Cultural World Heritage Site Management - a Case Study of Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range

The research aims to examine (1) heritage management and conservation activities, (2) local communities and (3) tourism development in WHS Kii after its WHS listing. Primary data was collected though the visits to WHS Kii, observations of/ad hoc small interviews with stakeholders in the local communities, and in-depth interviews with key stakeholders. According to the findings, overall diverse positive changes are confirmed in relation to the above-mentioned three fields. After its WHS inscription, for instance, people’s awareness of conservation of WHS Kii has been raised and the actual level of conservation of the WHS has also been enhanced. People from outside WHS Kii as well as local people have been involved in the conservation of the WHS and tourism in the WHS. Local people have a higher level of pride in their living place thanks to its WHS designation. The number of overseas tourists has also increased after WHS listing

Re-examination of the Relationship between World Heritage Site Designation and Local Identity

Jimura (2015) investigated the relationship between World Heritage Site (WHS) listing and local identity through the analysis of 14 Japanese WHSs, and identified three requirements WHS inscription must satisfy to contribute greatly to creating/enhancing local identity. First, the site must not be well-known to visitors before WHS designation but see a clear increase in the visitor number afterwards. Second, it must not have played a significant role in the local community before WHS inscription, but the community’s awareness of the value of the site must have been enhanced subsequently. Third, it needs to be a definite area where local population resides. Five sites have been added to Japan’s list of WHSs since the time of Jimura (2015)’s investigation, making it a total of 19 WHSs as of February 2016. Hence, this paper re-examines the association between WHS designation and local identity by exploring whether the three requirements are still valid

The relationship between World Heritage Sites and school trips in Japan

This paper investigates the involvement of WHSs in school trips in Japan. Japan has 16 WHSs and some of them have been visited well by school trips. “Shuugaku ryokou” is a unique concept to Japanese school trips. It aims to learn something significant as human beings and contains at least one night stay. The research was conducted by the review of the past relat-ed studies, examination of the websites of WHSs and their related agencies, and the visits to WHSs. The research shows that several cultural WHSs have been established as school trip des-tinations and the information about their history and value are available at their websites and/or on site. Most of them; however, are not especially for school trips and shuugaku ryokou. More-over, not WHSs but tourist association, prefectural government or judicial foundation takes a leading role in the provision of the resources and activities especially for shuugaku ryokou

The impact of photographs on the on-line marketing for tourism: The case of Japanese-style inns

This paper examines the impact of the use of photographs in on-line marketing for tourism through a case study based in Japanese-style inns. Nowadays, most Japanese-style inns present photographs of what they think are their key appealing elements on their own social networking and/or video/photo-sharing websites, while guests upload their photographs and write comments on travel or social networking websites and/or on the websites of e-travel agents. Through the medium of ‘netnography’ this research has identified that the photographs presented on-line by Japanese-style inns can affect guests’ decision-making processes and/or expectations in both a positive and negative way, and eWOM can work together with the photographs to influence prospective guests

Japanese tourists' motivation for visiting cultural and heritage sites in the UK

The paper examines the motivation of Japanese tourists who visit cultural and heritage sites in the UK. Britain is one of the most popular counties among Japanese tourists. The data was collected from 187 respondents by online questionnaire which was available on-line for one and half months. The results tell that 93.6% respondents have been to the UK or want to visit there someday. 96.3% think visiting the UK is still only the way to experience the authenticity of British cultural and heritage sites even in the Internet era. Regarding their moti-vation for their visit to cultural and heritage sites, 72.7% want to see, touch and experience au-thenticity of British cultural and heritage sites and 35.8% answered to experience something dif-ferent from their ordinary life. Of all the tourism resources available in the UK, the most popular one for Japanese tourists is historic buildings and World Heritage Sites (66.3% chose)

The websites of Japanese ryokan and eWOM: their impacts on guests’ expectation and experience

The research aims to investigate the impacts of the websites of ryokan and e-WordOf-Mouth (eWOM) available at the websites of Japanese e-travel agents on the guests' expectation for and experience at ryokan. The research stems from interpretivism and mainly adopts an inductive approach. Netnography is selected as a research strategy. The top three ryokan in terms of sales ranking are chosen. eWOM about these three are analysed, focusing on the impacts of websites and eWOM in developing the guests' expectation for and experience at ryokan, the appealing point(s) of ryokan for the guests, and the gaps between their expectation for and experience at ryokan. eWOM on the e-travel agents‟ websites are more influential for the guests than the websites of ryokan in their buying-decision-making process and growing their expectation for ryokan. Of various appealing points of ryokan, the overall experience followed by the meals is the main interest of the guests. The room followed by the meals is the appealing point of ryokan that the guests' experience is most unlikely to meet their expectation. A section for eWOM on the website of ryokan is not examined as most ryokan do not have it on their websites. Considering the significance of eWOM confirmed in the research, ryokan should have a eWOM section on their website and it should also be examined in the future research. This research is valuable as ryokan have not been examined well in previous studies, especially those in English

The Impacts of World Heritage Site Designation: Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range

This research aims to investigate the impact of World Heritage Site (WHS) designation on the area designated as “Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range”, Japan. The research adopts qualitative approach to explore detailed issues related to the impacts of WHS designation on heritage management and conservation, local communities, and tourism. Primary data was collected though the visits to the WHS, observation of and ad hoc small interviews with people in the host side of tourism, and scheduled in-depth interviews with key stakeholders in the host side of tourism. The initial findings show that the WHS designation has positive impacts on tourism and local communities in the WHS. For instance, the level of conservation of the WHS, the level of pride of local people in their living place, and the number of overseas tourists have also increased since its WHS designation in 2004

Exploring an Importance-Performance Analysis Approach to Evaluate Destination Image

This paper aims to explore the effectiveness of an Importance-Performance Analysis approach to assess destination image. It focuses on the image of the UK for Chinese students studying in the country. That is because the destination image of a certain country for a homogenous group, such as Chinese students, has not been studied enough and this specific market is central for the UK, especially its education and tourism sector. In total, 23 attributes were examined and each was found in one of the five quadrants. Two attributes related to the environmental aspect of the UK were found in the Competitive Attributes quadrant. These attributes are key strengths of the UK in relation to Chinese students’ images of the country. Three attributes placed in the Keep Up Good Work quadrant are associated with British culture and heritage. This signifies that the UK should keep utilising these resources to improve Chinese students’ images of the nation. 14 attributes were identified in the Concentrate Here quadrant. These attributes include essential elements of tourism such as local cuisine and transportation. Their roles are vital in enhancing the image of the UK for Chinese students, but more efforts must be made to this end

World heritage site management: a case study of sacred sites and pilgrimage routes in the Kii mountain range, Japan

This research examines three themes: heritage management and conservation activities, local communities and tourism development in Kii World Heritage Site (WHS) after WHS designation. Kii is a cultural WHS having links with Japanese religions and consisting of shrines, temples and pilgrimage routes. This study inductively and qualitatively examines these three themes. Overall, the current status of Kii WHS is satisfactory. Local people, tourists/visitors and experts are all actively involved in heritage management and conservation activities. WHS listing seems to have enhanced local identity, increased local people’s pride in their culture and place of residence, and triggered a revitalisation of local culture. Moreover, tourism’s negative impacts appear to be minimal, despite an increase in the number of visitors since UNESCO inscription. There are a few issues to be improved, which derive mainly from a lack of understanding of WHS status or conflicts between heritage management/tourism and religious practices. A more holistic approach, such as establishing a forum consisting of all key stakeholders, would be useful for the further success of Kii WHS as a religious and sacred site, place to live and tourist destination