Biei Town, which has a comprehensive partnership agreement with our university's Advanced Center for Tourism Studies, has been certified as one of the "Best Tourism Villages* 2023" by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). This is the second case in Hokkaido, following Niseko Town, which was selected in 2021.
Our university's Advanced Center for Tourism Studies and Biei Town concluded a comprehensive partnership agreement in 2012 as part of industry-government-academia regional collaboration. Based on this collaboration agreement, the Advanced Center for Tourism Studies cooperated with the preparation of this application form. In addition, we have been involved in various collaborative research and educational projects. In particular, we conducted research commissioned by the town for three years starting in 2015, leading to the formulation of the "Biei Town Tourism Master Plan*¹" in 2017, and in April 2023, Yusuke Ishiguro, an associate faculty member at the center, The ``Biei Town Sustainable Tourism Destination Ordinance*²,'' which was drafted by a professor at Research Faculty of Media and Communication and which attracted attention as Japan's first ordinance with the title ``Sustainable Tourism Destination,'' is now in effect. Masu.
*Best Tourism Villages is a selection process that evaluates and selects towns and villages with a population of 15,000 or less for their tourism promotion efforts in line with the SDGs. By being branded as a region that promotes tourism in line with the SDGs, the quality of tourism will improve, specifically, a travel style that takes into account the impact on the natural environment and local community will become established, and travelers with such aspirations will It is expected that the number of customers will increase.
Click here for more information. *You will be redirected to the website of our university's Advanced Center for Tourism Studies.