Traveling and eating out during the COVID-19 pandemic: The Go To campaign policies in Japan

Toshihiro Okubo

doi:10.1016/j.japwor.2022.101157

Traveling and eating out during the COVID-19 pandemic: The Go To campaign policies in Japan

Japan World Econ. 2022 Dec:64:101157. doi: 10.1016/j.japwor.2022.101157. Epub 2022 Sep 17.

Author

Toshihiro Okubo¹

Affiliation

¹ Faculty of Economics, Keio University, 2-15-45 Mita Minato, Tokyo 108-8345, Japan.

Abstract

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic plunged many industries of the economy into contraction, particularly the travel, hotel accommodation, and eating/drinking industries. In Japan, some demand-inducing policies targeting such industries were implemented, known as the Go To Travel and Go To Eat campaigns. Using a unique individual-level survey, we investigate what factors make people respond to these campaign policies. We find that certain socioeconomics factors (e.g., gender, income, ICT skills) as well as noneconomic factors matter. In particular, risk attitudes, and personal traits (e.g., extraversion) crucially affect whether people traveled or dined out in response to these campaigns despite the spread of COVID-19.

Keywords: COVID-19; Demand inducing policies (Go To Campaigns); Eating-out; Travel.