Tourism base revitalization projects “Sea and Sauna” and “Jobus!!”

In the Sawtooth Mountain area of Chiba Prefecture, known as a scenic tourist destination since the Edo period and selected as a candidate area for Japanese Heritage, the decrease in overnight and round-trip tourism (increase in one-day car trips) following the opening of the Tokyo Bay Aqualine and Tateyama Expressway, damage caused by Typhoons No. 15 and 19 in 2019 and the new Corona have caused a blow Reactivation of each tourist center is an issue.
In the midst of this difficult environment, five businesses, including Kinokuniya Corporation, prepared a revitalization plan for tourism in the Sawtooth Mountain area and applied for the 2021 Japan Tourism Agency's "Project to Promote Revitalization and High Value-Addition of Existing Tourism Bases," and as part of this project, two demonstration experiments were carried out.

1. Beach Sauna Event "Sea and Sauna
This is a demonstration experiment of a beach sauna event as a measure to effectively utilize the beaches, which were once a tourist base, during the winter season when tourism use is scarce, in order to revitalize them.
We were commissioned to serve as the secretariat for the application to the Japan Tourism Agency, and promoted a series of initiatives ranging from overall and individual planning, promotion of the beach sauna event demonstration experiment (planning, concept design, setup, operation, and promotion), verification of effectiveness, and reporting.

2. "Jyobus!", a trip overflowing with my favorite things
This was a demonstration event for a sightseeing tour bus (secondary transportation) that connects various tourist attractions across city borders, which had long been an issue for consideration.
We were commissioned to serve as the secretariat for the application to the Japan Tourism Agency, and promoted a series of initiatives from overall and individual planning to preparation for the demonstration, verification of effectiveness, and reporting.


1. Beach Sauna Event "Ocean and Sauna
[Social Issues/Customer Issues/Requests
The diversification of the social leisure industry and the shift to day-trip car tourism in the Sawtooth Mountain area not only led to a decline in the number of beach-bathing recreationists who had led the region, but also to the attenuation of related tourism businesses and a decline in their visual and experiential vitality.
Although the situation remained challenging due to the combination of damage from a major typhoon and the new Corona, the premise was to make the event an easy-to-understand way to convey the charms of the Sawtooth Mountain area. It was also desired to conduct an experiment to cultivate knowledge on the possibility of commercializing the "sauna users" that Kinokuniya is considering as a new target customer segment, and to conduct a more effective and efficient beach sauna event in the future.

Solution.
The sauna event experiment energized both the community and the business, but was implemented at the same level as the main launch.
Naming and artwork based on brand strategy, multifaceted media plan including news release/ SNS/ use of influencers and other measures in response to the response, introduction of web and electronic tickets, operations manual including measures against the new Corona, food marché and sauna that conveyed local attractions, local environmental design featuring local artists, and a step-by-step questionnaire survey in anticipation of reservation cancellations due to the new Corona, as one event project.

2. "Jyobus!", a trip overflowing with my favorite things.
Social Issues/Customer Issues/Requests
As day-trip sightseeing by car became the mainstream, people felt that the tourism economy was stagnating due to "shorter stay time," "limited tour destinations," and "non-motorized users' shift away from sightseeing," but there were insufficient resources to quantitatively understand and analyze the situation.
In addition, it was difficult to secure resources and establish a procedure to demonstrate the potential and ideas of how to promote tourism to the Tokyo metropolitan area and how to develop a sightseeing tour course. In response to the above requests, the challenge for this project was how to solidify a foothold for connecting the demonstration operation to full-scale operation, while giving shape to the ideas that the customers had in mind.

Solution
Although this was a demonstration project, we followed procedures that were designed for full-scale operation. The following were implemented: naming and artwork based on the brand strategy; development of a media plan and analysis of the response approximately one month prior to the 36-day operation period from January 4 to February 8, 2022; introduction of web and electronic tickets on a trial basis and preparation of a response manual for the crew; introduction of a digital stamp rally to promote excursion and to understand the behavior patterns of the riders; and introduction of the new Corona. The demonstration tour was designed as an event project, including the introduction of a digital stamp rally, a questionnaire survey in stages, assuming the cancellation of reservations by the new Corona.

Sea and Sauna" and "Jyobus! We compiled the results of each of these demonstrations so that the report itself could serve as a guideline and be utilized in future discussions with related parties.


＜The results of each experiment were compiled into a report that can be used as a guideline for future discussions with related parties.
1. Beach Sauna Event "The Sea and Sauna
Development] Akihiko Nishimura
Sales and project management】 Kenji Nakano
design, layout] Hirofumi Inoue, Akane Yamaguchi
Production, construction] TAKAHASHI Noriyuki
Research and Planning] Taketoshi Takahashi, Kayoko Koike, Kazuhiro Suzuki

2. "Jyobus!": A Journey Overflowing with My Favorite Things
Development/Project Management] Akihiko Nishimura
Sales】 Kenji Nakano
Research and Planning] Taketoshi Takahashi, Kayoko Koike, Kazuhiro Suzuki


～Related Links
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・Vitalization project for Kyonan Town, Chiba Prefecture