After the Hokuriku 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.
The competition was won by a team from Cambridge Judge Business School, which introduced a plan to invite long-term visitors by publicizing the sake and abundant seafood of Hokuriku via social media.
One of the members of the team expressed excitement about the trip to Japan they received as a prize, saying that preparations for the competition became an experience to learn that there are many attractions in Hokuriku.
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