Niccolò Comerio

Tourism has long been expected as an effective trigger of economic vitalization: however, not all the local economies may respond in the same way. Japan is by some distance the decade's fastest growing major destination: 31.2 million overseas travelers stayed in Japan in 2018, a rise of more than 300% since 2010. Starting from "Visit Japan Campaign" of 2003, several strategies have been introduced by the Japanese Governments to stimulate inbound tourism demand, and to make Japan "a world-class tourist destination". Reinforcement of tourism is now one of the pillars of the so-called Abenomics, with the aim of transforming this industry into the "centerpiece of regional revitalization". Unfortunately, many geographic areas of the country seem to fail to take full advantage of their tourism potential. Therefore, by focusing on the 47 Japanese prefectures, this thesis explores the impact of territorial resources and tourism dynamics on regional economic growth, and identifies the evolution of the tourism "inter-regional clusters".