent most of their budgets on the prefectural residents' discount, leaving only a little money for the national travel support program.
Travel assistance is 11,000 yen per night (8,000 yen discount and 3,000 yen coupon), so if all project expenses were allocated to "National Travel Assistance," it would be for 5.09 million nights. If one person stays two nights, this would mean that 2.545 million people could use the program.
However, if only the remainder of the prefectural residents' discount is used, this figure will be much lower.
Neither the government nor local governments have disclosed how much money is left in each prefecture's budget, but the prefectures that have already put an end to the program (Tokyo began accepting applications on October 20) may have had less money left in their budgets.
That said, few people would be convinced if, despite the much-publicized start of national travel support for the period from October 11 through December 20, the program ends after only a couple of days because the budget has run out.
The Chief Cabinet Secretary has stated that the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, which is in charge of the Tourism Agency, will make additional allocations, but when and how much will be added has not yet been determined.
Therefore, there is little hope of using the "National Travel Assistance" to return to Fukuoka. It is a pity.
