This study focuses on adventure tourists who have begun to regard ethnoscape preserved well in UNESCO Biosphere Reserves as tourism resources. Adventure tourism induces tourists’ internal change through the accidental learning and discovery from ethnoscape. Therefore, this study focused on this learning and discovery process and hypothesized that adventure tourists are regarded as cross-boundary learners. It focused on the non-cognitive abilities that ensure this learning ability, and investigated how these abilities are linked to the internal changes through encounters with ethnoscape. As a case study, a qualitative comparative analysis of the relationship between these abilities, behavior, and the internal change of foreign adventure tourists in the Minami Alps Biosphere Reserve in Japan provided some support for the hypothesis. As cross-boundary learning is based on mutual learning, the results suggest that adventure tourism may encourage local residents to learn to reserve the ethnoscape.

This study clarifies the impact of travel discount policies implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic on motivation toward travel plans and traveling. In addition, it reveals the distinct perception of “being considered a nuisance” from the perspective of tourist destinations, the presence or absence of opposition from the surrounding community, and the evolution of these factors over a three-year period. The results revealed that the use of the “Go To Travel” campaign was the greatest motivational force; however, there were changes in the level of motivation as the discount policy transitioned. Similarly, while changes were observed in the perception of tourist destinations and reactions from the surrounding community, travelers who were motivated by the travel discount policies had a more positive perception that traveling to these destinations contributed to “support” and was “appreciated” by the destinations.

Gastronomy tourism is a form of tourism that encompasses various aspects of “food” and can be an effective means of revitalizing rural, mountainous, and fishing villages. From a wellness perspective, we have focused on the potential of creating tourism regions through gastronomy walking and have conducted investigations on the cases of Barr in the Alsace region of France and Yurihama Town in Tottori Prefecture. As a result, we found that “fulfilling food and drink,” “interaction with others,” and “nature and scenery” were highly valued. From these findings, it became clear that in order to connect this to tourism region development, it is necessary to create landscapes that serve as the backdrop for food and the stage for interaction, provide sufficient and appropriate regional food and drink, and establish a cooperative framework throughout the region.

The management methods and recent developments for recreational use in the U.S. nature reserves were illustrated by the case of Zion National Park in this research. MBO (Management by Objectives) frameworks are applied in the U.S. nature reserves. However, Zion National Park has been facing with a continuous increase in visitors and has had difficulties to cope with it due to lack of funds and staff, which has led to the new transition in management method. The new management is oriented towards restricting use within the park and expanding it into the adjacent area, and working with multiple entities from different sectors. The case of Zion National Park shows a new management direction with a broader perspective to address overtourism as one of the solutions to various problems caused by conventional management strategies in nature reserves.

Inbound tourism is one of the most promising industries in Japan. In this study, we conducted a dynamic panel data analysis to evaluate whether the policy factors, including SNS tourism promotion, commercial facilities, and transportation accessibility, contribute to increasing Chinese tourists to Japan. This study found that the number of Weibo posted by JNTO contributes to the rise in Chinese tourists. Both commercial facilities and transportation accessibility have a positive influence on Chinese tourists. Drawing on the findings, it is recommended that JNTO and other tourism promotion organizations intensify their SNS promotion strategies and optimize the utilization of various prominent Chinese SNS platforms to achieve better effect.