An Analysis of the Responses to the Travel Brochure of a Solitary Island

—In the Case of Yonaguni Island—

Abstract

A travel brochure of Yonaguni Island—the points of interest of which were defined in terms of two main dimensions, i.e., the island's “peculiarity” and its “adventurous and exciting nature”—was presented to 125 subjects. After reading the brochure, the subjects were asked to write an essay on their impression about it.
Text mining analysis was performed on the obtained answers.
The summary of the result is as follows:
(1) Reading the brochures, the subjects actually had an impression of its “peculiarity” and “exciting nature.”
(2) On the other hand, there were also subjects who felt a sense of “recreation” and “relaxation” in relation to Yonaguni Island. This impression was considered to stem from the influence of the preconceived images about south islands that the subjects held, prior to reading the brochures.
(3) The essays contained many descriptions about the butterfly (moth). The result suggests the effectiveness of using “peculiar” creatures, which inhabit only that particular area, and visually “exciting” images in a brochure.
(4) There were many descriptions about a TV drama. It was surmised that marketing the island as a filming location of a TV show is effective in its appeal to the people.
(5) Although the brochure highlighted not only the beautiful but also the stimulative aspect of the sea around Yonaguni Island, the descriptions were more disposed toward the former, and there was almost no description about the latter aspect.