From Pollution to Green and Low-Carbon Island Revitalization: Implications of Exhibition-Driven Sustainable Tourism (Triennale) for SDG 8.9 in Setouchi

After the severe industrial pollution from World War II, the Setouchi Sea areas and its islands (the Triennale hosting areas) experienced severe economic and population shrinkage. The target of SDG 8.9 is to promote “direct tourism GDP” and “tourism-related jobs” by devising and implementing policies (e.g., some Triennale and Biennale) for sustainable tourism. Triennale-driven tourism is an essential component of sustainable tourism and city revitalization, lasting almost 20 years in Japan. The current paper attempts an empirical analysis into the positive impacts of exhibition-driven sustainable tourism for SDG 8.9 in these rural islands (from pollution to green and low-carbon islands revitalization). The panel data of “pollution load of living environment items” by cities in Japan and “tourists, income, and population” from 14 areas in Kagawa were monitored using multiple methods, such as descriptive and inferential statistics (the one-way ANOVA test and Simple Linear Regression (SLR)). It is a new attempt to devise and implement policies and theories for a sustainable tourism-related industry and its SDGs. Therefore, the present findings offer meaningful implications in academia and industry, not only in Setouchi Sea areas but also for similar areas in and out of Japan