Japan's Go To Travel campaign sparks debate on links to COVID-19 spread

As the coronavirus resurges in Japan, politicians and experts are growing more divided on the impact that the Go To Travel campaign encouraging tourism is having on the spread of COVID-19.

The popular campaign, which discounts trips to boost regions hit hardest by a lack of tourists, is one of the government’s most prized projects for spurring the economy, and has been heavily backed by Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga.

But as the country tackles its largest surge in the virus yet, a debate has erupted over whether the program is a main cause for the rise in infections. The risk is that the campaign could be doing more long-term harm than good in a country attempting to balance growing the economy and controlling the pandemic.