Takeshi Iwamoto: Expectations for the Opening of the Hokuriku Shinkansen Extension to Tsuruga—Reflecting on Digital Tourism Initiatives in Toyama Prefecture

2024/02/09

First of all, I would like to express my deepest sympathies to everyone affected by the recent Noto Peninsula Earthquake.

Following the opening of the Hokuriku Shinkansen in March 2015, the "New Toyama Prefecture Tourism Promotion Strategic Plan" was formulated in March 2016 as a plan to strategically promote tourism. According to this document, the establishment and development of a Japanese version of a DMO (Destination Management/Marketing Organization) was advocated due to the importance of tourism marketing. In response, Toyama Prefecture strengthened the Prefectural Tourism Federation and established the "Toyama Tourism Organization." My initiatives, which I will describe later, were conducted as joint research with this "Toyama Tourism Organization."

Furthermore, according to the Development Bank of Japan, the flow of people from the Tokyo metropolitan area to Toyama Prefecture, which was about 2.4 million before the opening, increased by approximately 40% to 3.28 million in 2017, demonstrating the significant impact of the Shinkansen. Regarding tourism, the number of visitors (based on Japan Tourism Agency standards) rose from 12.38 million before the opening to 15.23 million in 2015, a 23% increase, and has maintained a similar level since then.

In this way, the opening of the Shinkansen had a major impact on Toyama Prefecture's tourism and industry, even when viewed through numerical data.

In 2016, I was consulted by the newly established "Toyama Tourism Organization" regarding the direction of promoting tourism marketing through digital means. At that time, platformers already controlled data for various tourism services. Additionally, mobile phone carriers were selling customer location data, frequently pitching it to DMOs and other entities. However, because purchasing data continuously is financially difficult, the advice I emphasized most was to create a mechanism for collecting tourist data independently and to conduct continuous marketing.

I proposed two methods and proceeded with them as joint research with my laboratory. The first was a web survey system. We digitized surveys that had previously been collected on paper at tourist spots, making it possible for people to respond from anywhere. While web surveys themselves are not technologically advanced, I still believe that establishing a foundation for a DMO to collect its own data was important for raising awareness.

The other pillar was the development of a tourism app that could be used by any tourist visiting Toyama Prefecture. We aimed to develop a platform to gather data on "what kind of tourists are interested in what information and where they actually went" by collecting location information in the background, gathering attribute information by linking it with the aforementioned survey data, and collecting information on what was viewed within the app.

The web surveys are still being conducted today, and I believe we have succeeded in continuous data collection over a long period. On the other hand, while the app initiative was ambitious, there were many points for reflection, such as technical issues and the inability to establish a system for maintaining attractive content due to a lack of cooperation from municipalities. Although the project was scaled back following the COVID-19 pandemic, I believe we achieved certain results, such as conducting research on changes in tourist behavior.

Looking back, I think these efforts can be summarized as what is now called DX (Digital Transformation), but there were various problems during the process. Specifically, when collecting the data mentioned above, we interviewed tourism officials from the prefecture and municipalities participating in the DMO about "what kind of data they wanted to utilize for policy planning," but we were unable to obtain clear answers.

In my personal view, many policies were based on precedents or requests, and the concept of EBPM (Evidence-Based Policy Making) was even less widespread than it is today. However, through this joint research, I believe I was able to help change mindsets slightly by holding workshops on the utilization of digital data.

Finally, I would like to mention what I believe will be necessary regarding the opening of the Tsuruga extension. That is the development of a common digital data platform that can capture the activities and needs of tourists visiting the three prefectures of the Hokuriku region.

When it comes to understanding tourists, there is no point in handling data separately by prefectural boundaries. In fact, there is already a movement to standardize survey data across the three prefectures, and the aforementioned survey system is currently being updated. I hope that such movements will accelerate and that tourism promotion in the Hokuriku region will advance based on data.