London Students Compete on Ideas to Promote Japan's Hokuriku Region

London, Dec. 1 (Jiji Press)--After the Hokuriku central Japan region was hit by a major earthquake on Jan. 1, a student competition has been held in London on measures to revitalize the economy of the four prefectures in the region via inbound tourism.

The aim is to attract more tourists to the region by promoting a variety of local attractions. The region includes Ishikawa Prefecture, which was affected by the powerful Noto Peninsula earthquake on New Year's Day and heavy rains in September.

The event was planned by an organization mainly comprising Japanese students at London Business School.

Six teams of four members passed the first selection stage and gave their final presentations on Friday.

The presentations set out unique tourism strategies, such as issuing "sake passports" to encourage tourists to visit local breweries and enjoy specialty sake brands, and launching "health tourism" that promotes local foods in combination with activities such as hot spring or forest bathing.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]