Recently, the number of foreign tourists has been increasing in Japan. Although large cities are normally popular sightseeing spots for domestic tourism, tourists on repeat visits tend to expand their destinations to rural areas of the country. Muslim-friendly tourism in Japan requires additional services from service providers in rural areas to prepare appropriate food and accommodation as well as ensure effective communication with Muslims while honoring their cultural values when Muslims visit. This paper aims to capture the trend of Muslim-friendly tourism in Japan across the country with a focus on municipal attempts and analyzing three particular cases in Kumamoto, Okayama and Ishikawa prefectures.
As an overview, many municipalities have engaged in related projects through which they provide maps and information related to food, accommodation, and prayer rooms for the sake of Muslim tourists. In sightseeing areas where foreign tourists are welcome, stakeholders are actively connected. In the case of Hitoyoshi city, a woman entrepreneur plays important roles in creating a Muslim-friendly atmosphere in its rural area with the help of community involvement among people in the farm stay business. In Okayama and the other two cities, the owner of a catering service joins the farm stay business for foreign tourists, including Muslims, banking on his own experience of serving food in accordance with religious concerns. In Komatsu city, the municipal office takes the initiative to promote Muslim-friendly tourism and encourages restaurant owners to join its tourism service. Although the cases in this study are limited to just three, we were able to observe the different ways by which these project leaders create Muslim-friendly tourism avenues and take responsibility for development. Since their attempts, through trial and error, vary with regard to developing Muslim-friendly tourism at farm stays and restaurants, this further research can benefit other related organizations and stakeholders by sharing knowledge for domestic tourism development. In addition, from the viewpoint of the service providers, it is important to investigate Muslim preferences for tourism content and its environment in non-Muslim countries such as Japan.
抄録全体を表示