Students in Professor Maki Ichiro 's seminar in the Department of Tourism Faculty of Collaborative Regional Development, engaged in empirical research into solutions for the management of JR Kyushu Hotels and Resorts Co., Ltd. (Fukuoka City, Fukuoka Prefecture) as part of an industry-academia collaboration project.
The students were divided into four teams and focused on four research themes: "Wedding Ceremonies," "Regional Demand," "Inbound Tourism," and "Functional Reorganization of Hotel Facilities." In addition to analyzing existing data, they also conducted fieldwork and detailed questionnaire surveys at hotels operated by the company in Kitakyushu and Nagasaki. Through the collection, analysis, and interpretation of real data, they clarified the essence of the issues and made specific proposals for solutions.
At the final presentation on Wednesday, January 14th, the research results were reported to 14 executives and employees, including President and CEO Hidehiko Kadoya. Presentations included the results of a survey on the needs for bathroom-related facilities in response to growing inbound demand, issues and improvement measures for informing foreign tourists about proper etiquette, strengthening collaboration with local tourism resources, restructuring hotel functions to incorporate a wellness-oriented approach, and measures to attract local residents to hotel restaurants.
In his comments, Mr. Kakutani said, "In just the short space of about three months, you have collected data that we had not been able to fully grasp until now, and have conducted research to this extent. Today's presentation has led to a variety of discoveries. We will be looking into this proposal internally so that it can be put into practice immediately."
Hakataya Ryoju (Koryo High School), a third-year student, proposed a new wedding style that takes advantage of Station Hotel's strengths and meets modern needs. He said, "Through repeated literature research, questionnaires, and on-site investigations, we discovered through discussions within our team that a variety of factors are intertwined in the changing values surrounding modern weddings. Based on the information we collected, we were even able to propose a specific new strategy. I would like to apply the research and communication skills I developed through this project to my future studies and job hunting."
[Department of Tourism]
