Tourism As a Key for Regional Revitalization?: a Quantitative Evaluation of Tourism Zone Development in Japan
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sustainability Article Tourism as a Key for Regional Revitalization?: A Quantitative Evaluation of Tourism Zone Development in Japan Hyunjung Kim 1 and Eun Jung Kim 2,* 1 Institute of Construction and Environmental Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Korea; [email protected] 2 Department of Urban Planning, Keimyung University, Daegu 42601, Korea * Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +82-53-580-5247 Abstract: Since the dawn of the 21st century, Japan has switched its national industry strategy from traditional industries—manufacturing and trading—toward tourism. Regional revitalization is a particularly important issue in Japan, and by uniting regions as an integrated tourism zone, the government expects an increase in visits to tourism zones. This study quantitatively evaluates whether the regions that contain a tourism zone experience a significant increase in visitors by using a quasi-experimental pretest–posttest control group design. Additionally, it examines the effects of subsidies through regression modeling. The results indicated that the tourism zones that were comprised of a narrow region in the same prefectures experienced a significant increase in visitors. The subsidy on information transmission, measures for the secondary traffic, and space formation had a significant positive impact on the increase in visitors to these tourism zones. Implications on tourism policies, urban and regional development, and community development can be obtained through this study. Keywords: tourism zone development; regional revitalization; tourism nation; Japanese tourism Citation: Kim, H.; Kim, E.J. Tourism policy; tourism policy evaluation; pretest and posttest control group design as a Key for Regional Revitalization?: A Quantitative Evaluation of Tourism Zone Development in Japan. Sustainability 2021, 13, 7478. https:// 1. Introduction doi.org/10.3390/su13137478 According to the World Travel and Tourism Council’s report from 2019 [1], the tourism Academic Editor: Carola Hein industry is the second-fastest growing sector in the world. The tourism sector contributed to 4.4% of the GDP, 6.9% of the employment, and 21.5% of the service-related exports of OECD Received: 22 May 2021 countries in 2020 [2]. Since the tourism sector’s contribution to GDP and employment Accepted: 29 June 2021 has been increasing, many countries have been promoting tourism as a key industry and Published: 5 July 2021 have revised their tourism law and suggested new tourism policies with the expectation of overcoming the economic recession [3]. Regardless of the fluctuating characteristics of the Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral tourism industry [4], many countries consider it an agile and accessible solution for the with regard to jurisdictional claims in new service economy, given the weakening of many other aspects of the economy [5]. published maps and institutional affil- Japan is plagued by a significant population decline, aging society, and long-term iations. national debt that was equivalent to 236.57% of its GDP in 2018 [6]. In its search for countermeasures, the Japanese government identified tourism as one of the keys to solving the nation’s economic issues and opted to enhance its importance as a national strategy [7]. A “tourism nation” is one that seeks to strengthen its economy through tourism [8–11]. By Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. labeling itself as a “tourism nation,” Japan has displayed its intent to reorient its economy Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. toward tourism from manufacturing and trading, which have been the critical basis of This article is an open access article its economy for last decades. The Tourism Nation Promotion Basic Law was completely distributed under the terms and revised in 43 years, as the Japanese government positioned tourism as one of the pillars conditions of the Creative Commons of its national policy [10–12]. Among the various proposed policies, the Tourism Zone Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// Development Act served as a comprehensive and systemic tool for enabling the realization creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ of Japan’s aim of becoming a tourism nation [10]. 4.0/). Sustainability 2021, 13, 7478. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13137478 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability Sustainability 2021, 13, 7478 2 of 24 The purpose of this study is to measure the effectiveness of the tourism zone de- velopment policy, which was promoted to facilitate regional revitalization. Through a quasi-experimental pretest–posttest control group design and regression modeling, this study identifies and examines the impact of the tourism zone development policy and identifies the characteristics of the tourism zones that were most significantly affected by it. This study will conduct an empirical examination based on nation-wide quantitative data. 2. Background Study 2.1. Tourism Nation and Tourism Zone Development 2.1.1. Tourism Nation and Regional Revitalization The tourism industry is known to have the potential to expand economic opportuni- ties within local communities [13]. In the Tourism Nation Promotion Basic Law, region-led development through regional communities was described as essential for economic devel- opment. The main goals of this law appear to be the improvement of the attractiveness of regions and the facilitation of economic development [10]. “Regional development” is now inseparable from tourism planning, and “region” has become an important key word in the new tourism law. Figure1 shows the main policies under the Tourism Nation Promotion Basic Law. There are five ongoing policies under this law—creating tourism destinations, international tourism, tourism industry, human resource development, and utilization and sports tourism. Creating tourism destinations originally focused on domestic tourism. Making a region attractive involves providing a good place to live for residents and pro- viding a good place to visit for tourists. The inbound tourism policy was promoted by Sustainability 2021, 13, x FOR PEER REVIEW 3 of 28 the Japan Tourism Agency (JTA). Simultaneously, inbound tourism was mostly promoted through the Japan National Tourism Organization’s Visit Japan campaign. FigureFigure 1. 1. MainMain policies policies under under the the Tourism Tourism Nation Nation Promotion Promotion Basic Basic Law. Law. 2.1.2. TargetThe main Policy: policy Tourism oriented Zone toward Development regional revitalization is “creating tourism desti- nations”.In 2008, This thepolicy Tourism is promoted Zone Development under the TourismAct (Act Zoneno. 39 Development of 2008) was Act.introduced This act underoriginally the Tourism focused onNation domestic Promotion tourism. Basic However, Law. itBased was revisedon this to Act, target the inbound tourism tourists zone developmentas well. plan has been carried out since 2008. The tourism zone development plan seeks to promote the arrangement of tourism zones for stay-oriented tourism, which includes the provision of lodging facilities, with the exemption of specific regulations, in order to enable Japan to become a tourism nation [14]. The plan aims to increase the number of tourists that visit Japan and to extend the length of their visits. This plan enables diverse groups such as local governments, tourism-related organizations, agriculture and fishing associations, and non-profit organizations to cooperate and function as an integrated union for regional revitalization (see Figure 2). They create a system of supporting subsidies for tourism zone development so that it systematically assists the formation of multiple broad tourism zones. A tourism zone is an area consisting of tourism sites that are closely linked in terms of nature, history, culture, or otherwise. A tourism zone is designed to enable longer stay during travel through cooperation among its tourism sites and aims to enhance the attractiveness of these sites [15]. Sustainability 2021, 13, 7478 3 of 24 2.1.2. Target Policy: Tourism Zone Development In 2008, the Tourism Zone Development Act (Act no. 39 of 2008) was introduced under the Tourism Nation Promotion Basic Law. Based on this Act, the tourism zone development plan has been carried out since 2008. The tourism zone development plan seeks to promote the arrangement of tourism zones for stay-oriented tourism, which includes the provision of lodging facilities, with the exemption of specific regulations, in order to enable Japan to become a tourism nation [14]. The plan aims to increase the number of tourists that visit Japan and to extend the length of their visits. This plan enables diverse groups such as local governments, tourism-related organizations, agriculture and fishing associations, and non-profit organizations to cooperate and function as an integrated union for regional revitalization (see Figure2). They create a system of supporting subsidies for tourism zone development so that it systematically assists the formation of multiple broad tourism zones. A tourism zone is an area consisting of tourism sites that are closely linked in terms of nature, history, culture, or otherwise. A tourism zone is designed to enable longer Sustainability 2021, 13, x FOR PEER REVIEW 4 of 28 stay during travel through cooperation among its tourism sites and aims to enhance the attractiveness of these sites [15]. Figure 2. TourismFigure zone 2. development Tourism zone plandevelopment (modified plan from (modified [15]). from [15]). Due to the introductionDue to the introduction of the Tourism of the Nation Tourism Promotion