A FUNDAMENTAL STUDY ON THE PROMOTION OF IN-BOUND TOURISM IN RURAL AREA OF JAPAN

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1 A FUNDAMENTAL STUDY ON THE PROMOTION OF IN-BOUND TOURISM IN RURAL AREA OF JAPAN Tetsuo SHIMIZU Associate Professor Dept. of Civil Engineering The University of Tokyo Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo Japan Fax: Toshiharu HASEGAWA Morioka Branch Office Japan Railway Construction Public Corporation Moriokaekimae-dori 1-41, Morioka, Iwate Japan Shigeru MORICHI Professor Dept. of Civil Engineering The University of Tokyo Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo Japan Fax: Yoshito SUGA Graduate Student Dept. of Civil Engineering The University of Tokyo Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo Japan Abstract: There is huge difference between the annual number of in-bound and out-bound tourists in Japan. Several appropriate policies to promote the in-bound tourism are expected in terms of regional economic development. The objectives of the study are to know the basic characteristics of tourism by foreigners in Japan such as recognition and anticipation for Japanese sight-seeing place and to propose the development of new tourism resource in rural areas. The actual characteristics of rural in-bound tourism using exiting statistics and required policies are described first. Two surveys on the status of out-bound tourism by Taiwanese and their in-bound tourism to Japan were conducted to give some useful and basic information to the appropriate in-bound tourism policies in Japan. Some policy recommendations for the promotion of rural in-bound tourism are given. A unique trial of excavation of new tourism resource in rural area, the information about active historical foreign people, is conducted finally. Key Words: In-bound Tourism, Rural Development, Tourism Resource 1. INTRODUCTION The annual number of Japanese tourist to foreign countries exceed 16 million, while that of foreign tourist to Japan only exceed 4 million in recent years. The reasons are that prices of goods or services in Japan are higher compared with almost all countries and we have few policies or promotions for tourism by foreigners. It is well recognized that appropriate policies for the promotion of tourism by foreigners in Japan will be needed because it has have a great important role of the growth of regional economy in rural areas of Japan. Japanese government already held up the Welcome Plan and New Welcome Plan 21 for the promotion of in-bound tourism to Japan, however their policy options are still too general. Three major issues to promote the tourism by foreigners in Japan and implement related policies should be considered. Firstly, sphere of one round trip in Japan by foreigners is wider than that by Japanese. Secondary, urban tourism should be promoted before promoting rural tourism because the attractiveness of major cities representing country s attractiveness increases the number of tourists visiting to that country. Thirdly, nationality-oriented marketing activities should be done because there may be great differences of anticipation for tourism in Japan among tourists with different nationality. However, we never have data for analyzing the effect of such policies on the improvement of evaluation for Japanese sightseeing place by foreign tourists, trip-making behaviors such as choice of sight-seeing place and frequency choice, and the increase of tourists. Besides, we should evacuate effective idea of tourism resources to guide foreign tourists from major sight-seeing place such as larger cities to rural areas by making them know the attractiveness of rural areas.

2 In-bound Tourists(100 thoudand) US EU Asia In-bound Tourists(100 thousand) 12 Korea 10 Taiwan 8 China Philippines 6 Thailand Figure 1. Trend of the Number of In-bound Tourists to Japan Visit rate(%) Hokkaido Kyushu (6 Prefectures) Visit rate(%) Hokkaido&Tohoku Kanto 40 Chubu 2 Kinki Chugoku&Shikoku 20 Kyushu&Okinawa 0 0 Figure 2. Trend of Visit Rate to Regional Blocks The objectives of the study are to know the basic characteristics of tourism by foreigners in Okinawa Kyoto & Nara Japan 30 such as recognition and anticipation for Japanese 60 sight-seeing place and to propose the development of new tourism resource in rural areas. The status of in-bound tourism to Japan is described using the existing statistics in Chapter 2. The essential methodologies and policies 20 of the promotion of rural in-bound tourism 40 are considered in Chapter 3. Some analyses 15 of the interview surveys on the status 30 of overseas travel, anticipation of several sight-seeing 10 places around Japan, and preference of the combination of sight-seeing place in Hokkaido area conducted in Taipei, Taiwan in 2002 are done in Chapter 4. Our new trial of 5 the survey on historical foreign people who was active 10 in rural area of Japan aiming at the provision 0 of one of new tourism resources in rural 0areas, and the possibility of application of such new 1993 idea 1994 by rural governments are mentioned 2000 in Chapter Chapter is 1998 conclusions Visit rate(%) 2. STATUS OF IN-BOUND Figure 3. TOURISM Trend of Visit IN JAPAN Rate to Prefecture/Region The Japan National Tourist Organization (JNTO) annually surveyed the basic trip attributes by foreign tourists such as enter/exit airport, prefectures visited, purposes, number of days, and so on. We can grasp the S. basic Americastatus of in-bound tourism through these surveys. Figure 1 shows the trend of the Chinanumber of in-bound tourists to Japan by nationality. The number of Asian tourists has dramatically increased in the condition of recent economic Taiwan growth. In Asia, the share of Korean and Taiwanese is large, however that of China has gradually increased and this tendency Korea will continue because of the Chinese deregulation of out-bound tourism in Figure 2 shows the trend of the visit rate by in-bound tourists to all regional blocks in Japan. Four major regions (Kanto, Kinki, US Chubu, and Kyushu & Okinawa) successively have highly Visit rate(%) Visit rate(%) EU 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 1-5 nights 6-9 nights over 10 nights Figure 4. Number of Stays by Nationality (2000)

3 Korea China US Taiwan EU visit rate, while the rural area still has lower visit rate. Figure 3 shows the recent trend of visit rate to several prefectures/regions by 5 major areas (Taiwan, Korea, China, the US and the EU). The visiting rates to Kyoto and Nara, famous for their historical capital city in Japan, are gradually decreasing for almost all nationalities, however that by Chinese is relatively in higher level. The visiting rate by Taiwanese to Hokkaido, famous for its natural resources and winter activities, gradually increases, while that to Okinawa, famous for its warm climate and marine resorts, dramatically decreases and that to Kyushu, famous for its hot springs, has its peak in Koreans are not tend to visit rural area except Kyushu compared with Taiwanese, however the visiting rate to Kyushu has also its peak in It is very interesting that the visiting rate by Korean to Hokkaido is in lower level compare with that by other nationalities. It is considered that these phenomena are presented in the life stage of in-bound tourism, in which a few major/famous cities are visited in the first phase and visited place is spread to the several rural regions in the next phase. S. America China Taiwan Korea EU US 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Individual Group Others Figure 5. Tour Type by Nationality (2000) S. America China Taiwan Korea EU US Activity rate(%) Urban Rural Historical Natural Theme Park Hot Spring Figure 6. Activity Share by Nationality Figure 4 shows the number of nights stayed in Japan by nationality. More than 50% of tourists from the US, the EU and South America stay more than 6 nights, affected by the farer distance, while about 70% from Korea and Taiwan stay less than 5 nights. On the contrary, more than 80% from China stay more than 6 nights in spite of the nearer distance. Such difference between China and Taiwan/Korea is explained by the life stage of in-bound tourism. In concrete, the tour routes for Chinese are still round-trip type only containing several major places such as Tokyo, Osaka and Mt. Fuji and such tours require longer days. Figure 5 shows the share of tour type (individual or group) by nationality. About 90% tourists from the US and the EU trip around individually, while about 50% tourists from China and Taiwan attend to the group tour. Figure 6 shows the share of activities by nationality. There

4 are few difference among the US, the EU, South America and China, while tours from Taiwan are tend to be multi-purpose type. The smaller number of activities by Korean may be affected by special reason that main trip purpose of many Koreans may be visit to their friends/relatives living in Japan. 3. REQUIRED POLICIES FOR THE PROMOTION OF IN-BOUND TOURISM IN JAPAN 3.1 Important Issues As already mentioned in Chapter 1, there are three major issues presented below to promote the in-bound tourism in Japan. All policies by the central government and the local governments will be effective with the appropriate countermeasures against these issues. Favorable policies Urban attraction Rural attraction National brand National attraction Reproduction of urban space Increase of in-bound trip to Japan Increase of in-bound trip to gateway city Improvement of local airports Integration of tourism organization Improvement of transport services Improvement of rural information Increase of in-bound trip to rural area (1) Wideness of round trip The wideness of round trip will be affected by the trip duration and the distance from originated country. This characteristic is quite important for international tourism. The variety of sight-seeing places distributed in wider area should be critical to the increase of regional attraction. However, the existing transport systems such as expressway, railway and airport system are still insufficient with respect to this matter. (2) Promotion of urban tourism It is in common sense that the urban tourism is quite important to promote the in-bound tourism. However, the tourism industries in Japan have strongly promoted the rural tourism resources such as hot spring. As a result, there are few attractive resources including not only tourism facilities but also usual landscape for international tourists in urban area of Japan. Some efforts toward the comprehensive reproduction of urban area are required. (3) Marketing activities Figure 7. Frame of Promotion of Rural In-bound Tourism in Japan There are many declined sight-seeing places in Japan where unique attraction of tourism resources could not be presented, or tourism industries could not adapt the drastic change of tourists preference. Such problems are severer for in-bound tourism because there may be great differences of anticipation for tourism in Japan among tourists with different nationality in different stage of tourism activity, as already mentioned in Chapter 2. However, Japanese tourism industries and local governments are unconscious about the potentiality and variety of Japanese tourism resources and still give limited information of tourism resources though

5 internet web pages or guide books. The efforts of the evacuation of new tourism resources are required. Besides, we should consider some sort of incentive costs to attract foreign tourists. 3.2 Required Policies Figure 7 shows the required polices to promote in-bound tourism to rural areas of Japan assumed in this study. Several policies are required considering the three processes to increase the number of visitors to rural areas as listed below. (1) Policies for the increase of in-bound trip to Japan Table 1 Outline of Interview Surveys (1)Interview to citizen of Taipei Date Site Samples Contents Oct. 4-5, 2002 Sogo Department Store in Taipei 410 1) Attributes of recent out-bound trips 2) Information sources 3) Willing-to-visit of sight-seeing places given 4) Preference of combination of sight-seeing places (2)Interview to tourism industry Date Oct. 4, 2002 Company 1) Skylark Travek Service Co. Ltd. 2) Taiwan branch, Air Nippon Co. Ltd. First of all, the CIQ related policies should be improved radically. Besides, favorable policy for in-bound tourist to cover the differences of economic condition should be considered. However, most important policy should be related with the reproduction of urban space in a few gateway cities such as Tokyo and Osaka. The attraction of these cities will represent Japanese attraction itself. The policies of this category are effective to tourist who visits Japan for the first time, like Chinese or tourist from Eastern Asian countries. (2) Policies for the increase of visited places in one round trip First of all, the improvement of access conditions from gateway cities to suburban area is critical in this category. Substantiality of the local information center, special ticket services for transport, foreign guide signs, preservation of landscape and climate are considered to be effective. Main target should be the tourist who stays gateway city for several days, like Western tourist with business purpose. The trial presented in Chapter 5 is classified in this category. (3) Policies for the increase of in-bound trip to rural areas First of all, internationalization of airports in rural area of Japan is essential. It is important that tourism organizations in specific rural area should be introduced under the cooperation of several local governments to promote the rural in-bound tourism effectively. Besides, several marketing-oriented activities should be promoted. The policies of this category are effective to tourist who visits Japan several times, like Taiwanese and Korean. 4. SURVEYS ON INTERNATIONAL TOURISM IN TAIWAN 4.1 Outline of the Survey Two surveys on the status of out-bound tourism by Taiwanese and their in-bound tourism to Japan were conducted on October of 2002 in Taipei city, in order to give some useful and basic information to the appropriate in-bound tourism policies in Japan. One survey was based on the interview from the tourism industry such as airline company and travel agent. Another was based on the interview from citizens. The outline of these surveys is shown in Table 1. We have two reasons written below why the case of Taiwanese was selected:

6 (1) The annual number of out-bound tourists exceeds 7 million in Taiwan despite the population is 22 million (2000). (2) We have already abundant experiences to accept many Taiwanese tourists into several rural area of Japan for several years. It is considered that they already proceeded to the stage of rural tourism in Japan. Besides, Japan still has a higher share in out-bound tourism market in Taiwan (annually 0.7 million). (3) It is considered that the characteristics of international tourism by Chinese may be strongly similar to that by Taiwanese. Chinese international tourism will be huge market in near future. We should know their characteristics in advance. 4.2 Result of Interview from Tourism Industries 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% Hokkaido Japan N. America Europe China S.E. Asia 0% Spring Summer Autumn Winter We conducted the interview survey to one travel agency (Skylark Travel Service Co. Ltd.) and one airline company (Taiwan branch, Air Nippon Co. Ltd.). The essential points of the current status and suggestions of out-bound tourism from Taiwan to Japan are summarized as follows: (1) First of all, internationalization of airports in rural area of Japan is essential to promote the rural in-bound tourism in Japan. (2) The number of tours in FIT (individual) type is gradually increasing in Taiwan, while travel agencies take the lead in producing the trend of sight-seeing places. The popular duration of round trip in Japan is now 5 days, and its cost is averagely 100 thousand yen. (3) Taiwanese well know the variety of tourism resources in rural area of Japan such as culture, landscape, climate, historical facilities, shopping, winter activities and seasonal variety of flowers. Many Taiwanese well know such information through TV programs and commercials. (4) Japan has been selected under the comprehensive satisfactory considering constraints of travel cost and scheduling, high security, variety of tourism resources and national brand itself. However, such situation will not last forever. 4.3 Result of Interview from Citizens Figure 8. Seasonal Share of Visited Destination In the interview, we asked several questions about the destination and time of previous outbound trips, relation between destination alternatives and activities, willingness-to-visit to several sight-seeing places located in eastern Asia region, information sources, combination effect of sight-seeing places, and several attributes. Here we show the basic results. 350 respondents of 410 (85%) already experienced out-bound tourism. 151 respondents already visited to Japan, 54 to Hong Kong (China), 59 to South- Eastern Asia, 37 to North America and 31 to Europe. 160 respondents of 310 went abroad in summer (from June to September). 80 respondents of 131 went abroad twice in recent one

7 year. (1) Destination and time of previous out-bound trips Figure 8 shows the seasonal share of visited destinations. The share of summer for all destinations is highest because people can take longer vacation in summer. It is remarkable that the share of summer for Europe exceeds 50% and the share of winter for Hokkaido in Japan is highest of all destinations. These facts suggest that difference of climate is the key factor for destination choice. Table 2 Relation between Destination of Last and Secon Last Trip Destination of Destination of second last trip last trip 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8) 9) 10) 11) 12) 1)Japan )China )Hong Kong )Korea )Thailand )Malaysia )Singapore )Indonesia )US )Canada )EU )Total Table 2 shows the relation between destination of last out-bound trip and second last one. About one-fourth of respondents who experienced out-bound trip over twice visited Japan repeatedly, while very few respondents visited Korea, South-Eastern Asia countries and European countries repeatedly. There is not clear difference between the duration of these two Nature Mixed Urban Shopping Hokkaido+ Except Japan Only Hokkaido Japanese gateway cities Japanese rural area 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Figure 9. Proportion of Choice Alternatives by Trip Objective Cluster out-bound trips and its combination of destinations. (2) Relation between destination alternatives and activities We can know the destination alternatives only when respondent visited Hokkaido in this survey. The respondent replies all activities of 10 (urban, country, historical resource, scenic beauty, theme park, hot spring, sport, shopping, food and winter activity) done at that time. The Hayashi s quantification III and the clustering method are conducted to cluster the type of trip objectives. Four major clusters (Nature, Urban, Mixed and Shopping) are obtained. Figure 9 shows proportion of pattern of destination alternatives for four clusters. It is remarkable that other Japanese rural areas except Hokkaido are difficult to be included into

8 choice set for Nature cluster, while these are included for Urban and Mixed clusters. This fact suggests that the substantially of urban tourism in Japanese rural areas is essential. (3) Willingness-to-visit to sight-seeing places We asked the willingness-to-visit to 8 areas in Eastern Asia region (Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Kyushu, Hokkaido, Okinawa, Seoul and Hong Kong). The Hayashi s quantification III and the clustering method are also conducted to cluster the type of trip interests. Figure 10 shows the position of 8 areas at first and second axes. It is remarkable that Tokyo, Seoul and Hong Kong locate quite different position, and Hokkaido located farer position of other Japanese 5 areas. We can understand that Japanese sight-seeing places are selected by some sort of Japan brand and difference of climate may affect to the willingness-to-visit in Taiwan. 6 clusters of trip interests (Typical Japan, Japan favor, Northern, Gateway city, Different culture and Multi) are obtained nd Axis 1.5 Hong Kong Kyushu 1.0 Okinawa Osaka 0.5 Tokyo st Axis Kyoto Hokkaido -1.5 Seoul -2.0 Figure 10. Position of Sight-seeing Places by Willingness-to-visit Private Media Passive Public Media Nature Mixed Urban Shopping Guidebook (4) Information sources 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Figure 11. Proportion of Trip Objective Cluster by Information Cluster We asked the information source when respondents decide the out-bound trip. 13 sources such as pamphlet, TV program, guidebook, internet, and so on are listed in the question. The Hayashi s quantification III and the clustering method are also conducted to cluster the type of information. 4 major clusters (Guide book, Public Media, Passive and Private Media) are obtained.

9 Figure 11 shows the proportion of trip objective cluster for 4 information clusters. It is considered that respondents in Mixed cluster tend to use guidebook to know broad and simple information effectively, while the Private Media such as internet web site is not so effective to know natural tourism resources in rural area. (5) Combination effect of sight-seeing places We asked the willingness-to-visit from 9 major sight-seeing places (Toya lake, Noboribetsu, Niseko, Otaru, Furano, Hakodate, Kushiro, Abashiri and Wakkanai) in addition to Sapporo (central city in Hokkaido) in summer and winter season. Respondent also replies the willing activity in Sapporo. Summer Objective Hot Spring Otaru&Hakodate Furano Farer cities Urban Historical Shopping Food Winter Objective Hot Spring Otaru&Hakodate Furano Farer cities Urban Historical Shopping Food Winter Activities Table 3 shows the difference of willing combination for willing activities both in summer and winter. There cannot be seen any distinctive combination in summer. Respondent who visits Sapporo for historical and shopping activities is willing to combine Sapporo and Furano in winter, while respondent for winter activities is unwilling to combine these areas. However, these are not significant statistically. There is no strong effect of the travel time and cost between Sapporo and each sight-seeing place on the combination choice. 4.4 Policy Recommendations from the Survey The scope of two surveys we conducted is very fundamental and very limited policy recommendations as listed below can be given. (1) Wideness of round trip We can obtain few suggestive results in terms of the wideness of round trip. It is needless to say that the direct flight to Japanese rural area is critical for the promotion of in-bound tourism. However, this effect is larger in case that trip duration is short and trip range is limited like recent Taiwanese. For Chinese and Western tourists having longer trip duration, the convenience of inter-regional transport service should be focused on much. (2) Promotion of urban tourism In Japan, very few rural areas (many in Hokkaido) can be competitive only by the natural tourism resources as noticed in the analysis of Section 4.3. Usual rural areas should appeal a new attraction combining natural resources with urban resources. Some policies for the reproduce of urban district are required. (3) Marketing activities Table 3 Preference for Combination of Destination with Sapporo As shown before, out-bound trip to Japan is still popular in Taiwan. However, this phenomenon will not last for ling time, and Chinese tourists will not always choose Japanese sight-seeing places unconditionally. Many Japanese rural areas are still not visited much even by Taiwanese.

10 One key concern should be how to offer effective information about rural tourism resources. Most rural areas should attach much importance to the information through travel agency and internet compared with guidebook in which sight-seeing places/spots are presented independently. The internet media will be most important for the increase of individual tour. However, very limited information (especially for natural resources as suggested in Section 4.3) can be obtained from web pages mainly operated by regional governments. Some cooperation or unification of tourism governmental sections in wider area is required. As shown in case of Hokkaido and Kyushu by Taiwanese in Chapter 2, it is natural that the popularity of sight-seeing places for specific market segment such as nationality will have changed in short term. The tourism industry should target on specific market segments, monitor their willingness carefully and implement the appropriate policies. Table 4 Regional Distribution of Information by Nationality Hokkaido Tohoku Kanto Chubu Kinki Chugoku Shikoku Kyushu Total US England Germany Netherland France Spain Korea China Taiwan Others Total EXAMPLE OF NEW TOURISM RESOURCE IN RURAL AREA In this chapter, we present the trial to propose a new tourism resource in rural area. The information about active historical foreign people in rural area is focused on. There are three major advantages: 1) we can appeal such information to each nationality, 2) tourists can drop in easily on their round trip, 3) we can utilize the corporeal and incorporeal hereditaments effectively. We conducted the surveys by distributing the survey sheets to all foreign embassies and all local governments in Japan in Some information from references and web pages are supplemented. Totally 155 people with name, nationality, address in Japan and his/her nation, job, activities, year and related facilities were obtained. Table 4 shows the regional distribution of information. The Meiji government in 1870 s employs foreign technical experts, this is because many information are obtained in Kanto. 14 numbers of information about Mr. J. de Rijke, civil engineer from the Netherlands who conducted many river conservancy projects, is widely distributed almost all over Japan. 10 numbers of information about Mr. Walter Weston (England) who gave much contribution to the foundation of the Japanese Alpine Club in 1905 is obtained in mountainous area of Chubu. 9 numbers of information about Ms. Isabella Bird (England) who traveled around the northern part of Japan in 1870 s is obtained in Tohoku. On the contrary, 14 numbers of information by different Americans (William. S. Clark, Joseph U. Crawford, Edward S. Morse, etc.) are obtained in central Hokkaido. We conducted second survey on the possibility of usage of information we obtained for promotion of rural tourism by American to all local government in central Hokkaido in However, larger local governments such as Sapporo and Otaru consider that limited effect can be expected by this resource because the target of the promotion is to China and Korea. We cannot enough information of Chinese and Korean active historical people at this time. For example, Some Korean expert of chinaware was active long time before at Arita town and Karatsu city in Saga prefecture. The tourism industry in these areas can utilize this information to make many Koreans who visit Fukuoka city drop in at any area of Saga prefecture related to chinaware industry. These trials will activate the regional tourism

11 industry partially. 6. CONCLUSIONS This study focuses on the disparity between out-bound and in-bound tourism in Japan and aims at the proposal of the appropriate policies to promote in-bound tourism to rural area in Japan. We first summarize the actual characteristics of rural in-bound tourism using statistics obtained by the JNTO and discuss the required policies with the viewpoint of the peculiarity of international tourism and the life stage of in-bound tourism. Interview surveys for tourism industry and citizens of Taipei on the status of international tourism in Taiwan are conducted. Some policy recommendations for the promotion of rural in-bound tourism are given through the analyses. One example of tourism resource in rural area, the information about active historical foreign people in rural area, is explained finally. The possibility of application of such new idea by rural governments is discussed. For further studies, we need to conduct more comprehensive surveys to understand the key behaviors of international tourism under following points of view: 1) time-series change of out-bound tourism, 2) the mechanism of recognition and evaluation of sight-seeing place, 3) the mechanism of round trip choice behavior, 4) the differences among several nationalities. ACKNOWLEGDEMENTS The surveys in Chapter 4 were supported by Sapporo Development and Construction Department, Hokkaido Regional Development Bureau of Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport in Japan, and Docon Co. Ltd. The authors thank to their cooperation. We also thank to Skylark Travel service Co. Ltd. and Taipei branch of Air Nippon Co. Ltd. for their kind treatment. REFERENCES Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (2002) White Paper in Tourism (in Japanese). Japan National Tourist Organization (2001) Survey of Overseas Visitors to Japan. International Tourism Center of Japan, Tokyo. Japan National Tourist Organization (2002) Statistics on Tourism / Japan International Tourism Center of Japan, Tokyo.