Abstract
In Japan, destination marketing is not sufficiently recognized. Furthermore, because conceptual research tends to be scarce, it is difficult to build a common understanding of destination marketing. In this paper, I will clarify the changes in tourism theory through a historical analysis of tourism theory. Then, the historical positioning of Wahabʼs research, which is said to be the origin of destination marketing, will be conducted. Tourism theory introduced the concept of marketing as it expanded from research on the internal environment perspective to research on the external environment perspective under the influence of changes in the tourism market. Tourism marketing was a marketing activity aimed at customer orientation, and its method was the use of destinations. Destination marketing, on the other hand, was destination-oriented marketing. This transformed destination from a marketing tool to a marketing objective. Wahabʼs research was visionary because it was an idea that led to modern sustainable tourism. On the other hand, his research had its limitations: it only presented a philosophy, not a concrete theory.
