engleski

Sustainability vs. development - a case of Miyajima, Japan

The island of Miyajima, with the Itsukushima Shinto shrine, is one of the most popular cultural tourism destinations in Japan. It is officially designated as one of the "three most scenic place" in Japan and listed as an UNESCO World Heritage Site. The island is very close to the industrialised and densely populated area around the city of Hiroshima, and, as a green zone with important cultural-historical monuments, is very strictly protected by various laws. Although Miyajima is still a very important tourism destination, the number of visitors is decreasing year by year, as well as the number of inhabitants on the island. The correlation between trends in tourism and the population change proves almost complete dependence of the island's economy on tourism. Besides some objective circumstances at the national level, the maturity of the tourism product and the lack of innovations are the main reasons for the negative trends of tourism in Miyajima. On the basis of the methodology used in the Mediterranean the authors are trying to find a solution to stop the negative trends in tourism development of Miyajima without causing destruction to the island's fragile ecosystem. After an analysis of three different development scenarios (status quo, intensive development and moderate alternative tourism development scenario), a sustainable development option has been proposed.

tourism; Miyajima; Japan; island destination; development scenarios; sustainability

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