If the Tokyo Olympics aren’t enough reason to plan a trip to Japan this summer, Japan Airlines has an offer that could sweeten the deal—free tickets to a surprise destination in the country for 50,000 lucky travelers.
To encourage visitors to travel more widely within Japan, the airline is giving away free round-trip tickets for flights within Japan to foreign tourists this summer.
There are a few requirements: Travelers must fly to Japan on Japan Airlines between July 1 and Sept. 30. They must also be registered with the carrier’s Mileage Bank frequent flier program.
Applications for the program will open in late February and the airline is expected to release more details in January. The free tickets will be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis. You can learn more about the program on Japan Airlines’ website.
The airline offers direct flights to major U.S. cities, but travelers can book connections from other cities on the Japan Airlines website.
Applicants will select which airport they want to fly out of — either Haneda Airport in Tokyo, or Itami or Kansai Airports in Osaka. Travelers will be shown four possible destinations within Japan. If they win, they’ll receive an email within three days notifying them which of the four places they’ll be flying free to.
All Nippon Airways, Japan’s largest airline, will be offering discount airfares to lesser-visited parts of Japan this summer. The tickets, which will allow travelers to make multi-stop trips, will go on sale in time for the Olympics.
Read more: Everything You Need to Know About the 2020 Summer Olympics
Japan is expected to see a surge in tourism this summer as the country hosts the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo from July 24 to Aug. 9. Some famous hotels in the capital have already stopped taking room reservations and a 14,000-room shortfall is forecast. The government expects that the Olympics will attract about 10 million visitors, according to Japan Times.
The country has been seeing a tourist boom in recent years. Japan saw more than 31 million international visitors in 2018, including 1.5 million from the U.S., according to figures from the Japan National Tourist Organization.
Final preparations for the 2020 games are underway; the new national stadium, which will be used as the venue for the opening and closing ceremonies, was completed earlier this month. The official Olympics mascot, a half-superhero, half-robot name Miraitowa, has also been unveiled.
This is the second time the Olympics has been held in Tokyo. In 1964, the city became the first in Asia to host the games.
