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 a challenging environment, five businesses, including Kinokuniya Corporation, prepared and applied for a revitalization plan for tourism in the Sawtooth Mountain area, which was adopted by the Japan Tourism Agency in FY2021 as part of its "Project to Promote Revitalization and High Value-Addition of Existing Tourism Bases," and two demonstration experiments were conducted as part of the project.

1. Beach sauna event "Ocean and Sauna
A demonstration experiment of a beach sauna event as a measure to effectively utilize the beach in winter, when tourism use is low, in order to revitalize the beach, which was once a tourist hub.
We were contracted to provide secretariat services for the application to the Japan Tourism Agency, and promoted a series of initiatives ranging from overall and individual planning, to promotion of the beach sauna event demonstration (planning, concept design, setup, operation, and promotion), effectiveness verification, and reporting.

2. "Jyobus!", a trip full of my favorite things.
A demonstration event for a sightseeing tour bus (secondary transportation) that connects various tourist attractions across city borders, which has long been an issue to be considered.
MHI was contracted 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, preparation for demonstration operations, 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 beachgoers, who had been the driving force in the region, but also to a decline in the related tourism businesses and a decline in the visual and experiential vitality of the area.
Although the situation continues to be difficult due to the damage caused by the major typhoon and the new Corona, the premise of the event was to make it easy to understand and convey the appeal of the Sawasan area. It was also hoped that the event would serve as 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 implement beach sauna events more effectively and efficiently in the future.

[Solution.
This is an experiment in sauna events that will energize both the community and the business, but was implemented at the same level as the main launch.
The project included naming and artwork based on the brand strategy, a multifaceted media plan including news releases/ SNS/ use of influencers and other measures in response to the response, introduction of web and electronic ticketing, an operations manual including measures against the new Corona, a food marché and sauna to convey local attractions, a local environmental design featuring local artists, and a step-by-step questionnaire survey in anticipation of reservation cancellations due to the new Corona, all in a single event project.

2. "Jyobus!", a trip full of my favorite things.
Social Issues/Customer Issues/Requests
As day-trip car tourism became the mainstream, "shorter stay times," "limited excursion destinations," and "non-motorized users moving away from tourism," the tourism economy was feeling the downturn, but there were insufficient resources to quantitatively understand and analyze the situation.
Similarly, it was difficult to secure resources and establish a demonstration procedure for the demonstration of potential and ideas for a sightseeing tour course and a method of appealing to the Tokyo metropolitan area. 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 had been envisioned by the customers.

[Solution.
Although this was a demonstration run, we promoted it using procedures that anticipated a full-scale operation. The following were conducted as part of the event project: 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 crew members; introduction of a digital stamp rally to promote excursion and to understand the behavior patterns of the passengers; and a step-by-step questionnaire survey in anticipation of cancellations of reservations by the new Corona. The demonstration was designed as an event project, including the introduction of a digital stamp rally, a step-by-step questionnaire survey to anticipate reservation cancellations due to the new Corona.

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


＜Our project members
1. Beach sauna event "Ocean and Sauna
Development] Akihiko Nishimura
Sales & Project Management] Kenji Nakano
[design, layout] Hiroshi Inoue, Akane Yamaguchi
[Produced by construction] Noriyuki Takahashi
Research and Planning] Taketoshi Takahashi, Kayoko Koike, Kazuhiro Suzuki

2. "Jyobus!", a trip full of my favorite things.
Development and Project Management] Akihiko Nishimura
Sales】 Kenji Nakano
Research and Planning] Taketoshi Takahashi, Kayoko Koike, Kazuhiro Suzuki


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