Abstract
The guesthouse (GH)'s functions have been developing from reasonable lodging to exchanges space among guests and with local residents. However, we have not known the GH's facilitating role between foreign guests and local residents well. Also, COVID-19 has left seriously negative consequences on the guesthouses. Having surveyed Japanese GHs (N=231, the response rate: about 28.8%), the authors found that GHs and those who worked there played mediating and intermediating roles between foreign guests and local residents. The authors reconfirmed the severe impacts of the COVID-19 on the management of the guesthouses. However, the authors also discovered that some GH managers reflected the heavy dependence of GH's income on foreign guests and tried to explore new business chances in such difficult situations.
