Abstract
The concept of 'tourism led by destination'(Chakuchigata kanko) or TLD was coined in Japan as a way of describing tourism led by stakeholders at destinations, but its definition is yet ambiguous and there is an increasing number of critical studies. In this context, previous studies on TLD have been little interested in tourism enterprises based on destination or TEDs, which, however, play key roles from the perspective of sustainable development of local areas, such economic activities, job creation and environmental carrying capacity, etc. Therefore, this study aims to clarify the conceptualization of TLD, to identify the role of TEDs in realizing TLD from a case study, and to propose a new concept of TLD as an exploratory study in sustainable tourism. The Okitabikosha is an incoming tour operator in Oki, Shimane Prefecture, and a semi-structured interview was conducted with the founder. In result, this paper reveals that a TED uses social capital, which tour operators located at source markets cannot efficiently utilise, with the mission of contributing to regional vitalization. Furthermore, from the discussion of TLD and Tourism-Based Community Development, this paper proposes a new concept of TLD that contributes to sustainable tourism in local areas.
