The Project Team were: Simon Wallace (TIA),
David Simmons (Lincoln University),
Susanne Becken (Lincoln University)The State of the Tourism Sector report is published annually.The Tourism Industry Association of New Zealand’s (TIA) annual State of the Sector 2011 has been
prepared in partnership with Lincoln University. The objective of this is to understand better how
the tourism sector sees its future and what challenges and opportunities lie ahead in both the short
and longer term. State of Sector 2011, alongside the ongoing series of TIA Insights and other
consultations that TIA is undertaking in its research work programme, is aimed at informing
participants at the Tourism Summit taking place in Wellington on 13 July 2011. This information is a
key driver in assisting with the development of the 2011 Tourism Industry Election Manifesto. State
of the Sector 2011 also ultimately provides a current view of the tourism sector for those within the
industry and for external stakeholders who have an interest in tourism in New Zealand.
The Tourism Industry Association New Zealand’s (TIA) annual State of the Tourism Sector 2012 has been prepared in partnership with Lincoln University. The objective of this is to understand better how the tourism sector sees its future and what challenges and opportunities lie ahead in both the short and longer term. State of the Tourism Sector 2012 provides a current view of the tourism sector for those within the industry and for external stakeholders who have an interest in tourism in New Zealand.
Oarai is a coastal town in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan, affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011. The disaster severely damaged local industries, and the local tourism sector faced a sharp decline followed the event. To overcome the conundrum, the local tourism businesses have taken the opportunity to collaborate with an anime called Girls und Panzer, which has been developed by an external animation production studio. This collaboration has resulted in huge success, and the drop in the local tourism industry had been largely reversed, but has resulted in a significant change to the tourism system. This thesis explores the activities and outcomes of this tourism industry reimagining. A mixed-method approach was used to investigate the perception of local tourism businesses to the current Oarai tourism system, and examine the transformative effect of the disaster and its aftermath. Perceptions of disaster impact and anime tourism development were analysed through surveys (n=73) and interviews (n=2) which focused on tourism business operators, while participant observation was conducted to create the image of anime tourism operation in Oarai. Results show that the development of anime tourism in Oarai successfully helped the local tourism businesses to recover from the disaster. As new agencies and organisations joined the anime tourism network, anime tourism increased communication between stakeholders, and improved the resilience of the community. The new tourism development has transformed the local tourism industry, to some extent, however. the future trajectory of anime tourism in Oarai is difficult to forecast, and there is scope for longitudinal research of this tourism system.
