Panel Discussion
Coordinatedby Shozo Ido
(Professor, Shiga University of Medical Science)
Panelists ： Toshio Hirono
(City Planning Consultant; President, Creative Studio Da Vinci Co.)
Hiroshi Maeda
(Lecturer, Dept. of International Tourism, Faculty of International Communication, Hannan University)
Kuniko Takasaki
(Manager, Public Relations, Kansai Regional Headquarters, Japan Travel Bureau)
｡?do
Our theme today is "How do you publicize the beauties of your waterfronts?" We will attempt an objective analysis of the great waterfront prefecture Shiga, under our theme, and explore together the potential for discovering new features as well as methods for promoting them.
｡?irono
As an endocrinologist, I have done research on how hormones are affected by the environment. Perhaps this is why I find myself diagnosing the energy level of every community I visit. People don't gravitate toward communities with no energy, which are in decline, no matter how splendid their assets might be. So my objective today is to convey to you the need to review community development from the standpoint of energizing the community.
｡?aeda
I was involved in some research at Kumamoto University. Out of Kumamoto Prefecture's 94 municipalities, 54 are depopulated. When I was there, the agriculture, forestry and fisheries sectors were in severe decline and the pressing issue was survival. In that type of situation, tourism is not only for tourists and travel agencies, but a joint effort involving the previously tourist-shunning agriculture, forestry and fisheries people, in a village-wide undertaking to create tourism in the area. I was strongly impressed by the fact that tourism there consisted of much more than tourism.
But when I see the tourism situation in Shiga, I feel a sense of astonishment at the abundance here, completely different from my experience in Kumamoto. I would like to explore tourism in Shiga with that sense of astonishment in mind.
｡?akasaki
There are those who say tourism is going to be a key industry in the 21st* century. Meanwhile, competition between tourist sites is becoming extremely fierce. For the customer, travel has become very affordable, readily accessible. And that means customers are becoming even more selective about where they go.
