×

News

City of Hiroshima promotes peace tour route based on survey results showing that less than 10% of international visitors go to A-bombed schools

by Kyosuke Mizukawa, Staff Writer

In an effort to promote “peace tourism,” a sightseeing tour designed to visit various peace-related sites, the City of Hiroshima has carried out a survey of international visitors in the Peace Memorial Park in Naka Ward. The results of the multiple answer survey, which asked international visitors to Hiroshima where they have visited, or would like to visit, show that the A-bomb Dome is the most popular destination among the respondents. However, less than 10% expressed interest in visiting nearby Honkawa Elementary School or Fukuromachi Elementary School, both of which have peace museums, which make use of A-bombed buildings, on their grounds. In response to this survey, the City of Hiroshima has decided to promote a sightseeing tour route which recommends to international visitors that they visit peace-related sites with A-bombed buildings in addition to the A-bomb Dome.

On April 26, Hiroshima City officials announced the results of the survey at Hiroshima City Hall during the first meeting of fiscal 2018 of the council charged with promoting peace tourism. The survey was conducted in the Rest House in the Peace Memorial Park between January 29 and 31, and 78 international visitors from 22 countries, most of these Western nations, responded to the questions.

All of the respondents listed the A-bomb Dome as a place that they would like to visit (or had already visited), followed by the Peace Memorial Museum (68 people) and Hiroshima Castle (45 people). On the other hand, only five people listed Honkawa Elementary School, three listed Fukuromachi Elementary School, and four listed the former Hiroshima Army Clothing Depot, one of the biggest A-bombed buildings in the city. To the question of how many days they were intending to stay in Hiroshima, 36 people, or approximately half of the respondents, responded “one day.”

In the last fiscal year, based on proposals put forward by the council, the City of Hiroshima established a sightseeing tour route that includes such peace-related sites as the A-bombed school buildings at Honkawa Elementary School and Fukuromachi Elementary School, with the aim of better conveying the damage caused by the atomic bomb and extending the stay of visitors to the city. At the meeting on April 26, the participants decided to ask some international visitors to visit the buildings on the route and obtain their opinions as to what they think would improve the tour.

An official of the City’s Tourism Department said, “By promoting the sightseeing tour route more actively, we are hoping to raise awareness of the existence of A-bombed buildings other than the A-bomb Dome. These buildings will help to provide a greater understanding of the damage caused by the atomic bomb.”

(Originally published on April 27, 2018)

Archives