The entire Japanese tourism industry is welcoming more and more international tourists again, with Japan gradually easing visitor restrictions since April 2022. As a result, responding appropriately to complaints from international customers has become increasingly important. However, no studies have been conducted to reveal and compare how customer service representatives in Japan, the U.S., and the U.K. handle complaints. Based on the results of the previous study by the author, the attitudes toward complaint processes in those three countries are compared in this paper. The survey included more than 300 customer service professionals from each country. It elucidates differences in how those countries handle complaints: When addressing complaints, Japanese respondents try to use psychological service recovery, that is, apologize properly, whereas Americans and Britons try to meet the needs of customers with economic service recoveries, such as compensation and gifts. Differences also exist in the awareness of difficulties when responding to complaints: Americans and Britons are more likely than Japanese to feel confident when resolving customer complaints. Furthermore, this study reveals differences in attitudes toward foreign customer complaints in each country. Finally, based on the findings of this study, this paper proposes a complaint resolution model for these three countries, which can provide useful suggestions for how Japanese customer service professionals can effectively handle complaints from international customers.

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The theme park industry is increasingly attracting attention as a subject of tourism research as the market size expands, and studies have focused on the influence structure on satisfaction and loyalty, which are post-visit evaluations of the experience during the visit. This study clarifies the influence structure of cognitive and affective images of theme parks on satisfaction and loyalty, respectively. This study focused on Tokyo Disneyland (TDL), the largest and most representative theme park in Japan in terms of the number of visitors. 324 valid responses were obtained through an Internet survey of monitors who had visited TDL. The validation results from structural equation modelling showed that the formation of a good affective image was effective in increasing satisfaction and reducing negative emotions by arousing expectations and positive emotions. On the other hand, the results suggest that the formation of a favorable cognitive image is effective only in increasing satisfaction through the reduction of negative emotions during the visit.

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In the past, traditional travel agencies in Japan tended to apply the concept of goods-dominant logic, where services are completed by selling travel products as goods. However, after the pandemic caused by the new coronavirus infection, some companies have begun to revise their mid-term business plans and attempt to shift their marketing strategies to one based on a service-dominant logic. In academia, the development of co-creation value scales is being promoted with the aim of providing a useful perspective for business decision-making, but only other industries are being studied. In the travel industry, most of the studies are interpretations and qualitative studies on concepts, and there are no quantitative studies that can contribute to practice. Therefore, this study attempted to develop a measure of co-creation value that travel agencies can foster with their customers. I conducted a factor analysis of the “strategic experiential module”, quality of the relationship between the business and its customers, and subsequent customer behaviors such as retention and word of mouth. As a result, I was able to show that “RELATE” has a significant effect on relationship quality and relationship quality has a significant effect on subsequent customer behavior.

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This study seeks to elucidate the history of hotels in Japan, in particular, the historical processes and purposes of hotels incorporating Japanese culture. The study reveals that hotels in Japan were already adopting Japanese-style features during the Meiji period, either as part of their design or as cultural experiences, offered as added value for foreign visitors to Japan at the time. In addition, the study shows that with the rise in the number of Japanese customers, hotels also incorporated Japanese-style features into the everyday cultural lifestyles of the Japanese, particularly in ceremonies such as weddings. Therefore, this paper observes that hotels in Japan have developed as spaces wherein the Western style mixes with the Japanese style amid changes in society and in the types of customers.

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Appointment of women on board positions is one of diversity management initiatives in firm. This study theoretically examines the impact of board gender diversity in tourism firms. Then, it analyzes the determinants for such diversity in case of airlines and airports in Europe. Female directors are expected to have more access to different resources which contribute to reduced uncertainty stemming from close relation with external environment and strong interdependency with other industries. Furthermore, internationally diversified customers and frequent interaction and contact with them in tourism firms make female directors important. According to the regression analysis, airlines and airports in the country where culture attaches importance to value associated with female gender tend to have higher percentage of women in the board of directors. Larger airlines and airports have more incentives for board gender diversity. Government quota requiring the certain percentage of women in the board of directors may encourage airlines and airports to pursue board gender diversity more actively. On the other hand, the study does not offer the evidence to support the importance of the size and the degree of inbound tourism as factor of such diversity.

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This study conducted a questionnaire survey and analyzed workaway intenders to clarify workaway push motives. As a result of the factor analysis, 10 factors of push motives were extracted. Moreover, multidimensionality scaling based on the factor scores obtained revealed that the factors were ideally categorized into work-related and vacation-related motives. This implies that while “workcation” is a coined term combining work and vacation, a combination of work and vacation also exists for push motives.

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As the COVID-19 pandemic made real trips more difficult, Japanese travel agencies which mainly handle real trips have started online tours. Analysis of how participants review online tours, which do not involve a geographic trip, reveals customer satisfaction perspectives and strengths of online tours. We conducted text mining and emotional analysis with the hypothesis, which tours with high reviews and tours attended by participants multiple times had more positive reviews on the online tour than the comparison group. We tried to extract strengths from significant difference with the comparison group. Overall, online tours are rated with a number of stars, where the guide’s competence and interactivity, such as chats, are seen as strengths. In addition, tours which visit multiple places receive a large number of reviews, and the fact which multiple people can participate within the same price; these are also considered strengths which differ from real trips in terms of cost performance. As for weaknesses, since sightseeing is done via an Internet connection, reviewers expressed disappointment with the lack of signal and image/voice interruptions. Although some parts were as hypothesized and some were not, the accuracy of the analysis will be improved by verifying not only one method but multiple methods.

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This paper analyzes the purpose and target of the establishment of the “Jiyutei Hotel” (later the “Osaka Hotel”) and the “Shin-Osaka Hotel” (now the “Rihga Royal Hotel”), both of which played the role of guesthouse hotels in Osaka. In addition, the history of hotels up to the present day is examined based on the transition of their roles and organized and proposed as follows
(1) Period of providing convenience to foreigners
(2) Period of attracting the domestic middle class
(3) Era of bipolarization of value
(4) Era of diversification of value
It was found that until the opening of the Ritz-Carlton, Osaka in 1997, hotels in Osaka had historically focused on local banquet and food and beverage customers and the middle class. Considering the future of the hotel industry, we proposed that although foreign-affiliated hotels will be the main target for the affluent class, domestic hotels can also increase their presence by narrowing their targets and understanding and responding to the characteristics of the affluent class.

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The aim of this study is to analyse the motivations of potential inbound tourists by their generation. In the post-Covid-19 setting, efficient inbound strategies are required. In recent years, generational segments such as Generation Z have been increasingly discussed in marketing segmentation. In this study, 20 motivation factors for visiting Japan’ are analysed by generational segmentation for the top 14 inbound countries, targeting potential tourists interested in tourism to Japan during the Covid-19 situation (N=4043) One-Way ANOVA analysis was performed for 14 East Asian countries/regions (N=1382), six countries in the South-East Asia region (N=1906) and three regions in Europe, the US and Australia (N=755) by 14 countries and regions. The results of the analysis of variance by generation, shown in the matrix, provide basic data for future inbound strategies in the post Covid-19 situation.

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Often, travelers are assumed to take the initiative in determining their destinations. However, those less involved in travel can also be found. Therefore, we identified travel information sources used by low-involvement travelers. Thus, low-involvement travelers were confirmed not to strive to seek information. We confirmed that there exist travelers who do not search for information at all.

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In “Inclusive tourism development (2017),” Scheyvens & Biddulph define inclusive tourism as “transformative tourism in which marginalized groups are engaged in ethical production or consumption of tourism and the sharing of its benefits.” They explain this concept as being made up of seven elements.
This paper examines this concept, applies its definition, and proposes a new concept of the definition of universal tourism that targets mainly those with disabilities, or “tourism that can be enjoyed by all people, with the aim of all people being able to participate without hesitation, regardless of age or disability.” The research method consists of a case verification where persons with disabilities and those without disabilities “travel together,” and demonstrates that the participation method and tour contract template are relevant. This paper proposes to interpret and understand the definition of universal tourism as “with all people,” rather than “by all people.” In addition, the paper proposes being conscious of this one-word change, and practicing the concept of “traveling together.” By doing so, the hope is to transform the world through tourism.

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Destination loyalty is important for the decision-making for tourism destinations. Therefore, this study examines the destination loyalty of inbound tourists of Kyoto, Japan. The theoretical framework will be applied to the conventional marketing and consumer behavior of customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, and other theories. According to the previous studies on customer loyalty and destination loyalty, to deeply understand the type and the impact of destination loyalty. This study aimed to examine the effects of behavior destination loyalty and attitude destination loyalty. Based on previous studies on customer loyalty, this study defines tourism destination loyalty as behavioral and attitudinal destination loyalty. For understanding the types of attitudinal destination loyalty, the relationship of destination loyalty. The methodology of the empirical study is based on an original questionnaire survey of inbound tourists who have visited Kyoto, Japan. The results of the survey are used for empirical analysis such as Covariance Structure Analysis to understand the destination loyalty and resultant behavior of inbound tourists to Kyoto, Japan. The result showed the effect of cognition destination loyalty, intention destination loyalty, and conation destination loyalty on attitudinal destination loyalty and behavioral destination loyalty. This study also clarified the relationship between destination loyalty and recommending and revisiting.

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