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Assessment of wellness tourism development in Hokkaido: a multicriteria and strategic choice analysis

  • Perspectives on Spatial Dynamics: Cities, Culture and Environment
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Abstract

New lifestyles in contemporary mobile and leisure societies are changing the way people deal with their health, inter alia by attaching an increasing importance to wellbeing and preventive behavior, along with growing concerns on environmental sustainability and with an interest in unique and authentic place-based experiences. This dynamics has far reaching implications for tourism, with wellness products and services showing a significant growth over the past decades, on top of the general growth in tourism services. With a long historical tradition and abundant natural resources potentially related to health and wellness services, the region of Hokkaido (Japan) offers a variety of relevant services in this field. Nevertheless, perhaps new complementary products and services related to health and wellness may be added to the current supply, enlarging the value chain of this sector, with potentially high positive economic and social impacts on the region. Based on interviews and surveys among experts and relevant stakeholders in this field, this paper analyses the potential development and foreseeable impact of wellness services in Hokkaido, by combining different decision-making techniques (multicriteria and strategic choice analysis), with a view to policy recommendations for an integrative diversification of products and services, assuming the onsen (traditional Japanese bath) experience as the core element of tourism supply. In this context, a strategic orientation to external markets seems to be more effective.

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Fig. 1

Source: Hokkaido Prefectural Government (2014)

Fig. 2

Source: Hokkaido Prefectural Government (2014)

Fig. 3

Source: Japan Tourism Agency (2014)

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Advanced Studies in Management and Economics, University of Algarve, Faro, Portugal

    João Romão

  2. Graduate School of Economics and Business Administration, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan

    Kazuo Machino

  3. Tinbergen Institute, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Peter Nijkamp

Authors
  1. João Romão
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  2. Kazuo Machino
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  3. Peter Nijkamp
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to João Romão.

Appendices

Appendix 1: Questions for the interviews with experts and stakeholders

  1. 1.

    Despite the abundant hydrothermal resources, spa services in Hokkaido are not so developed as in other countries. Do you agree?

  2. 2.

    Is there a risk of loss of authenticity if new spa services are added to the traditional onsen services?

  3. 3.

    Is there a cultural obstacle in Japan regarding the introduction of new spa services (like massages)?

  4. 4.

    Is there a cultural obstacle among Japanese entrepreneurs regarding innovation (in general terms)?

  5. 5.

    Has Hokkaido human resources and technological knowledge for the development of new spa services?

  6. 6.

    What kind of tourism products and services can complement health and wellness tourism?

  7. 7.

    Are labor costs a disadvantage for tourism in Japan?

  8. 8.

    Are fluctuations in the exchange a risk of disadvantage for tourism in Japan?

  9. 9.

    Is there a general perception of the importance of Health and Wellness for tourism development in Japan and Hokkaido?

  10. 10.

    Should health and wellness tourism be a priority for Hokkaido, or there are other activities with higher potential for the region?

  11. 11.

    Can the local activities related to food, ecological activities or cosmetic production benefit from the development of health and wellness services?

  12. 12.

    What factors are determinant for the diversification of health and wellness services in Hokkaido?

  13. 13.

    How would you expect this sector to grow in the future?

  14. 14.

    Would this growth be leaded by national or foreign tourists?

Appendix 2: Evaluation of the assessment factors by the expert panel (total scores)

Territorial resources

Innovation potential

Wellness tourism dynamics

Competitive context

Thermal resources

36

Knowledge for new services

27

New trends in health care

24

Connectivity to internal markets

19

Landscape

25

Human resources for new services

34

Environmental and sustainability concerns

19

Connectivity to external markets

21

Natural resources

22

Openness to service innovation

24

Global expansion of wellness tourism

26

Competition from other countries

23

Healthy food

18

Conflict of expectations

9

Support from public institutions

8

Competition from other Japanese regions

24

Cultural heritage

15

Links to other services

21

Initiatives by key private stakeholders

29

Cost-efficiency of tourism services

26

Knowledge for traditional services

10

Links to other sectors

11

Regional tourism growth

20

Exchange rate

13

  1. Total scores obtained in a survey to a panel of experts (summing up the individual scores given by each expert)

Appendix 3: Impacts of the assessment factors on the scenarios by the expert panel (total scores)

 

Traditional services for domestic market

Traditional services for external markets

Diversification of services for the domestic market

Diversification of services for external markets

Territorial resources

18

16

12

14

Innovation potential

7

12

19

22

Wellness tourism dynamics

15

12

16

17

Competitive context

23

15

13

9

  1. Total scores obtained in a survey to a panel of experts (summing up the individual scores given by each expert)

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Romão, J., Machino, K. & Nijkamp, P. Assessment of wellness tourism development in Hokkaido: a multicriteria and strategic choice analysis. Asia-Pac J Reg Sci 1, 265–290 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41685-017-0042-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41685-017-0042-4

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