MODERATOR: Thank you very much for waiting. We would like to start the Panel Discussion. First of all, we would like to introduce all the people on the stage. On your right, Mr. Seiichi Ohkuchi, Mr. Harsh Varma, Mr. David Morgans, Dr. Tae Hee Lee, and Mr. Tatsuo Yamamoto. And Coordinator is going to be Prof. Nishimura, Prof. Yukio Nishimura.

　

COORDINATOR(NISHIMURA): Up until 5:00 we would like to have discussion, and this is how we are going to proceed with the discussion. Already all these people have made a presentation for 30 minutes. Rather than them to talk, I think maybe there is some kind of additional remarks hearing others' presentation. That will be 7 minutes for each person, and after that, I am the representative of the audience, I would like to ask the questions on behalf of you, audience. I would like to ask several questions to all the panelists, and after one round of the answering, we would like to open the floor, and we would like to invite you to ask the question, and we would like to request you to raise your hand if you have any question. So if you have any particular question you would like to ask, would you prepare yourself now.

　Today we have heard presentations from the morning, and probably you have noticed there are very much diversity in the field of tourism development. And also we have found and identified common themes in the presentation of all the panelists, and you have seen some kind of framework as to the tourism direction. And if we do such kind of seminar or symposium, it is something like introduction of just a certain project or introduction of certain regional area. However, each panelist, each speaker, actually made a presentation based on their framework, and they have also presented very clear concept-based case studies, and they are really conducive for our tourism development.

　Mr. Varma talked about a big framework, the world phenomena of tourism, and in that, how that will lead to the community. And specifically there are two examples from Japan, Aya-cho, the industrial tourism, and Mr. Yamamoto has actually presented from the industry. So one industry, one company, can be moved in the tourism development in one town. He explained that. And also Mr. Fukao from Omi Hachiman City, he is from the administrative body, and he had talked about the partnership between public and private, and how the tourism can be developed. And those are projects different depending on those speakers, but I think actually what customers of tourism are requesting are sort of shared among those two presentations.

　One common framework, Dr. Tae Hee Lee talked about mass tourism and eco-tourism comparison, and he showed very understandable charts for us to easily understand, and he explained, and also Mr. Morgans talked about the mainstream tourism rather than saying mass tourism. And the mainstream tourism is going to grow and that will grow as an industry, also grow in the number of the tourists, and how the tourism is going to be positioned and how the eco-tourism can be positioned among the whole tourism industry.

　As Mr. Varma also mentioned, the balance is extremely important, and of course it is very difficult to have a clear balance. For example, products can be applied to all the countries? No. Specific area has to have their own specific, peculiar product to present to the tourists. It doesn't have to be large volume. Maybe it requires a lot of work to do. But in several billion's market, in that market how this should be positioned? This is also the question. And that's what we also have to clear that point, clarify the point.

　And I would like to ask each one of you, each one of the speakers, to give us additional comments. Unfortunately, Mr. Fukao from Omi Hachiman City refused to come on the stage, but he is actually here, so if you have any question, he is going to answer. And for the people who are going to participate in the tour, he will be explaining on the site. We would like to provide such opportunity to you, so if you have any question, he is going to answer, he is willing to answer.

　In the morning we have heard Japanese examples and in the afternoon we have heard overseas examples, and I would like to change the order, so we would like to start from overseas examples. First, Mr. Morgans. Including your impression hearing the others' presentation, if you have any additional comments, we would like to request you to give us, and also the things which are just told you regarding eco-tourism; you just used the word "ecotourism;" how you position eco-tourism; it is not defined by scale, you said. It should be defined how it is adhering to the key elements, you said. But is there anything that can be defined by scale? Or it should be smaller scale, but requires a lot of cumbersome work to do? But this is going to be the leader in the tourism for the 21 st century. How you position ecotourism in such a big framework? So including those comments, would you give us additional comments?

　

MORGANS: Just returning to your question about my comment on the scale of ecotourism and the point I was trying to make there that very often when people speak of ecotourism, they speak of as is always small scale, just a handful of tourists maybe with a guide tramping through the forest or tramping through the countryside. And that certainly can be ecotourism. But it will only be defined as ecotourism if it adheres to those key elements that I had up on the screen. And those key elements were about being environmentally sustainable about making contributions to conservation, about having strong interpretation and environmental education and being culturally responsible and socially responsible. A small tourism enterprise calling itself "ecotourism, " if it doesn't adhere to those principles, then being small doesn't make it ecotourism. It must adhere to those principles. And the point I was trying to reinforce is that a large-scale tourism facility like a lodge in a rainforest that may well be accommodating 300 people can be ecotourism if it adheres to those principles and has the technology in place to control wastes and those sorts of things and has the right forms of interpretation. So that's what I meant by "scale. " We shouldn't get hung up on small scale and large scale, what we should be concerned about adhering to those key elements.

　Just a couple of points that I wanted to remake, I suppose, about my presentation. I think I have made it clear that I believe ecotourism is going to lead the wider tourism industry to greater levels of sustainability. I mean we have heard throughout all the presentations that we need to protect the basic resources that our tourism industry is based on. If we are going to have tourism into the future, we need to protect the environment, we need to respect cultures, we need to make sure that local communities are benefiting and have a say in that tourism. So, that's what sustainable tourism is about. And I believe that ecotourism is that segment, the point of tourism where we will learn the most about being sustainable, and for that reason I believe that ecotourism is the segment of the industry that local community should embrace as their vehicle for having a greater say in ecotourism.

　And the final point I would like to make is that I believe governments, whether they be federal or local, need to take one step back from where they may have taken a leadership role. I believe now governments should play a facilitating role, and certainly help with money, and certainly help with having the right management in place, but government should be there to help local communities to facilitate local community involvement in having a strong ownership for its tourism outcomes, so we end up with a true partnership, a partnership between government, industry and the community.

　

COORDINATOR: Thank you. Regarding ecosystem, in Queensland you have established a master plan, and you have certain principles of the Master Plan, and there is Action Plan, and you are actually going to implement Action Plan every 12 months, and you are also monitoring and checking. And if that is in Japan, we do the planning, and we don't do any checking and monitoring; such kind of function is not working well here in Japan. But we would like to know more specifically how you are going to, how you are actually implementing such action plan and checking. Could you elaborate on that?

　

MORGANS: Yes. You have, as we say, hit the nail on the head. It is often the problem. As I said, it's one thing to have a plan, it's another to make sure that that plan gets implemented. And we certainly have been implementing it, and I believe we have done that very successfully. And the reason we have done it is not because we have provided the leadership through the Queensland Ecotourism Plan, but we have done it in partnership. We have done it in partnership with the existing tourism industry, in educating them of good sustainable practices, and we have done it in partnership with local communities, using local community networks to get communities involved in tourism outcomes.

　In terms of actually monitoring those outcomes, we have done that in several ways, basically highlighting that it's one thing to put actions in place, it's another to have the mechanisms to see whether those actions are actually being implemented and are successful, and if they are not successful, then come up with a different measure to ensure that that particular action is achieved. And we are doing that, I suppose, on two fronts. We are doing it through things like the accreditation program that I was referring to, which has monitoring criteria established in it, and the other way we are doing it is, I indicated, we are about to produce a publication which is an industry self -help publication which will help industry and local communities to demystify what monitoring is about. Monitoring doesn't have to be a highly scientific process. It can be as simple as making observations on what the state of the environment was before you started the particular activity, having a time series photographs of a walking track where people go. And over time, if you see deteriorations in that walking track, then you should be putting management mechanisms in place to protect that walking track. So there are a lot of simple things that tourism operators and communities can do to ensure that their desires and wishes that were in their plans are actually being implemented. And it's a good question because that is the key to any of this tourism planning. If you don't monitor what you put in place, then you are really wasting your time. That is the key element, because unless you know you have been successful or not, how do you know if you are moving forward?

　

COORDINATOR: One more question. Another question. This is going to be a very simple question.

　You just talked about accreditation, Nature and Ecotourism Accreditation Program; there are three levels you have just mentioned. In Japan, for example, there is certain criteria that's given to the accommodation standard. We talked about that, but there was a lot of backlash or the opposition to do that, so we couldn't do that. Why in Queensland was it possible to do that?

　

MORGANS: We have experienced the same problem in Australia with the different levels of accreditation. And in fact, my organization. Tourism Queensland, when we started putting those accreditation symbols against the operators in our marketing magazines, we had other ecotourism operators that weren't accredited ringing up and complaining: "Why are you giving profile to those operators? You are taking business away from us, because the consumers are choosing the accredited product over us. " And our simple response was: "Bad luck. If you want that business, go and get accredited because that's what accreditation is. "

　Accreditation is about getting quality tourism, in this case, quality ecotourism outcomes. In Queensland, certainly we want obviously more tourists, but we want good sustainable tourism. It's not just enough to have quantity. We want quality, also. And accreditation is one way of having quality tourism operations.

　

COORDINATOR: Thank you very much. Dr. Varma, this is a question to you.

　After listening to the presentation by Japanese speakers and the speakers by Australia and Korea, after listening to all of these operations and presentations, you are responsible for the whole Asia and the Pacific, and you know a lot more widely. Is it the same as other regions, or what you have heard today is very specific to East Asian context? How do you compare today's presentation with other areas? Are they the same or different?

　

VARMA: Thank you very much, Mr. Moderator. I think the basic principles of decentralization are now applicable to every region of the world. As I said in my presentation, governments can no longer afford to play a day-to -day active role in the operation and management of this sector. And therefore you will find, from Africa to Latin America, to East European countries, that governments are gradually withdrawing from their day-to-day role in the operation and management of tourism. In other words, their support to this sector is turning from active to passive.

　Now when that happens, who shoulders the responsibility for the orderly development of tourism within a systematic and scientific framework? This debate has been going on for last twenty years. But you will find at the same time that there is a growing desire from local communities to participate in the entire planning and development process. The local communities are these days more aware of what tourism can bring to them, both negative and positive. The resources are based within the community. Whether it's a cultural resource or a natural resource, it's a part of the community. And therefore, there is an increasing desire on part of the community to not only be a part of that entire development process, but they want to assume the leadership role.

　I can give you any number of examples, both positive and negative. And let me give you a negative example. I have been involved in working out a master plan for Sri Lanka. And we went to one of the prominent regions where the community is about 5,000 strong, spread over six small villages. Beautiful area, unspoiled virgin beaches, beautiful forest, and magnificent Buddhist monuments. So when I went there with my team to evaluate the resources, and how these resources can be best exploited for tourism purposes, the community leaders, they rose up in arms. They said: " Thank you very much, Dr. Varma. We don't want any tourism in this community. We don' t want people to come and offend our local sensitivities. We don't want them to come and pollute our local culture. We are very familiar with what tourism can do when it comes to the economic upliftment. But no, thank you, still. We don't want any tourism in this area. " And they put their foot down. They went to the central government and said: No tourism planning in this area.

　On the other hand, if you see the rural communities in a country like Malaysia, or in a country like Indonesia, Philippines, India, where communities have put their foot down, and they have told the local and regional authorities that: "Look, this is our community. We possess the resource. Therefore, our word should be final as to how tourism should be developed. " What should be nature and a scope of such a development; what should be the extent of development; what kind of tourists do we want; and so on and so forth.

　So on one hand, the gradual withdrawal of government from active participation in the industry, on the other hand, an increasing desire on part of the local communities to take a much more active part or play a much more active role in the entire development process, this is a universal phenomenon. It has gained a lot of prominence in certain African countries, you will be surprised, a country like Kenya or Tanzania, or Zambia for that matter, countries which are totally dependent on rural resources, wild life. And there when there were plans to uproot or rehabilitate the local villages to create buffer zones between national park boundary and other forest boundary, the community said no. Or, the way the development has taken place is in accordance with the wishes and desires of the community. So this phenomenon is growing all over the world, and will continue to grow. This is what is our forecast. And therefore, you will find the World Tourism Organization, in association with all our partner agencies like ESCAP or PATA, WTTC, or any other regional organization, we are now going to the grassroots level. We are no longer talking in terms of macro-level, national development master plans. We are now going in for what we call as "micro-level planning," planning in association, in collaboration with the local communities.

　I would like to refer to the point which you made in your statement relating to balance and harmony. I did refer to it in my presentation. And I do admit that achieving a good balance is not an easy job; 144 countries of Asia and the Pacific, and I have seen that achieving the right balance is not always possible. But the point I wish to drive from is that does not mean that one should not make any efforts in this direction. As a matter of fact, that should be the starting point of any planning process; how to strike a fine balance between the requirements or needs of visitors and what the host community is looking for out of tourism. Why should we bring up a situation where conflicts occur, or the host communities, they develop a resistance for tourism or for tourists?

　Therefore, right from the very beginning it should be an approach which is aimed at achieving a harmonized development and strike as much balance as possible. I admit that I have not been 100 percent successful in doing this, but I can tell you with a very clear conscious that we have made sincere efforts in this direction. And that is the core of any planning process that we undertake. The degree of success, it varies from country to country, from region to region, and from community to community. But that is the ultimate objective of any development process. Thank you.

　

COORDINATOR: Thank you. One more question with regard to Sri Lanka. You talked about Sri Lanka example, and the local community said no to the tourism development; no, by the local community. If the community does not choose to do so, I think it's okay, perfectly acceptable, because not all of the community does not have to have the tourism development strategy. Some community will go to other alternative pathway. They may not select tourism development. What do you comment on that?

　

VARMA: Well, you are right, perfectly right. I remember when I was doing my Master's in tourism, that was years ago, I wrote a negative essay for my project. And the title was that simply because a region or a community possesses attractions of tourism merit does not mean automatically the tourism should be developed.

　There are a number of factors which influence the decision of a community. In case of Sri Lanka, this particular community had seen the negative impacts of tourism on the neighboring communities, drugs, black marketing, prostitution, child prostitution. People gave up their local habits; they were wearing Western clothes; everyone was putting on a tie. They all picked up broken foreign languages. I mean, one community leader told me that if I want to go and talk to those communities in my own language, they refuse to do that. They tell me "bonjour" in French or "gutenmorgen" in German or "good morning" in English. So, why should we welcome that kind of development to take place in our society. We have enough economic alternatives. We have our agriculture, which is paying us good dividends. We have our fishing, which is giving us very good returns. And our youngsters are growing in accordance with our cultural values. We are happy and satisfied people. We have other economic alternatives. No, thank you very much. We don't want tourism. Fair enough; we said fair enough.

　

COORDINATOR: Okay, thank you very much.

　Dr. Hee. After listening to your presentation, I think similar things are happening in Japan, for instance, whale watching and coastal nature observation based tourism, and also the development of ecotourism, very similar between Japan and Korea. Two years ago there was Ecotourism Promotion Counsel established in Japan for the networking of this ecotourism activity, and there are some movements regarding the ecotourism activities and expanding gradually. But finally we have started to make a nationwide network of ecotourism activities these days. And example from Korea that you showed, is it advanced example? You showed us some examples of ecotourism. Is it a very advanced example? What is the positioning of those ecotourism activities? Is it just the beginning, or are they very advanced examples, or are there many of those examples in Korea? And what is the penetration of ecotourism today in Korea? If you could explain to us.

　

TAE HEE LEE: Thank you. Well I would not say it's an advanced example of ecotourism in Korea, but it's like a shopping list. Maybe five years later or three years later, Korean domestic travelers can choose one type of ecotourism experience from the mud experience and dinosaur prints, whatever. I would not say it's advanced, but one logic we can emphasize; the eco-tourism in Korea is kind of broadening the spectrum of experience, tourist experience, whether it is for domestic or whether it is for in -bound foreign people.

　Last year I read a newspaper article; it was about a Japanese traveler to Korea. The gentleman was very mad because he had experience of visiting Korea ten years ago, but this time the recent trip was exactly the same with what he experienced ten years ago. So he said he finds no reason to visit Korea. It's very similar just like visiting old Paris and shopping some jinzen(?phone.), that kind of things. But the problem is 80 percent of in-bound tourists to Korea stay in Seoul, then they just go back to their countries. But Korea has a lot more many attractive resources, provincial and country-wide. So maybe if we succeed in promoting ecotourism, it's just one other type of experience. We could expand the special area that foreign travelers move around the country, and we can have broad spectrum of experiences.

　And what was the next question? I am sorry.

　

COORDINATOR: Thank you very much. So, 80 percent of the people go to Seoul, and Tokyo attracts 60 percent. So much higher in Seoul, 80 percent, as compared with 60 percent in Tokyo. If that is the case, then ecotourism is centered around nature and natural environment, and the community based activity around nature. Like in Korea, also in Japan there are some traditional cultural background and traditional cultural resources as well. And they can be incorporated into tourism activities. And are you doing the similar things, trying to incorporate culture and tradition into tourist activities?

　

TAE HEE LEE: Well, I think so. It's not a very organized effort or trial in Korea, but very small travel agency, very small, I would say, a very small firm owned by just one private person. For example, one dentist, he is in normal time a dentist, but in weekend he organizes a very small group and he is traveling to a very remote area. Half of the group is consisted of foreign bankers and half of the group is young university students and other young persons who want to make friends with foreign people. Then the group has become very famous because the tour he organized introduces the remote area wild life and also introduces the authentic lifestyle of Korea. So people who attend the tour, ecotourism tour, go back to their country with higher level satisfaction.

　But the problem is, the structure of the Korean travel industry, tourism industry, is highly dependent on a very famous big travel agent or company, but they don't care about a tour to remote areas, because it doesn't make a very big profit.

　The other problem is, we still have some problem in infrastructure like accommodation and food and beverage. In Seoul area, metropolitan area, it's okay, but in the remote area the serious problem is the basic infrastructure. We are lacking of that. So sometimes it is causing problems.

　

COORDINATOR: -(IN JAPANESE)-

　

VARMA: Thank you, Mr. Moderator. I would like to add to what Dr. Lee has said. I have been watching the South Korean tourism for almost last twenty years. The problem of South Korean tourism is that almost 75 percent of foreign tourist traffic which comes to Korea remains localized within the Seoul area, with the consequence that the entire tourism process is confined to urban tourism, urban tourism. For example, the Island of Cheju, which I think has some very good resorts and very good beaches, receives almost 4 million tourists, out of which only 7 percent are foreign tourists. But if you see the profile of Cheju, Cheju has an international airport, it has reasonably good international flight connections; of course very good connection with Seoul. But no conscious effort has been made either by the central government or by the provincial government of Cheju to project Cheju as a destination in the primary source markets. But now I believe that there is a policy decision on part of the Government of Korea to diversity the product base of Korean tourism.

　Frankly, if you ask me, I mean I don't want to sound critical, but my personal opinion is that Korea did not have an organized product so far, because the entire product development process was guided by, as Dr. Lee very rightly said, big big tour operators, for example, Hanna Tours, which would handle, what, 7, 8, 10 million departures in terms of trips. And they are the ones who monopolize, and they are the ones who interpret and coordinate the demand the way they want it. But now there is a conscious effort on part of the government to diversify and broaden the product base. And one option, one viable option which readily came up, was development and promotion of eco-tourism, small scale niche market, small specialized operators in fixed pockets, keeping in line with the carrying capacity of that particular product attraction. Well, policies have been made, strategies are being bugged out, and I hope that this would be successful.

　Thank you.

　

COORDINATOR: Thank you very much. Now we would like to touch upon the circumstances in Japan. We have listened to Korean, Australian presentations, and Indonesia representative could not make it to come here. But around here we have got similar level of inbound, 4 million tourists from overseas in those four nations. We have different strategies and also different issues to address, and the difference has been quite well punctuated and accentuated through the discussion so far.

　Now, coming back to Japan, Mr. Yamamoto, I have some question. Aya-cho is your town. For the past two decades you have made commitment to the preservation of the local community and the environment. So in one way or another you have been upholding green tourism even when that term was not coined. So even at that distant past, that effort was launched. Can I understand so?

　

YAMAMOTO: In my presentation I touched upon some aspects. 9,000 was the population, but there came quite a drastic reduction, about 1,000; there were some factors of that depopulation. We are situated in a mountainous area, so 80 percent is mountains and 20 percent arable land as well as residential area. So the income sources are limited; there are not so many industries or farms. Therefore, the out -migration is very prominent, which triggered a sense of urgency and also sense of crisis. And around 1965 the then Mayor of our town, Aya-cho, has focused on the broad leaf forest. But the craft is not everything, and vitalization could not be handled only by the craft work, therefore, he wanted to foster agriculture for the purpose of environmental conservation as well. Around that time organic agriculture was not widespread in Japan yet, and he made a very strong commitment to develop it. And that drew a lot of attention from outside, and many people came over to our community to have the first-hand information. But it was not still yet sufficient enough for the revitalization.

　And then, bearing that in our mind we started various initiatives. Green and eco were not so well known, so even around that time our projects had been launched. So given that background, more recently we have become more proud of having that insight and foresight.

　

COORDINATOR: And you talked about tourism and also industry; you talked about organic agriculture and also the craft work. So the traditional industries are also incorporated in tourism?

　

YAMAMOTO: Yes. Forty-four traditional craft workshops are available, and some are originated from Aya-cho but only 18, and the rest of 44 came from outside of Aya-cho. And they had very high aspirations of developing their craft work, and we were open and we welcomed them, and we provided them with a lot of help so that they can make a living in there. That is the commercial business and also commercial industry.

　As to agriculture, organic agriculture is one segment, but it is not yet enough to have a full -fledged tourism oriented industry. We did not get enough vitality yet. Then we came to focus on nature and water. And we hit upon the idea of developing the brewery industry. And then we have this business today as it is today.

　

COORDINATOR: So including the brewery business, I would like to ask about the natural forest. It is huge in size, isn't it? It covers a vast span of the area. In order to keep and maintain that area you have to invite certain level of tourists. So mainstream segment is important; it should make ecotourism as mainstream, and by ensuring that you can have some critical mass. On the other hand, however, you are looking into the local interest, maybe tourism and also industry. How are you actually balancing between the two aspirations?

　

YAMAMOTO: Let me talk about small firms. The brewery is our specialty, so in that background we extended our business into tourism. Therefore, we had quite a genuine interest. Water is life, the source of life, and we were very confident that our brewery will be of high quality. And "shochu" is sort of rice wine, and that is a made product, and not only shochu but also we have a real rice wine, and it is the far-most south production place of rice wine in Japan. So those companies came to Aya-cho, and originally they had their head office in Miyazaki, but they attracted that to our community. We have Japanese yam potatoes and rice and wheat and corn as well and maize. And in Aya-cho we have quite a large production of grapes and other fruits. Therefore, there are plentiful of materials for the brewery business. Therefore, by applying our indigenous technology we could develop that brewery business to the full-fledged degree. And we were confident that Aya-cho would be the ideal place for such introduction of new business.

　But the success was prerequisite for us, and we had to make everything to do so. And we had some sort of idiosyncrasy in terms of policy; the environment and the market trend should be understood. So we learned a lot about those circumstances. Organic agriculture and craftwork and traditional art are very flourishing, therefore, it is not male-oriented, rather it is female-oriented town, more women are attracted to our town rather than men. Therefore, we tried to make our town more attractive to ladies and women.

　And a theme park is sometimes introduced, but five years afterwards, something was constructed in another place which exceeded the quality of the previous one. So there is often an evolutionary process and old ones are replaced by new. And the private and also government collaboration based projects do not always work successfully. So we wanted to create steps and also phases, second one and third one, and then in the second phase we decided to focus on and center around the engineer community oriented. We do not charge admission fees, and anybody is welcome, everybody can come to the park freely. But tourists came over to the level of I million, and if you charge 300 yen per person, you can get 300 million yen because there are I million visitors. So we were sometimes seduced to introduce the charging system, but we didn't. Theme parks are all suffering from a lot of difficulties, and admission fee is quite a financial burden. Especially when the Japanese economy is so sluggish, many people do choose to come to our place as a destination. So this policy of free admission fee, no admission fee, was quite conducive to the environment.

　Therefore, we could cover various aspects in the five year plan, but if it is a business, you have to look at the environment ten years later. Ten years may be hard, but five years is probably possible, foreseeable. In Miyazaki, tourism is very flourishing due to the access to the motorway and also the grand opening of big facilities and hotels, shops and important international port opening, Japan Airlines have the flight service to Miyazaki, thus triggering the triple tracking operations. So these are all various factors, and while looking at them we can identify what we should do in our company. Of course, whether it will be successful or not, it is still questionable. But when we enter the second phase, we would like to focus on wine production. Maybe it will be five years time, and getting more momentum, in ten years time we would like to go into the third phase. And as to the wine production we would like to get grapes locally as well. And beer is supported by high quality water, and we have the technology of rice wine brewery, so beer production would not be difficult at all.

　So when things were proceeding accordingly in line with our plan they were quite smooth, and circumstances developed naturally. So, Aya-cho used our funding and financing capacity very well. And then with the background of Aya-cho's support we have been successful as a company and commercial business. So, the grand design was formulated by the administrative branch, local government, and then while assuring certain profitability these commercial entities tried to develop their business in harmony with the local environment. So that was a very successful case with good harmony and balance.

　But at the time of developing business in there, in the initiation stage things were quite demanding. There were many good trees with high branches; I sometimes said to myself: when should I hang myself on the branch. But things are getting better, but at the same time, competition is getting tougher. Therefore, I think we are exposed to the second phase of difficulties in tourism.

　

COORDINATOR: I understand, because the Japanese economy is not in favorable conditions.

　Mr. Ohkuchi, you listened to various presentations touching upon wide spectrum approaches taken. And you are on the part of the government who are supposed to give assistance to these entities and also the businesses in the private sector. What is your impression?

　

OHKUCHI: I have prepared my material. On the second from the very back you can see the policy of tourism development in the 21 st century. It is a flow chart with that title, and in that chart the significance of tourism is mentioned at the left bottom, the significance and meaning of tourism in there. The well -being and also affluence is important, and contribution to that life style, and it is a good learning opportunity for learning about the local community and culture. And it will be the formation or foundation of people's pride, and contribution to the vitalization of economy and economic advancement, and also mutual understanding in international community and its enhancement, and also contribution to the global peace; there are many many ramifications we can think about. Each person is different, likewise actually motivation differs from one part to another. Although it is all discussed and also termed as "tourism-based community development, " there ought to be various pillars based on which the projects are launched. One single prescription cannot be applied to all towns and every town. Based on different motivations each town formulates their prescription of the tourism-based community development. But when it comes to tourism, there are pros and cons. Sometimes it will work as medicine, but other times toxin.

　I was listening to the presentations, and I was impressed with a good balance established between the pros and cons, between the parts working as a medicine and other parts working as a toxin. And if you achieve that good balance between the two, you can have a really successful case. In human society, as well as household and family, maternity and also paternity are both engaged, and one of the presenters talked about the distant islands. When we look at local communities, we should have the maternity-oriented site observation, but at the same time paternity-based observation. When you have both nature in family, the good balance can be achieved in one family. Likewise, when looking at the community, you should have maybe paternity-type and also maternity type. If you are a father, you are fairly critical, I suppose. Mothers are quite warm-hearted and also accommodating. But in tourism those are also reflected, and sometimes ecotourism is very well phrased. In that case, protection of nature is presented at the frontline. But it is all human conduct and act, therefore, the balance will be very sensitive and also extremely important, as was emphasized by Dr. Varma.

　Now, taking this opportunity, I would like to touch upon something which we are proceeding in the Japanese Government. At the end of the day we have the limitation in life, so what is extremely and most important is that one is being one's self and a real human, and that will be reflected in the degree of richness of life. And as mothers you are accommodating, as fathers you are critical. And while having both pillars of perception, you need always to try to be the real self and also real human being. We are in the IT society. Tourism has been always dealt with as business. Sometimes people are working as directors exercising their directorship in the stage play of tourism, but at the same time, individuals are involved with directorship of stage play over tourism. And actually that latter part of trend is now getting intensified more and more. Some communities might show their dislikings of tourism, but even so, if some foreign tourist comes into community on his or her own, hospitality will be surely given; they would welcome that outsider to come. And I think that is the key term for the 21 st century.

　We are in the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry. Motivation is important, and if there are communities with higher motivations, we are limitless in the offering of help. But if not, we are never ever willing enough to provide any help. So we should make a clear distinction between positive and negative communities. And when I say motivation, action, vision and passion are the three key elements, and these three should be co -mingled with good balance "Vision " "passion" and "mission" are actually the terms mentioned by the hero in the "Godfather, " the Hollywood film. When humans do something, vision is essential, and also mission is necessary as well as passion. Therefore, in the end, eventually, the balance between the three would be essential.

　

COORDINATOR:..(RECORDED IN JAPANESE).. perspective of the father and mother are very important and he talked about vision, action, passion, and balance was very important. So far, the administrative stance, they have the stance that they would like to deal with everything. But from now they would like to be selective, in other words, they would like to support the communities which are willing to do the tourism, and they are not going to give support to the communities who are refusing to do the tourism-based community development.

　One of the speakers said that tourism was not a purpose, and tourism came after the development of the communities. And that was presented by the Hachiman City's representative. The current Mayor, Mr. Kawabata, actually made a revival of this Omi Hachiman' s development, and at that time there was a conflict between the administration and the citizens. And he made great efforts to leverage the partnership between the public and the private and individuals. He actually wrote a book before he became Mayor, and that was a very impressive book. The city tried to reclaim the Hachiman moat with the budget, but the citizens made lobbying activities, and once they reclaimed, then the reflection would occur, that was said in the presentation. Already the sediments have been precipitated, and they had to filter. But even though they do the purification activities, they won't be able to maintain the quality of the water; that's what the administration said. But the citizens opposed to that. Then the administration said: Can you prove that with the scientific evidence? But the citizens' side or JC side couldn't find a way to prove whether the scientific data is something like bulling from the administration to the civic. However, all the citizens started to make a contract with the builders or the engineering companies locally, and all those people did the voluntary activities. And also the industries made a contribution to do such kind of research with scientific data without any compensation. And that has actually moved the citizen administration. And at the time he was not a mayor, and this person, the leader in the civil movement, became the Mayor. This was a very impressive and inspiring book, and I was also very much impressed reading that book. Humans are extremely important, and without having such humans who love the city, we won't be able to have such movement.

　Now, I think we have completed one round, so maybe we can invite questions from the floor, if you have any question. Is there any question? We would like to open the floor.

　Yes, please. We have the microphone here.

　

(QUESTION) : Thank you very much. The citizens in the regional communities have to work hard in order to encourage or in order to improve the town. The place where I am involved in is that, of course, there are people who would like to be involved in the activation of the communities but this is a very small number of people, and not all the people are very much interested, and they don't say "yes" or "no" either. They are very indifferent. So very stagnant atmosphere has been witnessed. So we would like to have the people as much as possible to be involved in the community development seriously. In order to do that, or in order to move the citizens, what kind of advice is needed, what kind of support is needed? I would like to get a hint.

　

COORDINATOR: From the Panelists, do you have any comments or answer? We cannot encourage the people to be involved in a serious manner. Are you from the administration body?

　

(FLOOR): Yes. So it is very difficult to move the citizens.

　

COORDINATOR: Mr. Fukao is actually from the administrative body. And maybe you can answer to that question. How about that?

　

FUKAO: Yes. Well, many people say that we would like to cooperate, but we would like to just stay and see how it goes. Yes, that's true. And in any place, most of the people are rather indifferent; not involved seriously about the community's development. Only the partial people are cooperating. I think this reality can be applied to any kind of the regions.

　However, I think there is some leadership, the person who can take a great leadership. It really depends on whether you can find a person who can take the leadership. And in my community, there was a strong influential person who can take the leadership. That was a very good condition for us. And this is actually a starting place for the Omi merchant. So from the ancient time, from the war time really;-- well, I cannot speak a lot about the historical background or historical procedure, but it used to be the castle town, but in Azuchi Momoyama Era when Nobunaga Oda was the Feudal Lord, and when he withdrew, then Omi merchants came to my town, and Hidetsugu succeeded, and he died. So if we reflect that situation in our age, then if you build a town which is in line, harmonized with the administration, then every year the vision will change. If the head is replaced, then the policy for the town building or community development will change. It's not consistent at all. But what we have to do is: what is beneficial for the citizens. And what is the community building with the initiative of the citizens? If we would just resort to the authority of the administration, then that kind of town would not be able to survive.

　Fortunately in our town, in our city, there was the strong leadership commitment of the citizens who would like to make their town by themselves. Such kind of intention was very high. And also the rate of the donation was also high. And citizens are thinking that they would like to take the responsibility for their community development. Such kind of spirit was encountered from the ancient period of time. Still the people would like to do something, and if there is anything wrong in the administrative guidance, then the citizens will say something and say a voice, and oppose that, and give the proposal, and say that it is wrong.

　Well, it may be difficult to find a great leader this year or next year, but I think you have sort of the established environment where such a leader can be nurtured. And community as a whole has to have the long history in which I think leaders can be created. Then, administration cannot take the initiative for making such leaders. I think it will be generated in the long history.

　

COORDINATOR: Maybe we can ask Mr. Morgans. In Australia you are taking very advanced system, you are having very advanced system, and you are implementing. Do you have same kind of problems? In other words, citizens are not really positively involved in the community development, or it is very difficult to find leaders in the community? Do you have such kind of problems?

　

MORGANS: I think that's where there is the difference between tourism-based community development and community-based tourism development, as I indicated in my presentation. The tourism-based community development is the one that's led by the tourism industry, people who are already in the tourism industry, and then there is community based tourism development where the tourism outcomes are developed by local communities. And I agree with the sentiments just outlined that the problem of getting interest in local communities, and it's the same in our country, it is always a small handful of people who have a particular interest in either saving a local area or presenting local culture. But in our country, that small group, whether they have one leader or it is the group itself that has strong leadership, but the way it works in our country is that small group, if they are passionate enough, then they will lobby local politicians, and if you make it important for local politicians, then often local politicians will turn that into a platform for their re-election and whatever. So, really what local groups have to do in our country is work the political system.

　And I draw your attention to the program for the seminar and the two photos here on the right-hand side. Both of those photos are from Brisbane. The top one is Brisbane Forest Park, and the bottom one is the Boondall Wetlands. Both of those sites were the result of community pressure. Brisbane Forest Park was a bush land area around the City of Brisbane that was being logged for forestry purposes, but it wasn't being actively protected and presented as a recreation resource for the local community. And it was as a result of local residents complaining about the lack of facilities in that area that resulted in the establishment of Brisbane Forest Park. It resulted in politicians seeing political advantage in supporting something that had a strong environmental focus, and a lot of resources were put into that, facilities for local people. And now, twenty years later, it's not only an important area for locals, it is now a tourist facility. So again, it's another example of something that was started by locals; they got local government and state government involvement to provide resources for local people, and to preserve and present local resources, but over time these facilities also became a tourist attraction in their own right. And it goes back to the point that was made in several presentations. If you put resources into making a community more livable, both environmentally and socially, then that environment will become more attractive to tourists. And that was exactly the same situation that happened with the Boondall Wetlands only about 10 years ago. Again, the local community wanted to protect those wetlands. Governments saw the political advantage of doing it. And it is now not only a valuable local visitor resource but it is becoming a popular tourist destination.

　So they are two really good examples, and it would seem the same here. Yes, you do need to have leaders, but they can be groups of people, but it is about lobbying the political process to get the support.

　

COORDINATOR: Mr. Varma.

　

VARMA: I have a slightly different opinion on this subject. Why do we need leaders to provide motivation to us? I personally believe that every citizen should be a leader in himself or herself when it comes to safeguarding the interests of the community or when it comes to improving the lifestyle of the community.

　The problem lies in the fact that there is, to a great extent, lack of information, lack of awareness, about the benefits which can accrue to the local community, or the disadvantages like, for example, loss of a precious resource over a period of time because of repeated use. So it is precisely here that local administrations and NGOs and even professional associations have a role to play.

　I don't advocate governments or local bodies motivating citizens. Their job should be confined to telling the local citizens what you are in for. If you go left, what do you get; if you go right, what do you get; if you stand still, what do you lose. And I think that if the right kind of information is given, if the right kind of awareness is created, you will find that the majority of citizens are prepared to assume the leadership role.

　And therefore, you will find that we in WTO, through our technical assistance, whether it's the grassroots local level or provincial level, we always, always include a segment which relates to community awareness. It's our job to tell the community what the implications are, both good and bad. And then you decide where do you want to go and how do you want to go. Thank you.

　

COORDINATOR: Yes, I think disclosure of information and accountability is extremely important.

　If there is any other question, we would like to invite questions from the floor. Any other questions, any other people? This is going to be the last question, this is the final question.

　

(QUESTION): Talking about eco-tourism and eco-tours, we have been discussing both tourism and tours. Today we are using the term " tourism" and we use this expression, and " tourism" means the behavior of tours, and I think this is a social system and thinking. I think "tourism" is a concept of thinking as well as various concepts. And tourism-based community development is based upon human resource development. The most important factor is development of people. Each one of us can be the leader. We can take an initiative, each one of us can do that. And "tour" is action and "tourism" is concept. And from the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure and Land there was the recommendation for the promotion of tourism, and within the action plans, what about the aspect of human resources who can communicate information? Are there any part which deals with the information delivery by trained professionals?

　

COORDINATOR: Well, on that question you can see this flow chart distributed to you: diversification and sophistication of tourism, we are doing various actions for the promotion of human resource development. Today there is some college of tourism as part of the universities. There are some universities and colleges, and there are more than 50 universities and colleges with the department of tourism today in Japan; universities and colleges and vocational schools on tourism. These are the educational institutions. On the other hand we have accommodations, inns, traditional inns and hotels, and also travel companies. And we would like to establish connections between these players so that young people can learn practically. For instance, during the university they can be dispatched to traditional Japanese inns and hotels for on-the-job training, and also local governments can conduct this kind of educational activities. For instance, Aya-cho and Omi Hachiman City, which are represented here, young people, students, while they are young, can get access to the vision; perhaps we can increase opportunities for them to get access to those visions.

　For the purpose of human resource development we have a budget. For the year 2002, fiscal year 2002, we have the budget for universities and industries and also local governments for the educational purposes. This is a triangle of industry, government and academia, we would like to promote human resource development. But there is a very serious challenge in front of us. The role to be played by the national central government we can create a system, but the actual practical aspect of development of human resources, who can get jobs at where, this is outside the scope of the national government. We are not taking care of everybody from the cradle to the graveyard. The government's role is limited. Those who are committed, if you are living in the local community and the local government which are committed, then this kind of aspect of human resource can be put into the curriculum of the school system. And as has been mentioned by the representative from Omi Hachiman City, we have DNA information from the ancestors; we have inherited information from the ancestors through DNA transmission, for instance, attitudes and concepts, and we can be naturally motivated to make improvement upon the local communities. Without passion, without enthusiasm, nothing will happen, and nobody will get motivated without passion.

　I do not deny, I do not affirm, but what I am saying is that this is a triangle of the industry and government and academia, and I would like to develop a system. But finally, ultimately, the most important thing is the local community's commitment for the development of human resources, and passion is critical.

　Now from Mr. Yamamoto, I would like to ask each one of you to make a final comment, just two or three minutes.

　

YAMAMOTO: I think I have spoken enough, but we are trying to promote tourism, and Unkai Shuzo Company at this moment is promoting tourism by attracting visitors and providing services, and then visitors will go back. But in addition to that, we have a lot of products and local specialties in Aya-cho. We have established agricultural cooperation, and for instance, grapes, which are very difficult to grow in Aya-cho, therefore we had conducted tests to see the variety of grapes that we can grow in Aya-cho, and we tried them out to find and select the best one for Aya-cho. And also we have some other activities like animal husbandry, and we are trying feedstuff for animal husbandry and we are doing the research for the quality of feed for animals. In addition to the tourism activities attracting visitors, we are trying to develop special products of the local area so that we can activate and invigorate the local town.

　And finally, there are various strong opinions at the prefectural governments. You can ski in Miyazaki Prefecture, Okase Town, that is the south-most part of Japan where you can enjoy skiing in this country, but very difficult to operate the skiing. It has the history of ten some years, but three years ago we started to get involved. Therefore, we have a skiing business as well, so that we can make contribution for the invigoration of the town for various diversified areas. And we would like to promote that as much as possible. And also we would like to attract more foreigners. They are increasing gradually, but we would like to promote more so that more foreigners will come.

　Unkai is a shochu liquor, and please enjoy Unkai liquor as well. That is my final comment.

　

COORDINATOR: Dr. Lee, please.

　

TAE HEE LEE: Yes. I think the word "indifference," the lady from the floor mentioned, is the most appropriate description for the situation of adopting eco-tourism in Korea, because the residents, local people, just don't care about new products or new experiences. Problem is the local people get used to the way of top-down development, just the central government decide it, then they just follow. So the system makes people just don't care about the final result or final output from the tourism development.

　But we have also a case of community-based tourism development. I don't know whether you are aware or not; we have a new casino resort in Kanwan region. So far we have several casinos, 12 casinos, but they allow only foreigners. But the new one, the newest one is allowing domestic people enter the casino. But this case, the local people wanted to accept the casino, so they decided, and they pushed and stimulated Government to make a regulation for that case. So, I might say the local people put higher priority on tourism as the best solution that makes the case of community-based tourism development.

　As I mentioned, in Cheju Island the local residents still depend first on the agricultural industry a lot. So they think that without tourism they have a way of surviving. So in Cheju Island, ironically, some people, not all the people but, some residents consider tourism as the industry of shame. So it's a very unfortunate thing. There might be some way of changing residents' attitude from positive to negative, by providing them with the data that is explaining tourism is a very important industry to their way of life.

　

COORDINATOR: Okay, thank you very much. Mr. Morgans.

　

MORGANS: AS a government representative in tourism, I believe that government's role should be three-fold: One, to facilitate community education of the opportunities and the threats of tourism, as Dr. Varma said, to provide enough information to assist communities to make informed decisions about whether they want to be in tourism or not. That's the first thing, the role we have to play. The second role that government has is to assist communities to have a capacity to be able to participate on an equal footing with both government and industry in making decisions about the development and management of tourism. And finally, certainly governments have a role in providing support funding for the types of infrastructure, the types of programs that are needed to take those tourism outcomes for communities forward. Thank you.

　

COORDINATOR: Thank you very much. Dr. Varma.

　

VARMA: Thank you very much. Mr. Moderator. Like it or not, but tourism-based and tourism-led community development is the order of the day and will stay like that. There is no doubt dispute or difference of opinion over this. Local communities can play a fundamental role in ensuring the economic, social and environmental sustainability of the tourism industry within the local community. We all agree that this kind of development is small scale, highly localized, and of course, very sensitive. Tourism can leave both negative and positive impacts on a local community. Therefore, the name of the game is to go in for comprehensive, comprehensive, long-term planning, comprehensive long-term planning, full consultation with the local communities, with local communities being the primary decision-makers.

　But that's not enough. Any planning and development process without an effective review and monitoring mechanism is no process at all. There should be some kind of an in -built mechanism for periodical review and monitoring of each and every action or activity. And as Mr. Morgans said earlier, that this kind of a process of regular monitoring should be kept as simple as possible, it should be simple to understand, and simple to implement.

　Mr. Moderator, on behalf of WTO, I would like to give an offer to our distinguished delegates this afternoon. I know that a number of distinguished delegates today represent local communities here. And we have done a lot of research on this subject. We have experience of helping a number of communities in different countries of the world. And I would like to offer that if any of you need any technical assistance from WTO, APTEC, and our Regional Support Office is here in Osaka, you can place your request with them, and we would be extremely pleased to extend that technical assistance in any area that you may deem for it.

　Thank you very much.

　

COORDINATOR: Thank you very much. Mr. Ohkuchi.

　

OHKUCHI: Well, everything has been mentioned already, but after all, we local government administration should not go with inertia; we have to be critical and not be driven by inertia force. We have to be creative, and we should be stimulated by as many people as possible, as many regions as possible, and also international organizations like the WTO represented by Dr. Varma, and also foreign governments. We would like to have this kind of interaction with those people and stimulated by the discussions. And we government have to challenge these.

　So, among the participants, if you have any questions, please let us know at APTEC or the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, if you should have any questions.

　

COORDINATOR: Thank you very much.

　Now, since the morning, thank you very much for attending this Seminar on Tourism -Based Community Development. We have learned a lot from various perspectives, but this is not the end. This is just a start of this new concept. And in different regions, through implementations from both sides of tourism and community development, we have to practice the implementation of these activities. And by doing so, we can lead up to the tangible results. And through this process we would like to create new and attractive local areas.

　And I would like to thank all of you. And also, I would like to thank the interpreters for wonderful translation. And with this I would like to conclude.

　Anything from you?

　

VARMA: Mr. Chairman, before you formally close this Seminar, on behalf of all the panelists, I would like to propose a word of thanks to you, first of all, for your very thought -provoking keynote address this morning, based on your very intensive research on this subject, and for your very effective and efficient moderation of this Panel Discussion.

　So, may I request all the participants to give Professor Nishimura big hands.

　

-(APPLAUSE) -

　

COORDINATOR: I didn't expect this, and I added additional work for interpreters, but thank you very much. This closes the session. Thank you.

　

MODERATOR: Thank you very much, Professor Nishimura, and the Panelists. And please give them big hands.

　

-(APPLAUSE) -