This study aimed to experimentally assess the sensibility of thumbnails on online video-sharing services for tourism targeting elderly people. A total of 100 males and females aged 60 and above participated in the experiment. There were 29 male participants: 1 in his 60s, 18 in their 70s, and 10 in their 80s. Of the 71 female participants, 19 were in their 60s, 43 in their 70s, and 9 in their 80s. This experiment was conducted at a welfare exchange center located in Saitama Prefecture. Four thumbnails with varying font types, font color, font sizes, and image edging were created and used in various conditions. The assessment included 11 items measuring the participants’ sensibility evaluation and 2 items measuring their comprehensive evaluation of thumbnails. Four types of experimental thumbnail conditions were prepared and randomly presented to the participants. In each condition, participants viewed thumbnails (10 seconds), answered measurement items (1 minute 30 seconds), and took a break (20 minutes). The main factors influencing sensibility evaluation were derived by conducting a factor analysis using principal axis factoring and varimax rotation on the results obtained from the experiment. Factor 1 included positive keywords such as “Enjoyable” and “Exciting.” Therefore, factor 1 was named “Curiosity.” Factor 2 included negative keywords such as “Unpleasant” and “Boring.” Therefore, factor 2 was named “Disgust.” Furthermore, in analyses using factor scores, participants’ sensitivity evaluation of thumbnails was influenced by gender. Therefore, it is important to consider gender differences when designing thumbnails based on sensitivity evaluations.

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In response to the increasing trend of young people disengaging from the travel scene, there is a growing focus on regional development initiatives. This is particularly evident in the decline of Onsen tourist attractions and accommodations. To increase visitor numbers, it’s crucial not only to attract new customers but also to cultivate repeat clientele. Central to this is the concept of ‘Emotional Attachment,’ which directly influences customers’ intention of repeat visitation and recommendations to others beyond mere satisfaction. Previous research identified five factors contributing to Emotional Attachment, defining it as the positive emotion and desire to relive experiences. This study emphasizes the symbolic and relationship-building aspects of Emotional Attachment, proposing strategies to attract new repeat customers. Drawing on the AISCEAS model of tourist behavior, a city tour featuring holographic displays of ‘Onsen Musume’ was introduced in Shiobara Onsen, followed by an experiential event. Since all the participants were repeaters, subsequent trials in Nasu Town involved viewing explanatory videos before sightseeing and the results of questionnaires showed a higher likelihood of repeat visits. This approach effectively combines symbolic and relationship-building elements, offering a promising method for fostering Emotional Attachment and increasing visitor retention.

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This longitudinal study explored the change of consumer attitudes towards smart hotel technological services before and after the pandemic. Based on expert interviews and literature collection, the topics of smart hotel services were extracted and summarized into four dimensions, namely, automatic reception, smart rooms, hotel intelligent services, and immersive artificial intelligence (AI) smart systems. The questionnaire covered 27 technological service items, and each topic was measured in terms of its enablers and inhibitors. Before the pandemic in 2019, a pre-test was conducted on 65 subjects using this questionnaire. Three years later, the same questionnaire was administered to the same subjects as a second test. A total of 57 valid questionnaires were collected and tested to understand the differences before and after the pandemic. The results showed that the enablers of the consumers’ attitudes significantly increased, while the inhibitors significantly decreased. In individual dimensions, in addition to the dimension of automatic reception, the enablers of smart rooms, hotel intelligent services, and immersive AI smart systems were significantly improved, while the inhibitors were significantly reduced. In summary, COVID-19 had a catalytic effect on consumer attitudes towards the use of technological services in the hospitality industry.

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Japanese society is currently concentrated around Tokyo and its population has increased. On the other hand, local areas have been experiencing depopulation. The Japanese government enacted the Regional Revitalization Basic Act, which aims to curb population decline and form a sustainable society through the initiative of local governments, private enterprises, and residents. Therefore, this study focuses on the regional revitalization of Namegata City, Ibaraki Prefecture and mainly focuses on extracting success factors for it. A framework was set for analyzing the practices of individual cities. The framework includes four items: “people,” “local government,” “private company,” and “local resources.” It was applied to three cities: Namegata City in Ibaraki Prefecture, Nagato City in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan and Suzhou City in Jiangsu Province, China. According to the framework analysis, Namegata City has three issues and suggested improvements. Suggestions are “strengthening the hometown tax system,” “reforming the Shiraho hot spring,” and “using containers in various parks.” The framework and suggestions were presented to the mayor of Nagemata City and a question-and-answer session was conducted with him. This research will help as one of the methods for the regional revitalization.

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On 1 January 2024, the 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake occurred in Japan, and also information released by the JMA in August 2023 indicated that the risk of a Nankai trough earthquake occurring within the next 30 years is 70-80 %. Awareness of this threat of disaster has led to plans being made at the citizen level, and in Akashi City, a plan has been formulated to enhance local disaster prevention schemes by educating and preparing the residents. This study shows the results of a questionnaire survey designed to measure public awareness of the need for strategies to mitigate and recover from the effects of a disaster. The study is significant in that it was conducted in an affected area approximately 19 years after the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, and approximately three years after the Great East Japan Earthquake, and targets an area where the threat of a Nankai trough earthquake is imminent. The aim is to identify differences in disaster preparation between communities 19 years after a disaster, as well as attitudes towards vulnerable people with high mortality rates compared to healthy people, and also how local people react to being introduced with the feedback of the results. These results indicate that 19 years after the disaster, awareness of those who have experienced a disaster is higher than the national average immediately after the disaster, while awareness of those who have not experienced a disaster declines over time. In addition, the results show that the presidents of citizens’ associations and members of associations for promotion of regional development feel the results of the disaster prevention consciousness questionnaire survey to be meaningful and believe that it has potential for use as a resource for formulating future disaster prevention measures.

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Tourism is an important industry for Japan. Struggling with labor shortages due to the declining birthrate and aging population, efficient data-based management of tourist destinations is aimed at. However, the utilization of data has not progressed well in stores in tourist areas. In this study, pedestrian count data collected in a town was shared, analyzed, and utilized by a restaurant to reconsider its business hours toward dynamic business hour setting. This study determined the time of a day when the restaurant could expect more customers and extended the last-orders time based on pedestrian count data collected by an AI camera and aggregated for every hour. The result was evaluated by the sales data of the cash register of the restaurant. The strategy was well received by the collaborating restaurant and other local tourism-related businesses in the area, indicating that the business hours can be adjusted by pedestrian count data. On the other hand, it remained an issue that there were days when sales did not increase despite the extension, the shortening of business hours, and commutation of changed business hours to tourists.

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A mobile application was developed to promote revisits to Kenrokuen-garden (a famous Daimyo garden) using gamification theory in this study. The tourism industry was greatly affected by the movement restrictions during the Covid-19 pandemic. Micro-tourism, which means visiting local areas, gained attention during this period. Gamification design is incorporated into the app as a mechanism to maintain the motivation for the game. The tourists who have visited Kenrokuen, want to visit the place more than once due to the system (gamification theory). The tourists are also motivated to play the game at the same time. The garden is one of famous tourist destinations in Kanazawa City, Japan. In the developed app, a badge system was used to evaluate tourist behaviours based on the number of visits, number of steps taken, arrival rate of photo spots, and achievement rate in the four seasons. It was designed to motivate the repeat visits by giving badges as rewards. The design intent and the operational verification results of the developed app are reported in this paper.

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The tourism industry is an important policy pillar in Japan. Recently, data utilization has been promoted in the tourism industry, however, there are two issues: (1) there is a limit to the data that can be obtained by operators, and (2) data linkage across operators and government agencies is not feasible due to the privacy concerns of tourists included in the data. Therefore, in this study, the benefits that the utilization of data held by local businesses and administrations brings to the efficiency of tourism industry operations were confirmed, with the aim of setting up hypotheses for local businesses involved in the tourism industry to maintain and improve their operations with limited manpower and capital in regions that focus on the tourism industry. As a specific means of confirmation, a study session was held. The study session consisted of a classroom lecture and a workshop on the theme of Privacy Tech that enables secure data linkage and analysis. During the workshop, ideas for new data utilization by realizing secure data linkage using Privacy Tech were generated. Based on the ideas, the workshop discussed the benefits that future collaboration and analysis of data by various entities through Privacy Tech could bring to the efficiency of tourism industry operations.

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In this study, the acquiring process of hospitality competence for employees in the accommodation industry was examined by focusing on hospitality competence, which is important for the development of service industries. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to 7 young employees working in the small and medium-sized accommodation industry. The interview data were analyzed by a Modified Grounded Theory Approach (M-GTA) and 36 concepts, 15 subcategories and 4 categories, which were constituted in a model for acquiring process of hospitality competence, were generated. The results revealed that the acquiring process of employees’ hospitality competence was influenced by their interactions with co-workers and customers, and also facilitated by their new role outside the main task, while learning proceeds mainly through work. In other words, it was shown that, as well as interaction with others, including co-workers and customers, new role outside the main task were important factors in the acquisition process of hospitality competence.

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