2018 Volume 70 Issue 1 Pages 1-16
Hatoma Island, with about 50 residents, is located north of Iriomote island, Taketomi town, Okinawa prefecture. Depopulation caused a serious threat of school closure. However, the islanders accepted “Kaihin Ryugakusei”, children from outside the island, so that they could maintain the school. After improvement of transportation, increase in accommodation and restaurants have increased the number of tourists rapidly.
The purpose of this study is to focus on the residents’ perceptions of tourism and that of the future. The study found that most islanders welcome the increase of tourists. They emphasized that the tourism would make island economy more active. However, some islanders felt environmental degradation, such as garbage problems and the bad tourist manners. On tourist attraction of the island, most answers were the ‘seas’, followed by ‘nothingness’ and ‘slow life’.
