Abstract
To promote tourism among the elderly, this study attempted to derive the tourism activity ability of 10 elderly individuals using a previously developed virtual sightseeing tour system. The recruited subjects were self-reported as frail or pre-frail. A course with an elevation change of 2 km was prepared, lasting up to 90 minutes, and subjects walked until fatigued. Seven subjects were able to complete the tour at the set pace. Fatigue from tour participation was measured using objective indicators: heart rate, number of steps, and amount of activity. Subjective indicators were assessed using the Japanese version of the Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory and the Visual-analog Scale. Principal component analysis was performed on these five variables (three objective and two subjective). Tourism activity ability was derived from the principal component scores and tour observations. Ultimately, enabling elderly individuals to objectively assess their own tourism activity ability and to formulate realistic travel plans based on this assessment is expected to enhance their willingness to participate in tourism and contribute to tourism promotion. As a foundational stage toward this objective, this study enabled the derivation of tourism activity ability among frail and pre-frail elderly individuals, for whom outdoor experiments are difficult, by employing a virtual sightseeing tour system.
