INTL_Hospitality University brochure

MESSAGE FROM KOZO YAMAMOTO: AN URGENT CHALLENGE FOR THE TOURISM INDUSTRY AND REGIONAL REVITALIZATION

Mr. Kozo Yamamoto, member of the House of the Representatives and former Minister for Regional Revitalization, proposes to host hospitality University in Kitakyushu.

University education is requested to urgently develop the curriculum to meet these needs. The curriculum should develop management, finance, and IT literacy, as well as global business skills, such as high language proficiency and cross-cultural understanding. Regional revitalization will be another critical component in the curriculum, through exploration of the development of both traditional and less traditional (“off the beaten path”) opportunities to fully realize a tourism-focused nation. The most effective way to overcome these challenges is to welcome a U.S. hospitality education, regarded as the best in the world, given American higher education’s extensive experience and achievement in this discipline. I myself studied at Cornell University Business School and strongly understand the importance of the tourism industry and have always prioritized Japan’s tourism development as one of my political challenges. This understanding has led me today to propose inviting the University of Wisconsin--Stout, one of the leading hospitality program’s in U.S., to offer its degree program in Kitakyushu. A full-fledged hospitality university in Kitakyushu would attract students from Japan, Southeast Asia, and throughout the world. I am convinced that this would enormously benefit Kitakyushu economically, socially, and culturally. I am dedicated to move forward with this project and would greatly appreciate your understanding and support.

Kozo Yamamoto - Member of the House of the Representatives Former Minister for Regional Revitalization

In 2003, the Japanese government announced its commitment to be a tourism- oriented country. The Tourism Agency was established in 2008 and the number of inbound visitors drastically increased from 8.35 million in 2008 to 31.88 million in 2019. The economic impact rose to 4 trillion 811.3 billion yen, increasing for seven consecutive years. However, we still face a number of challenges to achieve the government objective of 60 million visitors in 2030. One of the most critical challenges is the development of human resources. Tourism education provided by Japanese universities has not sufficiently risen to the demand from industry. Meanwhile the tourism industry is now going through drastic changes. Inbound tourists visit Japan more for diversified purposes than in the past, including personalized tours, experience-oriented tours, etc. This requires the industry to offer further diversified and specialized services. In addition, the development of digital technology elevates the importance of online data processing and analysis of big data for tourism promotion.