Doesn’t your heart drop when you see the oblivious stares of camera wielding tourists pushing their way to the front of the line blocking all other views of a gorgeous landscape, a glowing sunrise, or a fantastic festival?
Carrying single-use disposable plastic water bottles, or soon to be waste coffee cups in hand- this behavior reeks of arrogance, and entitlement. This is the type of self-serving tourist that no one wants to attract to their destinations, but if we stick to status-quo PR, this is what we get.
We may have all been guilty of acting as an entitled tourist in a foreign land at some point, but as a local it’s a horrible view of your home.
So, the million yen question is, how do we attract the right kind of visitor?
A smile, a bow and a slow stroll down a side-street taking in the signs, the architecture, the combination of traditional design and nature. This visitor pops into local shops, makes the most of local culture, rents bicycles to get fresh air exercise while having less impact on the environment.
Ideal visitors will take time to seek out local attractions like newly planted terrace rice paddies and find their way to enjoy a lunch featuring local organic vegetables. They are more likely to avoid chain stores, and seek out family run shops to support. They will make use of local trails to hike up to a great viewpoint in a day than snap a photo from a tourbus.
There are many beautiful scenarios like this I’ve heard of from respectful, thoughtful, sustainability-seeking, slow-paced tourists enjoying travels in Japan.
Their experiences hit all the travel highs of finding unique, meaningful experiences and engagement with locals which creates a lasting positive impression on their lives.
The choices of a mindful traveler also provide more benefit to local economies and communities, while leaving a lighter footprint on the natural environment. This is the traveler we want to attract to our destinations.
The more typical, rushed tourist trips add little lasting value to the consumer, and provides minimal economic benefit. Mass, typical tourism also inconveniences locals, diminishes the quality of local culture, lifestyle and natural resources.
I find it heartbreaking to talk with tourists who have rushed around Japan on the rail pass to check off key sights. Their trips are exploitative- all about taking pictures and moving on quickly. These travelers never pause long enough to have any meaningful or memorable experiences, but they don’t know of any other way.
Of course, there may be fleeting interest and excitement of the challenge to check sights off a list, but they will soon move on to other interests in their lives after they’ve done Japan. Few moments from their trip will influence their lives because it was a busy, shallow experience– mottainai, what a waste!
I had a chat with a typical tourist one day who had spent a full day in Tokyo Disneyland, another full-day at Universal Studios Japan, yet only allowed a half-day to travel from Osaka, to see Himeji castle, Hiroshima Peace Park and Miyajima island. She was rushing around because she wanted to fit as much in as she could in a week.
We didn’t even have time to eat anything, so we just picked up a hot-dog at the Hiroshima station convenience store on our way back to Osaka.
My heart dropped as I listened to her, thinking of all the meaningful experiences she had missed, the amazing local foods they would never taste, and the stunning local people they would never meet.
I’ve heard similar stories from Japanese or American travelers in Europe rushing across countries to see a handful of top sights in less than a week. This can not be the future of travel for a multitude of reasons.
In Japan, the Rail-Pass is a blessing, but also a curse because it encourages tourists to rush around the country to get the most value from a 7 to 21 day passes. These passes offer huge discounts on bullet-train use at under $50/day even for the shortest pass. Unbelievable value when compared to domestic pricing where users can rarely travel to the next city for under $100.
Although the pricing increases in value as you choose a longer time, I’d be wonderful to see updated versions of the visitor discount railpass that gave travelers a 30-day option to explore the country at a slower pace, but limit use to 2 trips each day to discourage rushed hyper-travel across the country.
Added value could be added to the slow-travel ticket with better communication explaining the attractions of off-the-beaten track Japan.
Spending time and money trying to appeal to mass tourism and bending over backwards to attract the wrong type of tourist is also mottainai, but this has been the status-quo of tourism industry policymakers in Japan and around the world. A view of tourism industry success by numbers only completely ignores the true cost-benefits on local people, the environment and the overall economy.
The irony is that even a tourist who has inconvenienced the day-to-day life and travel experiences of others is unlikely to have had a stunning trip of a lifetime to rave about with friends and family.
In contrast, any local knows the tourists they want to welcome. Visitors that want to behave like locals and blend in without causing disruptions. Travelers who are aware of their impact and plan accordingly– they are prepared to get up early or late to avoid a clash with the rush hour work crowds.
Ideal visitors are friendly, try to engage in conversation in the local language, and are interested to try out local ways to fit in. These travelers are prepared, they have read books and articles, they have listened to travel stories, and they seek out more information during their travels. They schedule in more time to take things slow. They show respect and are patient in interactions with local people, customs and culture-appreciative of kindness. Their aim is to make their trip a meaningful part of their lives.
These travelers will be the ones who not only benefit the local economies and people with positive interpersonal interactions, they are also the most loyal and enthusiastic ambassadors of our destination on their social media, and inspire travel to Japan from likeminded friends and family.
On the flipside, we need to accommodate sustainability-seeking travelers, we need to provide welcome access to the goods and services they seek. It will be interesting to see which destinations succeed in welcoming the right kind of travelers over the next 10 years. It will be a delicate balance of regulation and sustainable modification.
It can start with a type of tough-love mentality. Any successful parent will warn you that without structure and rules, you will have an unruly child- this is also true in society and tourism- regulated structure is important for success. Domestic tourists as well as inbound tourists must both abide.
Think of the Galapagos principle- higher hurdles to entry, higher pricing and stricter rules for the most sought out destinations can ensure preservation hand in hand with greater tourism industry success.
If you have something very special, it is also likely to be very important to locals, as well as has cultural assets and natural resources in need of preservation.
It’s frustrating to look at overtourism problems in the classic cities of Kyoto, Miyajima, or Kamakura and envision solutions if tourist planning were better. If tourists were asked to pay an entrance fee, or an added tax, if tour-buses were banned on narrow streets, and other hurdles to entry were put in place.
If there were transparency about the money raised from tourist taxes being used to directly benefit local people– creating new parks, maintaining forests, regenerating gardens, improving infrastructure, restoring traditional buildings and even medical or educational funding for locals.
Tourism has so much potential to provide more benefit to local people and local economies, but only if it is designed to do so.
Higher hurdles to access the overtouristed attractions in Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto could benefit Japan tourism overall. There is so much more to enjoy in Japan beyond the golden triangle of the top sights.
Our job as off-the-beaten-track consultants is to provide information and access to lesser known gems worth seeking out. This will help spread out and stagger visitors across the country– vital for any quality experience and especially important for future post-pandemic travel.
Local Benefits
Offering discounts and priority entry to locals who want to enjoy tourist attractions is also a key aspect of sustainable destination management. We know that without happy locals, or locals at all, the visitors aren’t happy either.
In Hawaii, I grew up very appreciative of the Kama’aina rates for local residents at restaurants, hotels, museums and leisure attractions. It helps locals feel some benefit from tourism in their home as they live in a destination inconvenienced by tourists. Like locals at any popular destination, it is their higher taxes that pay for the infrastructure and resources used, as well as clean up the waste left behind.
Most visitors seem unaware that their trip is subsidized by local taxpayers. If we invest in clearly, but empathetically communicating this in travel promotion, it could be worth its weight in gold. Use of essential resources like clean water, local fruit and vegetables are also going to be of more concern as we suffer shortages due to the climate crisis. Rich tourists using up local resources is going to cause friction and resentment.
Explaining how the extra money gained from tourism is applied to regenerate the local environment, restore historical buildings, and make necessary upgrades to infrastructure, healthcare, art and education can improve understanding, create balance and build more support among both locals and visitors alike.
Taking it a step further, if a destination could actually display proof-of-concept by pointing out the tourist funded assets, it could be very compelling PR. For example,
Thank you for visiting, please notice the *tourist-funded* icon on the map and make sure to visit our stunning forest parks, restored traditional buildings, and classic train lines- all funded by visitors like you, thank you! *
Extending the Silent Car Model
On an early autumn morning, I was standing on a hill overlooking the classic city of Kyoto. The elegantly manicured Japanese gardens below, the early morning mist in the hills beyond, everything about the moment filled me with joy- it was so close to my ideal travel experience! I had made the extra effort to get to the temple gates just as they opened to be able to enjoy the temple in peace, but it was only a few minutes before the tour groups entered.
I tried to escape down a lesser-traveled forest path, but the screech of tour guide commentary in a high-pitched voice was inescapable. Looking at the faces of bored students and tourists was gut-wrenching, as I thought,
What is the point in ruining it for all of us.. if they don’t even care?!
I had sympathetic looks from my fellow quiet temple-goers, but my visit was ruined. I’ve had so many years of mass-tourist attraction disappointment like this across Japan. It’s so frustrating because I can see so much potential for improvement by making small changes. It’s especially frustrating in places that are rich with tradition, culture and stunning nature– these are places that should be serene and meaningful visits for tourists and locals alike.
To diminish tour-guide noise pollution, explanations could be regulated to only before and after a visit. Also, extending opening hours for silent, contemplative visitors in the early morning who are seeking out meditative experiences- no loud talking please- can bring back locals, and offer higher-value experiences.
Extending the rules we already have in place in Japan for silent train cars, women-only carriages, luxury-taxes, limited space or seating, and even photography-bans might make a big difference.
Each destination and attraction will have different requirements, so trying out techniques on both the carrot and stick sides of influence is good strategy.
High-hurdles can increase perceived value
One of my most meaningful travel experiences was to the small art island of Teshima. While sitting in the silent, photo-free art cave, I was suddenly aware of the sounds of nature. It dawned on me that I had actually been tuning nature out as I was adhering to my usual social media buzz chores.
Although annoyed at first that I wasn’t allowed to share it with the world, or document it for my own memories– of all my travel experiences in Japan, I often think back to that special experience when I was forced to listen to the forest. I would have never noticed the silent flow of water droplets across smooth stones. It was magical.
The experience wouldn’t have been as impressive if I hadn’t been inconvenienced by rules and fees which forced me to value it.
The best experiences often have a high-hurdle to entry. On Teshima, we knew we had to reach the facility by renting a bicycle and climbing hills. We were prepared to pay a higher than usual museum ticket price, wait for our time slot on a busy day, and not allowed to take pictures. But knowing all of these hurdles didn’t put us off visiting– we had heard it would be worth it.
In this post-covid world, we need to protect our local assets, our natural environment, local resources, traditions and culture to protect the quality of life of locals as we allow travelers to return.
Using the rules and lessons we already have in place in some areas, we can extend them to become standard hurdles to entry in order to attract the right kind of traveler. But first we need to properly value and protect what we have by creating suitable rules and fees to protect it. It’s also vital to clearly communicate how and why rules or fees are necessary to create value among visitors as well as locals.
By putting hurdles up to spread visitors out and stagger crowds while creating more local value from tourism, we can not only attract the right kind of visitor but also improve the overall, more sustainable balance between the needs of local people and planet with profits.
This is a great time to be developing more meaningful, sustainable tourism policies for 2022 as clear communication, preservation and a greater value of local assets and resources will be more important than ever before.
