地域のインバウンド政策分野における経済効果分析

Abstract

In recent years, various areas of Japan have promoted their regional economies by trying to increase visitors from foreign countries, expecting their economic activities to boost the regional economic development/growth. According to the statistics of JNTO （Japan National Tourism Organization）, 8.61 million people from foreign countries visited Japan in 2010, which is the highest number ever. In the Hokuriku area consisting of Toyama, Ishikawa and Fukui Prefectures, located in the central area of Japan and facing the Sea of Japan, over 100 thousand foreign people visited there to work, participate in business meetings, and see the attractive places in this area of Japan. However, the number of visitors is still small and less than other popular places in Japan. In that sense, the Hokuriku area still has the capability to promote more visits by foreigners. In this report, from the above viewpoint, the economic （ripple） effects in the Hokuriku area based on the economic activities of visitors from fifteen main foreign markets are analyzed using regional statistical data and regional I-O tables. According to the analysis for the Hokuriku area, markets that have a potential economic effect （per person and stay） include Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan. Australia also appears to have a high economic effect. In addition, the economic ripple effects by the total number of visitors in 2010 showed that South Korea, China and Taiwan from which many visitors come and stay in the Hokuriku area every year, have large economic effects. In addition, some inbound policies have been practiced by each prefecture. However, there is no importance of the prefectural borders or municipal governments for foreign visitors, so a wide cooperation between governments for inbound policies is significantly important. From this point of view, the cooperation of three prefectures in the Hokuriku area is relatively effective, especially for the promotion of potential markets, according to the policies in practice.Finally, problems still remain including improvement of the regional statistics and cooperation on analysis and practice in the field.JEL Classification:R11, R15, R58