The purpose of this paper is to clarify the relationship between land transactions by enterprises and their characteristic impacts on tourism developments in Onna-son as an example of a seaside resort during the period of the asset-inflated bubble economy in the latter half of the 1980s and the early part of the 1990s. The results of the analysis can be summarized as follows:
Land transactions by enterprises in Onna-son increased as a result of the successful operation of the Manza Beach Hotel, which was opened in 1983. At that time, the peak of land transactions was not in the period of the asset-inflated bubble economy of the second half of the 1980s but was in about the mid-1980s. Land transactions in this period were handled by enterprises mostly on forested land in the mountains and on barren fields. The main purposes of such land transactions were aimed at tourism development and, at the same time, for land speculation.
Enterprises outside of Okinawa Prefecture acquired land aggressively in Onna-son before and after 1972 when Okinawa reverted to Japan. However, local enterprises in Okinawa Prefecture belatedly acquired land aggressively from the beginning of the 1980s. In particular, most of the land transactions by local enterprises were observed in the middle of the 1980s. The main purpose of land transactions by local enterprises was for land speculation and for the development of condominiums. On the other hand, enterprises outside of Okinawa Prefecture developed beach resort hotels on the lands that were acquired before the period of the asset-inflated bubble economy.
After the collapse of the bubble economy at the beginning of the 1990s, the number of land transactions and tourism developments by enterprises outside Okinawa Prefecture declined. On the other hand, local enterprises continued land transactions and tourism developments in Onna-son. There are three main causes for this difference in enterprise activities. The first is the expectation that the resort industry would be the leading industry in Okinawa Prefecture. The second is the availability of powerful local enterprises to meet such expectations to promote tourism development. The third is the business slump that followed the burst of the asset-inflated bubble economy which emerged rather late in Okinawa compared with the other Prefectures.
Enterprises outside of Okinawa Prefecture dominated much of the large-scale tourism development. Thus, major enterprises outside of Okinawa Prefecture seemed to be taking the lead in tourism development in the Prefecture. However, compared with Prefectures in Kyushu, development by local enterprises was carried out aggressively. In particular, in Onna-son, much land transaction and tourism development by local enterprises has been confirmed. In Onna-son, much of the tourism development planned in the period of the asset-inflated bubble economy has been forced into project suspension due to the influence of the major recession and the enactment of the Onna-son Environment Protection Regulations in 1992, and so on. As a result, some local enterprises have been forced into a management crisis which has then resulted in bankruptcy.
