Permalink : http://hdl.handle.net/2115/75965

Preceding studies show many spa districts in Japan go through a process of change from spas for cure to tourist sites. It has been also suggested that one of the factors in the change is influx of short-stay tourists facilitated by improvement of the communication network such as railways and roads. Accordingly, the aim of this paper is to demonstrate that improvement of local roads and provision of bus service are closely related with the increasing influx of short-stay tourists through a case study of the Arima spa region. The argument is that not only the interaction among businesses of public transportation, especially bus service, and the policies of administrative organizations which planned and built new roads, but also the role of media organizations which published various tourist guides, and the work of travel agencies which provided tourists with service were important. They all combined to cause the area to be incorporated into tour routes around surrounding attractions and consequently to lead the number of short-stay tourists to increase.