Grasp of actual condition of the garden tourism in Kyoto through the on-line questionnaire survey, and suggestions based on its result

This study aims to reveal tourists’ behavior in Kyoto, and how their behavior can be regarded as garden tourism. The on-line questionnaire survey was conducted for 500 18-69-year-old respondents living in the Tokyo metropolitan area, who had visited Kyoto for sightseeing after the January 2017. The result of the survey reveals the following facts: 1) Many of the tourists from the Tokyo metropolitan area to Kyoto spent two or three days in Kyoto each tour and visited many times; 2) Temples and shrines are important tourist attractions and tourists tend to visit the same places over and over again; 3) Gardens not only in the temples such as Kinkaku-ji, Ginkaku-ji and Ryoan-ji but in other places such as Nijo-jo castle are also important tourist attractions. They are visited repeatedly, probably because gardens have characteristics that appear differently with the seasons; 4) Visitors to temples/shrines and gardens require a) mitigation of over-capacity, b) reduction of total admission fees, c) improvement of information in various aspects. As conclusion, the following solutions can be considered and they will contribute to Kyoto tourism including garden tourism after Covid-19: 1) Introduction of admission booking system and differentiation of admission fee between the high and low seasons, etc.; 2) Combination tickets for some places in the neighboring area and introduction of annual pass, etc.; 3) Dissemination of seasonal information and information of the historic and cultural value of temples/shrines and gardens, etc.