The longer the traveler travels from home to the destination, the more s/he spends at the destination. This is a “law” known in tourism development studies, However, in this world of advancing transportation technology, does it still hold true?
The most accurate method of its examination can be obtained by conducting a large scale survey to tourists, asking their location of residence, destination of travel and the amount spent at the destination, However, this paper verifies the validity of the law by using existing tourism and transportation statistics.
The statistics used in this study are: 1) Japan Tourism Agency's “Tourism Consumption Data”, which provides the average total amount paid for a trip by tourists and their distance travelled; 2) Transport Ministry's “Passenger Travel Mode Survey”, which provides the share of the transportation mode used in a given travel sector; and 3) “Accommodation Statistics”, which sheds light on the number of nights stayed and the amount spent for accommodations, These data, after calculation adjustments, will show the daily amount paid for a trip, besides transportation costs, by tourists and their distance of travel.
Japan has 47 prefectures, The study compared the amount, as obtained from above calculation process, of tourists traveling from Tokyo plus its three neighboring prefectures to all other 43 prefectures, As a result of this comparison, the correlation coefficient between the distance travelled and the amount spent was 0.71, showing strong positive correlation.
The significance of the proof of the law to tourism developers will be that it does make sense to invest more in promoting longdistance travelers, and when a tourist destination is expecting a new mode of transportation connecting a far market, it should prepare for larger tourist consumption.
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