Project title
A study on the formation and implementation of destination brand concepts
Research Unit
Primary investigator
Co investigators
NAGAI Hayato, NANJO Seiji, OGAWA Masanori, SERZHANULY Daniyel, TATEMIZO Junya, YASHIMA Yuji
Project period
2026/5/7 ～ 2027/3/31
Project summary
This study aims to clarify the necessity of developing destination brand concepts in tourism destinations. In recent years, the tourism environment in Japan has undergone significant changes, including the growing visibility of overtourism, the diversification of inbound tourists’ needs, and increasing demands for sustainability and high value-added tourism. On the other hand, it has not yet been sufficiently clarified how local initiatives influence tourists’ destination choice and destination performance, nor how destination brand concepts, which define the characteristics and distinctiveness of a place, are formed and implemented under particular governance arrangements. Therefore, this study focuses on advanced destination areas—Aso in Kumamoto Prefecture, northern Kyoto Prefecture, and Nagasaki Prefecture—and examines the content, formation processes, and the management systems and governance structures that support the implementation of destination brand concepts through the collection and analysis of planning documents, project materials, and promotional materials, as well as field surveys and semi-structured interviews with relevant stakeholders. In addition, the Kinan area will be examined through workshops and interviews in order to identify perceptions of regional distinctiveness, the ways in which stakeholders share and coordinate such perceptions, and the challenges involved in reflecting brand concepts in destination management. Through a comparative analysis of these cases, this study seeks to clarify the common characteristics of regions that explicitly articulate destination brand concepts, the factors that support their formation, and the conditions required for their implementation, thereby providing foundational knowledge for examining the feasibility of applying such concepts in Wakayama Prefecture in the future.
