Exploring the voice of a host community in 'overtourism': The case of Kyoto

2021 Fiscal Year Research-status Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K12441
• Research Institution: Doshisha University
• Principal Investigator: HANDLER ISABELL 同志社大学, ビジネス研究科, 准教授 (90837155)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 河南 順一 同志社大学, ビジネス研究科, 教授 (20844674) ; 古屋 秀樹 東洋大学, 国際観光学部, 教授 (80252013) ; 藤稿 亜矢子 東洋大学, 国際観光学部, 教授 (20732754)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: overtourism / residents / tourism policies / sustainable tourism

Outline of Annual Research Achievements

After the previous decision on adjusting the research focus to comparing pre-covid and post-covid tourism in Kyoto, several steps have been accomplished: First, a qualitative research project has been conducted. During this project, a thematic map based on tourism literature on overtourism in context with residents, was developed. This created the basis for a interview guide to be used in in depth interviews and focus group interviews in this project.

Current Status of Research Progress

4: Progress in research has been delayed.

Reason

The interview guide developed in collaboration with qualitative research students, and the Co-I, was used to conduct twenty qualitative, one-on-one interviews and five focus group interviews in both 2021 and 2022. The requirement for interviewees’ participation was to be a long-term resident of Kyoto and about half of the recruited forty participants were Japanese and half foreigners. All interviews have been transcribed through NVivo transcription software and have been checked for language accuracy and spelling by research assistants and language professionals.

Strategy for Future Research Activity

After the check of transcripts is completed, the collected data will be analyzed and accumulated in a qualitative research paper with the aim of not only reporting the findings but also to develop a model of Kyoto resident’s reaction to tourism in their city. The previously planned market survey has been postponed, as available and tested questionnaire scales proved to be insufficient to address the situation in Kyoto and concerns about the results being publishable have been raised. It has been therefore decided to develop questionnaire scales in this project as well which will be based on qualitative interview results, which will be published in another research paper. It is further planned to conduct the market survey necessary for statistical testing and validation in summer or autumn 2022.

Causes of Carryover

The following items were included in the original budget for 2021 but could not be used in this fiscal year: 1) travel budget from Kyoto-Tokyo by PI and Co-I: due to Covid-19 pandemic personal travel was refrained from. 2) a small portion of the budget allocated to market survey was now used for qualitative research with the market survey having been postponed to summer/autumn 2022.