Community-Based Tourism: A Pathway to Sustainability for Japan's Protected Areas

Abstract

The recent diversification of domestic tourism needs in Japan, seen particularly in increasing demand for ecotourism and green tourism, shows that there is much potential for further development of nature tourism, much of which takes place in protected areas. However, numerous challenges exist. Based on case-study research on tourism taking place in three national parks, four common success factors of these sites were identified, namely, institutional arrangements; self-regulations related to conservation; high environmental awareness; and the existence of partnerships. This article demonstrates how, under the current system of Japanese national park management, community-based tourism can be facilitated by building upon these success factors. This would address the existing challenges to tourism in protected areas, and in turn would significantly contribute to the sustainable management of protected areas. Finally, this article points to the need for future research that focuses on the wider applicability of the lessons learned from the Japanese experience.Tourism, travel, and other recreational and leisure activities are undertaken by vast numbers of people in Japan. In 2004, the Japanese population as a whole engaged in domestic overnight travel 255 million times, which amounts to twice per year per person. The average Japanese takes 1.5 overnight domestic trips for tourism purposes and spends approximately 47,000 Japanese yen (392 USD; 1 USD ¼ 120 JPY) per year on domestic overnight travel (MLIT 2005). The general trend since the early 1990s is a decline in numbers of domestic Japanese tourists. At the same time, however, recent trends in domestic tourism demonstrate that there is a growing tendency for people to travel farther away and in much smaller groups than before. A diversification of tourism needs, seen particularly in the increasing demand for nature tourism experiences such as ecotourism and green tourism, has also been noted (MLIT 2001). Nature-based recreational activities in protected areas include nature viewing from vehicles (cars, tourism buses, cable cars, boats), hot-spring bathing, day camping=car camping, hiking, rock climbing, skiing, and stream climbing. Riveror ocean-based activities such as scuba diving, snorkeling, canoeing, whale watching, and dolphin swimming are also becoming popular. It is estimated that nearly 917 million people visited natural parks in 2003 (MLIT 2005), of whom a little under 30% are visitors to national parks. Despite such significant numbers, specific policies and laws that comprehensively deal with tourism in protected areas are lacking.This study is based on research on nature tourism in protected areas in Japan conducted between April 2002 and March 2004. First, based on a review of nature tourism activities in Japanese protected areas, this article gives an overview of the challenges that exist in nature tourism currently taking place. Next, based on case studies of three popular nature tourism destinations, the common factors that make these sites more s...

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