Looking to the future, there are many plans being laid in areas surrounding Mie Prefecture.
There's the Chubu International Airport project. And in Osaka, Universal Studios Japan, or USJ, is working towards its much-awaited opening three years from now. What's always been lacking in the Kansai area is just that： a world-class theme park. Once USJ opens, a pattem can be formed for people to come in via Kansai International Airport to visit it. There also seems to be a conceptualization for a world-class theme park to be constructed on Port Island in Kobe.
All this activity may cause some concern that Mie Prefecture's visitors might be lured away, that competition might become more intense than it has been. I think this can be an opportunity for market expansion, if we work together and create different circuits to attract the flow of visitors to us. We must view changes in the environment like a hunter stalking game; we must consider pulling power from the standpoint of the customer. Needless to say these things cannot be accomplished by individuals working singly but must be through the joint efforts of government, industry, prefecture residents, everybody.
｡?articipant
My personal view of tourism, "tourism and travel," is that tourism is that which shines in each community. When travel agencies commercialize that, I feel they should keep in mind that the community must continue to shine. In that sense I think there is room for sustainable tourism, where we don't show our sights to an excessive number of people. On the one hand, we want people to visit, but on the other hand, perhaps we should be handing down our resources to the next generation. In the sense that we should cherish what is deserving, I feel that travel agencies should think responsibly and not just work on advertising the communities' resources.
｡?akasaki
What is important is whether the residents truly acknowledge that which shines in the community, and take pride in it, like they say "I'm proud of oragamachi (my home town)." Without that, visitors will not feel an attraction.
｡?articipant
Each community has various attractive features, and the issue is for the residents to understand and appreciate them. Loving one's own home town. I feel that's the real starting point.
｡?akasaki
In activating their community, some municipalities say they just want more visitors. When I hear that, I make a point of double-checking： "and you're absolutely sure?" The reason is because when people visit, some things that used to be convenient sometimes no longer are. Although the local governments might want people to visit for the sake of activating their communities, I don't think there will be success if residents are going to complain.
In creating a travel product, there are four factors we give weight to. They are "seeing", "eating", "buying" and "playing". If each of the four score about 70 points or more out of a possible 100, we feel that the tourist site will probably sell. It's better to have a balanced profile than to have one of the four score 100 and another, zero.
In terms of large-scale tourist facilities, our future challenge will be how to improve them. And for undeveloped regions, we must consider whether it's in the best interests of that community for a travel agency to advertise and sell it. It's indisputable that the rustic charm of an undeveloped region is one of its draws as a tourist site. Travel agencies do not have the capability of retaining that charm while promoting the site. So I think different techniques can be used there, such as the media or the Internet, to promote such regions.
