Hokkaido accommodation subsidies

Hi all,

A japanese acquaintance posted this link to their facebook about the plans for the government to subsidise accommodation to Hokkaido for tourists starting October 1: https://www3.nhk.or.jp/sapporo-news/20180928/0004366.html

I was hoping this forum would have answers to questions she could not help us answer. We have already booked our accommodation in Sapporo for the snow festival Feb 2019 but we have free cancellation on our booking. We were wondering if there is a way to claim it on accommodation already booked and 'paid' (through a third party accommodation website) or if we would be better off cancelling and rebooking. If it us up to 70% of the cost, we'd be silly to not use this opportunity (yes we do want to support Japan, but it allows us to spread the money we save over more attractions).

If we were to rebook, do we need to go through certain travel agencies/websites to receive this subsidy?

Seeing as the snow festival is already a huge tourist boom does the subsidy even apply during this period?

Thank you for any and all help!

I'm also curious about this! Can't find any information...

It appears to be a special promotion valid until 2019-3-31, but looks like they are doing it in stages. The first stage is for the period between 10/1 and 11/29. Subsequent stages have not been made available, yet. Foreign tourists are eligible, also. I checked one Japanese travel agency web site now (currently 10/1 in the US, 10/2 in Japan) and it is already sold out. Looks like 5 kinds of discount coupons are available, depending on your travel duration and cost. See below for reference.
https://www.jalan.net/discountCoupon/CAM9708503/?vos=afjlnpvczzzzx0000...

So I had a look around:
No mention of subsidy whatsoever in any English travel site
"coupons" in Japanese travel sites (Japanese pages) all ran out (jalan.net, rakuten, rurubu)

Pretty bummed really

So you think this is a dead end street? At least for non-japanese speakers?

It is not a matter of what language speakers. It is a promotion campaign to encourage people to make new bookings, currently limited to the immediate two months ahead, considering the drop in travelers and hotel bookings in Hokkaido. For locals too, it is completely first come first served, limited to something like 3,000 yen discount available to like first 1,500 people who make booking worth over a certain threshold, through certain websites. So it would be more targeting locals who were considering making autumn season domestic trips to turn their attention to possibilities in Hokkaido.

I seem to agree with AK. I was able to book a discounted fare CTS to HND with ANA last Sunday. Regarding accommodations, I wasn't as lucky.

I was also able to book cheap domestic flights but was unable to find where the 'foreign' tourist subsidies for accommodation may be offered. It seems to be through japanese language sites only which is a bit disappointing but understandable if they want to increase domestic tourists. That 70% subsidy still sounds pretty good so if anyone can find where a foreign tourist can claim this, please let me know (even if too late because it may help people looking to book in subsequent coupon releases). Surely there is a separate pool of coupons for foreign and domestic tourists?

This is what I found so far -> https://www.tripzilla.my/accommodation-subsidy-hokkaido/4238

My impression is that the government subsidies would mostly go directly to the local businesses so they could offer deeper discount to their customers. One thing I have found is "airdo.com" offers special discounted airfare for international travelers. For example, I have booked a flight from Tokyo to Hakodate for less than 6000JPY.