A Sightseeing Planning Support System Specialized in Sports Tourism
摘要
In the digital age, travel purposes have become increasingly diverse, with sports tourism emerging as a key trend. Recognized in Japan’s national sports policies, sports tourism integrates attending games with regional sightseeing and community interaction. Although the COVID-19 pandemic posed challenges, recent major sporting events and relaxed attendance restrictions have renewed attention on sports tourism as a post-pandemic revitalization strategy. However, tourists unfamiliar with local areas often face difficulties in planning trips efficiently. This underscores the need for systems that support both sports viewing and travel planning, alongside active participation from local residents. Based on the above background, this study developed a sports tourism support system that integrates web-based geographic information systems (Web-GIS), a sightseeing planning system, and social networking services (SNS). The system was implemented in Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture, and operated for 26 days from December 2023 to January 2024, with participation from 50 users across diverse age groups. Throughout the deployment period, users created 30 sightseeing plans and submitted 8 new sightseeing spots. A post-operation questionnaire survey revealed overall high user satisfaction, although improvements were suggested for the usability of the function of sightseeing plan creation and function of new sightseeing spot submission, the webpage design, the operation manual, and the inclusion of more detailed tourist information.