2009 Volume 64 Issue 3 Pages 140-150
Research on human mobility flows has taken up movements of armies and refugees in war times and of workforce and tourists in peace times. In human geography, research on workforce has been promoted on aspects of population, cities and industry location. In this paper, we will approach human mobility flow research from the aspect of tourism. It is important to consider mountain areas as regions with recreational and touristic functions for urban areas and to analyze the interest and recognition of consumers living in conurbations towards recreation in mountain areas. To address this problem, the author conducted an Internet survey in the Capital Region and the Kansai Region to consider the interest of urban dwellers in tourism in Nara Prefecture. At present, Japan is promoting inbound tourism, especially from East Asia. I will use results from a survey on foreign visitors to Nara and Hokkaido to analyze the information gathering process that is the cause for tourists' behaviour, and interests at the destination and types of travel. The reasons for choosing these two locations are as follows: Hokkaido has prominent natural tourism resources and is actively promoting inbound tourism; Nara has rich heritage recognized on the international level and is therefore a promising location to consider its use for tourism.
