The Power of Anime: A New Driver of Volunteer Tourism

Abstract

In Japan, many academics and practitioners have focused on anime-induced tourism as one of the new alternative forms of tourism in the 21st century. Many fans have visited locations that have appeared in anime as film-induced tourists. Regarding the behavior of anime-induced tourists, many tend to be willing to contribute to the destinations they visit as eco-oriented volunteers, different from purely film-induced tourists. Therefore, anime-induced tourists possess a complex character that entails both an interest in film-induced tourism and volunteer tourism, which may conceptually be opposed to one another. This study reveals anime’s potential as a driver of new volunteer tourism and theoretically contributes to tourism research by redefining anime-induced tourism by relying on the concept of film-induced voluntourism. Using a comparative case study of the behavior of anime-induced volunteer tourists at three destinations, this study found that while anime-induced volunteer tourists have a feeling of gratitude for their host communities with a vacationer’s mindset, they can realize positive outcomes, including economic benefits and problem solutions by engaging in cleaning-up activities at the destinations they visit. In conclusion, this study clarifies that anime tourism is one of the significant alternative forms of tourism that can achieve community development associated with film-induced voluntourists, resolving the negative effects of film-induced tourism and volunteer tourism.

Understanding Film Fan Tourism: An Inventory of 15 Years of Research

“…First, given that this paper focuses on the phenomenon of film fan tourism, only those publications that present research on film fan tourists were included. To meet this basic criterion, the articles selected had to include the term "fan" somewhere in the text, or any other term used to refer to tourists motivated to travel solely or mainly by an audiovisual fiction production: specific film-induced tourist (Macionis, 2004); elite tourist (Connell;Meyer, 2009); dedicated film tourist (Macionis;Sparks, 2009); purposeful film tourist Heitmann, 2011), fanatic tourist (Benjamin et al, 2012), touristfan (Norris, 2013); otaku tourist (Okamoto, 2015); screen authentic tourist (Rittichainuwat et al, 2018); and/or purposeful anime tourists or anime-fan tourists (Mori, 2022). Secondly, as this review focuses exclusively on fans of e330205 Profesional de la información, 2024, v. 33, n. 2. e-ISSN: 1699-2407 4 audiovisual fiction, publications presenting research on literary fans, sports fans, or music fans were excluded.…”

Film-induced tourism – the impact the of animation, cartoon, superhero and fantasy movies

“…Secondary data shows us the most important theme parks worldwide by number of visitors from 2010 to 2021 period (see Figure 2), that is, the top 20 theme parks and their locations (see Figure 1), and other theme parks which are related to movies, animatio, and cartoons like Legoland, Peppa Pig, Harry Potter or even Asterix. Mori (2022) claims that many fans have visited locations that have appeared in anime as film-induced tourists.…”

“…Film-induced tourism is defined by Hudson and Ritchie (2006) as a tourist visit to a destination or attraction due to the destination being featured on television, video, digital video disc or the cinema screen (Marafa et al , 2022). The concept of movie-induced tourism has received popular support (Mori, 2022; Zhou et al , 2023), the influence of movies in countries (Liu et al , 2020), how influences movie-induced tourism between different cultures to attract more tourists and visitors (Michael et al , 2020), the influence of cartoon movies on children’s gender (Gökçearslan, 2010), how film-induced tourism can improve tourist’s satisfaction and experience, because movies are one of the most important factors that motivate people to travel to a destination (Oshriyeh and Capriello, 2022), or even as a marketing tool and brand image for tourist destinations (Nakayama, 2022). Nostalgia is also effective in promoting theme parks associated with animations and animated characters to increase the number of visitors (Oh and Kim, 2020).…”

Investigating Factors Affecting Fans’ Intention to Attend Anime Events: Conceptual

“…Anime tourism remains a specialised and inadequately recorded occurrence, resulting in a dearth of information and assistance for enthusiasts seeking to visit the sites featured in anime. Furthermore, the tourism business may possess an incomplete comprehension of the distinct requirements and anticipations of anime tourists, who deviate from the conventional tourist demographic (Mori, 2022). Next, the detrimental effects of anime tourism on the ecosystem and the indigenous culture.…”

“…As it primarily caters to a specialised demographic of anime lovers, such as otaku or avid anime consumers (Mori, 2022). Hence, it is imperative to enhance innovation and diversification of anime tourist offerings and services, with intensified promotion and marketing of anime tourism to the international market.…”