Do you think the government's Go To Travel campaign was a good idea but the timing was wrong? Or do you think it was bad idea anyway? Did you use it?

"Do you think the government's Go To Travel campaign was a good idea but the timing was wrong? Or do you think it was bad idea anyway? Did you use it?"

I'm not a Japanese citizen, so no, I didn't use it.

Bad idea? it was a terrible idea with terrible timing.

It would've been the perfect plan to revive the economy if it was launched when this pandemic is completely behind us, but would be disastrous if it was done during the pandemic, which the government did.

Yes, the idea itself is fine for a post Covid Japan.

But to do it in the midst of a Global pandemic: The timing was absolutely (if not criminally) idiotic; comical in its negligence.

According to my Japanese friends - who I haven't been able to visit for more than a year - it was a TERRIBLE idea. Herd mentality still rules, in a country where unfortunately individual intelligence is repressed.

Terrible idea, but I bet Suga is not going to admit to it.

A politically motivated action which is having disastrous human and economic results ... politics as usual.

Conceptually a good idea but horrible timing and also really poor decision to keep it going once things turned bad.

We used it when I had a business trip (kind of splurged on a discount) and used the vouchers at smaller restaurants and it was obivous the restauranteers really appreciated it.

As noriah said above - it can be improved based on lessons learned during the first time around...

It would be quite useful as a "kick start to the economy" tool once the pandemic is under control.

While by far not the greatest idea telling everyone to go travel everywhere (while spreading the virus even more), the campaign did somewhat help the almost dead tourism industry and related businesses. It was a big gamble.

No, it was a terrible idea. Promoting travel and socialising in the middle of a deadly pandemic is stupid, immoral and negligent.

Terrible idea. Didn't use it

It turns out to become a highly unpopular state-run program (almost equal to Abenomask?) though several follow-up data confirm its big positive contribution to target industries as well as the entire economy. Timing is the key. Besides, who should lead the campaign also count a lot. It's an open secret that Nikai, a top LDP heavyweight and staunch GoTo proponent, is backed or lobbied by tourism industry and inbound businesses (especially from China and Korea).

As a redistribution policy, I feel GoTo is not yet fair and effective. Policy details were often and arbitrarily changed such as in discount rate. Loopholes and unlawful acts if not crimes were also reported.

I wouldn't oppose the basic idea behind GoTo, but feel a need of comprehensive overhaul for any upgrades if resumed.

It was a bad idea because it was counter to the over all message of only essential travel. The messaging does make a difference in people's mentality overall.

The program did provide much needed support for the struggling tourism industry, and it could be argued that those traveling would have been outside locally regardless, and it was just the area they were spreading it that was different. Probably should have shut it down earlier, but hind sight 20/20

No, this is a bad idea in such times. Many people can't think in consequences and Japanese government can't think in the long run. The economy gets stimulated for a week, two... But it increased the risk of infection as more people stimulated the economics.

I highly doubt the economics got more ("stimulated") than the government spent for the whole go2travel campaign (I couldn't find the numbers and I'd wonder if they were made public here).

I can't remember a single good idea a government ever had.

Not a bad idea in my opinion, but poor timing, although it was meant to help businesses out during the pandemic I'm not sure the timing could ever be appropriate unless they do it again when the pandemic ends. I sure didn't receive any coupon book, being a foreign resident living in Saitama. Maybe I missed something?

Anyways, probably a 4 day work week or more vacation days would help the Japanese economy and domestic tourism more than just a campaign once in a while. I'm sure we'll get if the Olympics are a good idea, just bad timing also once they've been cancelled or finished.

Great idea in principal and if the Pandemic can be controlled then should be reinstated for late Spring/Summer to get things moving again. I did use it 3 times. The Restaurants were incredibly grateful. Should have clearly been suspended at the end of October.

I thought it was a good idea for inner prefectural travel but definitely not for inter-prefectural travel especially to and from those that had a large number of virus cases.

The bigger the player, the more it will have helped them, with JTB, Booking.com, Rakuten, Yahoo Travel etc., big hotel chains, and the airlines at the top. Many of the cashback coupons too will also have been used at big retailers and big restaurant chains, not mom and pop shops.

As a way of helping small players, I doubt it did very much. It is also very shortsighted to view Covid-19 as affecting restaurants/bars and hotels only.

In time or convid bad idea.

I used it all the way up to the end and it was great! It was also good to see others out and about enjoying themselves. Got some great deals and the women I took with me loved it too. It’s a shame people blindly beleive what they read in the media and didn’t take advantage of it.

I used and liked it, as I spent about 30% of what the normal price was for two trips in late summer. However, I'm very sure it contributed to the spread of the virus by tempting people who may have otherwise stayed at home, to go out and risk catching and/or spreading the disease. Because of that, I'd say the timing was bad, although many businesses may have been buoyed by the campaign. Try it again when the pandemic is officially over and people are confident things are back to normal and the risk is virtually nil. Don't know much about economics, but I think it will be a huge hit if done around the Olympics (next year) and could help the country rebound quickly. I know many people, myself included, who can't wait for this to roll around again.

I used it a lot. Tourists spots were empty. So we’re restaurants. Shinkansen trains had very few people. Actually three were in a green car going to Kyoto. (We were two of the three) The regular car in front of us had nine passengers.

All the tourists places made for great photo opportunities as there were so few tourists.

Wish it was still on, as we are still traveling because the discounts were very good. We are paying more, but the mom and pop restaurants were very clean and careful. And the chefs were able to really attend to what we wanted.

Used it right up to December 27th,

Cant wait for it restart, in the meantime hotels are offering good discounts.