300 tourism industry personnel rally for COVID cooperation subsidies, 3,000 signatures support
Tourism industry personnel call for fair COVID assistance measures on May 10 in the plaza in front of the Prefectural Office
May 11, 2022 Ryukyu Shimpo
By Yukito Toyama
Tourism industry operators, who have received a serious blow to their operations due to commercial travel restrictions in light of the spread of the novel coronavirus, held a rally on May 10 in the plaza in front of the Prefectural Office, where 300 or more people gathered to request cooperation subsidies and fair COVID assistance measures for the tourism industry. Leading up to May 10, more than 3,000 people’s signatures were collected in support of the appeal by tourism industry personnel.
The rally was held by the Association for Realizing Cooperation Subsidies for Tourism Industry Operators due to Prior Appeals for Self-Restraint from Okinawa. Food and drink industry operators complying with appeals for operating under reduced business hours or temporary closure in light of the COVID-19 pandemic having been paid cooperation money amounting to at least 120 billion yen in Okinawa alone, and meanwhile there being no similar assistance measures for tour agents creates an unjust disparity. Tourism industry operators are requesting compensation for losses over these two years.
Hitoshi Kinjo (president of Kyuyokan Hotels Okinawa), who is chairman of the Association of Okinawa Future Tourism and acts as the head promoter of the association, voiced his distress, saying: “Hasn’t the tourism industry been Okinawa’s leading industry? Not leaving anyone behind is one goal of the Okinawa Prefectural Government’s SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals), yet the tourism industry is being left behind.”
Chairman Yoshiro Shimoji of the Convention and Visitors Bureau, which is rushing to support the tourism industry, spoke about the “realization of a strong Okinawan economy” from a new fundamental policy for the Okinawa promotion measures determined by the Japanese government, saying: “The main role [of this policy] is to actualize the tourism industry operators here and the wider industry around these operators. This main role is firmly established at the start line, and I ask that the nation please also assist in making it possible to achieve this goal.”
(English translation by T&CT and Erin Jones)
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