Japan is preparing to offer thousands of free plane tickets to foreign travellers in an effort to rescue its faltering tourist industry, which has been on its knees since the Fukushima nuclear crisis began in March.
The tourism agency plans to select 10,000 successful applicants from online bids and ask them to tweet, blog and write about their trip, according to the Japanese media. “We are hoping to get highly influential blogger-types, and others who can spread the word that Japan is a safe place to visit,” the agency’s Kazuyoshi Sato told ABC News.
The plan has already come under attack by bloggers in Japan, who said the money could be more useful in helping victims of the March 11th disaster recover.
Tourism figures for March-June plummeted by half from about 680,000 as travellers concerned about radiation from the disabled Fukushima Daiichi plant stayed away. The numbers are still down about one-third on a year ago.
This month, 80 members of the Munich-based Bavarian State Opera pulled out of a Japan tour to celebrate the 150th anniversary of German-Japan ties because of the nuclear accident. Japanese media reported that the tour flew in bottled water and radiation experts from Germany to accompany the members who did come.
The impact of the nuclear crisis is considered so serious that Japan’s government has tagged 1.5 billion yen (about €14.2 million) to “counter harmful rumours” relating to the disaster and radiation. The foreign ministry also plans to invite foreign journalists and “prominent figures” in the world of social media to visit Fukushima and other parts of the disaster-hit northeast later this year.
“When they write after coming here and eating specific products, it’s highly probable that they will produce reliable information, not rumours,” a foreign office spokesman told the Mainichi newspaper. “Doing this should enable the quick dispersal of a large amount of information over a wide area.”
The agency will spend about 10 per cent of its 2012 budget on the round-trip tickets if it wins government approval for the plan. The winners, who could arrive next spring, will be obliged to pay for accommodation and expenses.