Saga Prefecture is launching the “Kyushu Recovery Support Saga Campaign,” a travel assistance program that subsidizes up to 50 percent of travel costs. Online travel agencies (OTAs) will begin accepting reservations on September 24, and travel agencies will begin accepting them on October 2. Reservations made before the start of the booking period are not eligible for the discount.
This initiative aims to promote the early recovery of tourism demand and revitalize the local economy in the prefecture and throughout Kyushu, which were affected by the Reiwa 8 Kumamoto Earthquake. The discount period applies to stays from October 1 through December 25 (check-out on December 26) and will end once the budget is exhausted.
The maximum discount amount is the same as that announced by the Japan Tourism Agency for the “Kyushu Recovery Support Discount”: 20,000 yen per night for accommodation-only packages and accommodation-and-transportation packages; 30,000 yen for accommodation-and-transportation packages of two nights or more; and 35,000 yen for multi-destination tour packages that span two or more prefectures.
The participating booking sites and travel agencies will be announced on the campaign’s special website, which is scheduled to go live around 5:00 p.m. on September 18. The campaign is open not only to travelers residing in Japan but also to inbound travelers visiting Japan.
In preparation for the implementation of this initiative, the prefecture has submitted a budget proposal of 233,697,000 yen in the September Reiwa 8 General Account Supplementary Budget (No. 4) as a “Kyushu Recovery Support Discount Program Subsidy” for the Tourism Division.
© Source travel watch