











































Events and Tourism Review


Events and Tourism Review Vol. 5 No. 2 (2022), 16-29, DOI: 10.18060/26534                                                                                                  
               Copyright © 2022 Renata Andrea Szabo 

  This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. 

 

Events and Tourism Review                                     
 
December 2022                                                                                                                                          Volume 5 No. 2      
   
 
Covid-19 as a Transformative Power in the Inbound Tourism of Japan: 
Multiple Case Studies of Foreign Tourism Professionals in Kyoto 

 

 
Renata Andrea Szabo 
 
 
Ritsumeikan University, Japan 
 
Correspondence: renata.tailor@gmail.com (R. A. Szabo) 

 

 
 
For Authors 
Interested in submitting to this journal? We recommend that you review the About the Journal 
page for the journal's section policies, as well as the Author Guidelines. Authors need to register 
with the journal prior to submitting or, if already registered, can simply log in and begin the 
five-step process. 

For Reviewers 
If you are interested in serving as a peer reviewer, please register with the journal. Make sure to 
select that you would like to be contacted to review submissions for this journal. Also, be sure 
to include your reviewing interests, separated by a comma. 

About Events and Tourism Review (ETR) 
ETR aims to advance the delivery of events, tourism and hospitality products and services by 
stimulating the submission of papers from both industry and academic practitioners and 
researchers. For more information about ETR visit the Events and Tourism Review. 

Recommended Citation 
Szabo, R. A. (2022). Covid-19 as a Transformative Power in the Inbound Tourism of Japan: 
Multiple Case Studies of Foreign Tourism Professionals in Kyoto. Events and Tourism Review, 
5(2), x-xx.  

 
 

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
mailto:renata.tailor@gmail.com
http://journals.iupui.edu/index.php/jet/about
http://journals.iupui.edu/index.php/jet/about/submissions#authorGuidelines
http://journals.iupui.edu/index.php/jet/user/register
http://journals.iupui.edu/index.php/jet/user/register
http://journals.iupui.edu/index.php/index/login
https://journals.iupui.edu/index.php/ETR/user/register
http://journals.iupui.edu/index.php/ETR


Szabo, R. A. (2022) / Events and Tourism Review, 5(2), 16-29. 
17 

Events and Tourism Review Vol. 5 No. 2 (2022), 16-29, DOI: 10.18060/26534                                                                                                  
               Copyright © 2022 Renata Andrea Szabo 

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. 

 

 

 
 

 
 

Abstract 
 
Purpose: This study seeks to explore the transformative power of covid-19 in the tourism sector of 
Japan, with attention to the unprecedented changes, growing activities and interconnectedness 
caused by covid-19 crisis through multiple case studies conducted among foreign tourism 
professionals in Kyoto.  
Design/methodology/approach: This study applies participant observation, in-depth interviews and 
narrative analysis.  
Findings: Tourism shifted to offer experiences in a digital way and new forms of digital travelling 
became popular like travel live streaming, virtual tours, virtual experiences. Not just previous 
travelers, but people who don't have the chance to travel became digital tourists and frequent 
interactions happen between tourists and guides, forming new communities in virtual space. The 
role of tour guides in digital context became more important as their interpretation reach a wider 
audience and shape the image of Japan. The data also shows that live streams increase the 
willingness to visit the destination and create connections among digital tourists as well. 

  Originality/value: Shifting away from the negative impacts of covid-19 in tourism, this study        
  shows the growth and industry shaping transformations in the tourism sector during the pandemic   
  era, and presents forward-looking solutions through increased interconnectedness in virtual space. 
 

Keywords: Transformative Power; Covid-19; Inbound Tourism; Digital Tourism 
 

 
 

 
1. Introduction 

 
The Japanese word for crisis contains two characters: one is for the danger and fear, other is for 

opportunity and occasion. Every crisis brings opportunities, “crises are adrenaline for innovation” (Fursenthal 
et al., 2021). This is also true for the tourism industry, which on one hand, felt the devastating effects of the 
recent corona pandemic, but it is also that which tried to survive with innovative methods and offering the 
experience of travel without physical travelling. Globally the international tourist arrivals decreased by 74% 
according to UNWTO (2021), and the complete recovery is not likely to happen before 2024.  

Early in 2020 Japan was preparing for the upcoming Olympics and many new facilities were open or 
scheduled to be opened along with services to offer for the visitors. So among all countries, Japan has a 
special situation related to inbound tourism in the pandemic era, and with the 99% fall in international tourist 
number, Japan is one of the biggest victims, - 9th in global ranking (COVID-19: Global Tourism Revenue 
Loss by Country, 2021) - as it expected 40 million tourists, but in the end only a minimal number were 
accepted into the country due to the exceptionally strict border control. Japan only started to open the border 
for individual tourists after more than 2 years of closure.   

Inside Japan, the Kinki region lost the most tourists (Yagasaki, 2021), especially the city of Kyoto, 
which in the past was dealing with the problem of overtourism, but it became almost deserted in the early 
months of the travel ban. In Kyoto several tourism services were offered by foreign residents, who were 
targeting inbound customers, therefore after the inbound tourism restriction was in effect, their commerce fell 
to zero. As it was summarized pre-covid (Szabo, 2021), the combination of the future vision of the 
government about “tourism nation”, the record high number of inbound tourists, the lack of foreign language 
abilities among locals and the “mysterious” image of the country led to a new phenomenon in Japan: growing 

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/


Szabo, R. A. (2022) / Events and Tourism Review, 5(2), 16-29. 
18 

Events and Tourism Review Vol. 5 No. 2 (2022), 16-29, DOI: 10.18060/26534                                                                                                  
               Copyright © 2022 Renata Andrea Szabo 

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. 

 

 

number of foreign tourism professionals, who resides in Japan and became tour guides, accommodation 
owners, event organizers, experience and content creators for inbound tourists.  

As Japan is one of the countries which shut down its borders for the longest, their dealing with the 
crisis produces a valuable and unique field to investigate the transformative power of covid-19 related to 
tourism. During this time new forms of tourism got implemented, foundations of new communities were laid 
down, thousands of online tourists “visited” Japan, collaborations started to happen between previous 
competitors, and it also exposed new perspectives in the relationship between international tourists, tourism 
stakeholders and locals, altogether potentially shaping the future of the industry. Tourism arrivals are not in a 
vacuum, and they shape the lives and interactions of residents (Jordan et al., 2019), but still the majority of 
researchers are focusing on the loss compared to pre-pandemic and the possibilities of recovering post-
pandemic from an economic and sustainability viewpoint, but covid-19 crisis is not a pause button, as it 
reshapes the social behavior of communities worldwide and transformations are happening during the 
inbound travel ban period in the local societies. Since previous crises in tourism did not lead to long-term 
decline as this one (Gössling et al., 2020), therefore this period can shed light on how Japan is exposed to 
globalization. 

Moving away from the negative impacts, this study seeks to explore the transformative power of 
covid-19 with attention to the unprecedented changes, growing activities and interconnectedness caused by 
covid-19 crisis through multiple case studies conducted among foreign tourism professionals in Kyoto. In 
order to explore how foreign tourism professionals are adapting to the covid-19 crisis, the following sub-
questions are beneficial: what kind of activities foreign tourism professionals are conducting during the 
inbound travel ban (despite the impossibility to travel as a tourist to Japan), what are the growing areas in 
inbound tourism sector, and what is their core motivation behind the adaptation process. 

 
2. From overtourism to empty streets 

 
2.1. Covid as a transformative power  
 

“The COVID-19 pandemic has upended nearly every aspect of life, from the personal (how people 
live and work) to the professional (how companies interact with their customers, how customers choose and 
purchase products and services, how supply chains deliver them)” (Fursenthal et al., 2021). However, the 
effects of covid crisis were not equal in all sectors and regions of the world, it caused major discontinuities 
and changed the way of living and working. Crisis stimulates the development of new technologies and 
solutions, and could work as a catalysator, speeding up the process of innovation (Colombo et al., 2016). 
“Organizations that innovate through crises by focusing on generating new growth versus simply weathering 
the storm outperform significantly over time” (Am et al., 2020). Following this mindset many fields such as 
robotics, artificial intelligence and the hospitality industry looked into new solutions during the pandemic 
(Zeng et al., 2020), in this spirit Macau adopted a public-private partnership led by the government to aid the 
recovery (Wan et al., 2022), as for Tanzania, the future could be a more sustainable and nature-based tourism 
(Henseler et al., 2022), in other cases changing into a smart destination could support the recovery 
(Bulchand-Gidumal, 2022), and in general this period opened up a window to the complexities of sustainable 
tourism (Jones & Comfort, 2020). 

The pressure of the pandemic is a transformative power for the tourism sector, not just a simple re-
bound, as this size of impact and recovery never happened before - but could happen later too. The rate of 
pandemics and epidemics will increase as the world population becomes more mobile, and urbanization 
makes more concentrated areas all around the world (Gössling et al., 2020). This could also mean that 
innovations and solutions adopted in the tourism sector during covid-19 crisis can be useful for the long term 
and could stay in the post-covid era too. Covid-19 should be seen as a transformative power and novel 
thinking is needed to explore the development related to this crisis, however tourism studies “theoretically 
provide minimal space for advancing the understanding of crisis management and potentiating the 

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/


Szabo, R. A. (2022) / Events and Tourism Review, 5(2), 16-29. 
19 

Events and Tourism Review Vol. 5 No. 2 (2022), 16-29, DOI: 10.18060/26534                                                                                                  
               Copyright © 2022 Renata Andrea Szabo 

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. 

 

 

pandemic’s ability” (Abbas et al., 2021). Therefore, this study is seeking to shed light on the ongoing changes 
and future implications.  

 
2.2. From overtourism to empty Kyoto 
 
  The increasing number of inbound tourists in Japan was a relatively new trend, as it started to grow 
with new tourism-oriented policies from 2013, and the visitor arrivals have tripled in the next five years, 
reaching 31 million in 2018 and with the vision of 60 million arrivals in 2030, however during the pandemic 
the visitor numbers were falling to almost zero (Nguyen, 2020). Kyoto as the ancient capital of Japan is a 
tourism city, targeted also by domestic and inbound tourists, and it was the 3rd visited city by foreign 
travellers in 2019 (Data Analysis on Japanese Inbound Tourism Trends, 2020). Before Kyoto city had many 
problems with overtourism and crowded touristic areas, but after February 2020, a so called “Empty Kyoto” 
campaign started, showing the once busy areas without any people around in order to lure some domestic 
travelers. As Kyoto was also preparing for the increased number of inbound tourists during the Olympics, the 
travel ban left Kyoto with many new, empty hotels, freshly renovated traditional houses and private lodgings, 
and left without customers the local guides, foreign tourism professionals, therefore Kyoto provides a suitable 
context to observe the adaptation and strategy of the industry.  
 
2.3. New ways of travelling: interactive digital tourism 
 

During the covid-19 crises, people changed their private and professional lives and digital 
communication channels became more accessible. Video conferences became widely adopted among 
businesses, office workers, students, previous business travellers (Gössling et al., 2020), the first time, the 
G20 Leaders meeting was organized not by person, but online (European Council, 2020). Overall, the 
digitalization and digital knowledge improved and it spread through private and professional use, and also 
found its way to tourism.  Digital tourism contains all of the digital support which enhances the travel as 
websites, on-line booking engines, e-books etc. (Benyon et al., 2013). However, it is not a new field, but 
during the pandemic digital tourism tools became widely accepted (Akhtar et al., 2021), and three main 
categories were defined: virtual reality tourism, virtual tourism, and augmented reality. Among them virtual 
tourism - tourists visiting online (pre-captured way) destinations - seems to be a viable solution and it could 
stay for long term, getting a space in mass tourism. The developments in technology made it easier for users 
to explore destinations without actual physical travel. The authors did a systematic literature analysis and 
found that digital technologies in tourism became an academic field with few, but increased numbers of 
publications. However the findings are beneficial, there are no listed publications about other forms of virtual 
tourism, such as travel live streaming or online streaming from a destination, virtual travel live experience 
etc. Travel live stream also existed before, and “can be viewed as a product where the boundaries of tourism 
experience are negotiated and challenged to establish a new genre of interactive digital tourism.” (Deng, 
2021). Despite being increasingly adopted by the tourism industry, particularly in Asian destinations (e.g., 
China, South Korea, and Japan), academic research has paid little attention to live streaming in relation to 
tourism. Others argue (Tussyadiah et al., 2018) that virtual reality in tourism offers more meaningful content 
and it is also opening new understandings and intentions for destination tourism, as the virtual environment 
enhances the satisfaction of tourists and they measured a positive attitude change related to the destination, 
which could lead to higher level of visitation. From risk-perception perspective, joining an online tour 
became part of risk avoidance strategies, and online tourism is the safest way to “travel” (Lee & Chen, 2021). 
Overall, it seems to be difficult to keep up with the changes, new platforms and contents of digital tourism, 
therefore this study is seeking to deepen the understanding of these new forms and the growing interactions 
and virtual visitations to Japan.  

 

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/


Szabo, R. A. (2022) / Events and Tourism Review, 5(2), 16-29. 
20 

Events and Tourism Review Vol. 5 No. 2 (2022), 16-29, DOI: 10.18060/26534                                                                                                  
               Copyright © 2022 Renata Andrea Szabo 

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. 

 

 

3. Data collection and research method 
 

General list about tourist guides or on-line tours is not existent in Japan or Kyoto, therefore a 
previously collected database by the author (Szabo, 2021) was used, which contains 300 foreign tourism 
professionals, who were involved in tour guiding, managing/owning accommodations, organizing tourism 
events etc. Kyoto based foreign tourism professionals were actively monitored from 2020 February, along 
with the activity of tourism centers and Japanese guides. The collected data was obtained by three channels: 
Observation and participation was used between 2020 February and 2022 June, as the author actively joined 
on-line tourism activities, such as virtual tours, live streams, live streamed events not only conducted by the 
selected interviewees, but other foreign and Japanese professionals and also organizations. Secondly the 
author also joined new forming online groups during this time period in order to observe and collect feedback 
from the digital tourists and to see the interactions between them and foreign tourism professionals. The 
general information about their activities and transformations in the industry was obtained by these channels. 
To ensure that not only general but also more insightful information is obtained, the third data source is in-
depth interviews with foreign professionals. As the multiple case study offers advantage related to examining 
interferences and variables, but it also involves the danger of selection bias (Bennett, 2007), building on these 
observations, three interviewees were selected based on the following factors: popularity (has a broader 
audience), frequency (continuously doing the activity, not limited only to events or limited for a few times), 
generating income (not only free tours, but offering paid services)  and offering their services for 
international audience too (using English and other languages, not limiting the entry based on the 
geographical location). The sampling strategy was also based on choosing interviewees who represent 
different categories and also to maximize diversity. Narrative analysis was applied to explore the personal 
stories and the author’s own data was also used, as the author is also involved in these activities. In summary, 
these case studies are not only based on in-depth interviews, but observations, active participation and the 
author’s own online activity. 
 
Table 1: List of the cases 

Occupation Origin Education Activity Main 
language 
during tours 

Miss A 
Tour guide  

Israel 
(Ukraine) 

Phd, Kyoto 
university, JP 

Live tours Hebrew, 
English 

Mr. B 
Tour guide, hotel 
owner 

Singapore MA, Waseda 
university, JP 

Live tours 
App development 
Regional 
development 

English 

Mr. C. 
Garden consultant, tour 
guide 

USA MA, Colorado 
University, US 

Online 
experiences, 
online trainings 

English 

Ms. D 
Tour guide, 
accommodation owner 
(author) 

Hungary MA, Doshisha, JP Live tours Hungarian, 
English 
 

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/


Szabo, R. A. (2022) / Events and Tourism Review, 5(2), 16-29. 
21 

Events and Tourism Review Vol. 5 No. 2 (2022), 16-29, DOI: 10.18060/26534                                                                                                  
               Copyright © 2022 Renata Andrea Szabo 

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. 

 

 

 
4. Transformations in tourism sector of Kyoto related to covid-19 

 
4.1. Overview of the transformations in the tourism sector of Kyoto 
 

Among G7 countries, Japan kept the borders closed for the longest time as individual inbound travel 
for tourism purposes was denied for more than 2 years, until 2022. October. In general, the first half year of 
this period was the “big silence” in terms of inbound travel: not much communication happened on social 
media sites or official channels related to travel, as individuals and organizations were waiting for the 
pandemic and regulations to change. But after this period, when the actors realized that it is not a short-term 
change, different strategies and crisis management emerged in the inbound tourism sector of Japan. There 
was no official, organized strategy on how to respond, so every organization and individuals decided it for 
themselves. It was possible to see different thinking and behavior in the on-line space, as some choose to stay 
in silence: Visit Kyoto is the official tourism page of Kyoto city with half million followers on Facebook, 
which was really active on social media sites before covid, but it became silent after the 2020 spring and 
shifted from average 2 posts/week to 1 post/month. 

Others like Shiga tourism center kept their original activity during covid, while Nara city chose a 
different strategy and shifted to a more active on-line present through regular tea ceremony experiences, on-
line live walks, Japanese lessons and quizzes about Nara. Companies also started to experience with online 
solutions: main leader travel agencies such as JTB and HIS, started to offer free on-line tours, but those were 
mainly targeting domestic audiences and only temporary were accessible for international audiences. 
 
Table 2. Categories of activities  

Taking a break Self improvement Restructuring Online presence 

Activities in 
other fields 
(teaching, part 
time activities, 
webshop etc.) 

Pursuing education 
(degree, on-line 
courses) 

Accommodations 
(pause, long term 
rent, finding new 
function, 
periodically 
continue) 

Strengthening the 
online presence  

Sabbatical 
break 

Writing, publishing Guides (pause, 
on-line 
experiences, live 
streaming) 

Social media presence 
and online community 
building 
 

 
4.2. Activities foreign tourism professionals are conducting during the inbound travel restrictions 

 
The data about the general activities was obtained by various interactions in online groups and during 

online activities (tours, events) during the inbound travel ban time period. It shows the different paths what 
foreign tourism professionals chose during the pandemic period. 

The first category is about temporarily changing their activity and trying out new fields of work and 
income: for some it is a necessity, for others it is an opportunity to try out their previously planned ideas. 
Typically this includes teaching foreign languages (mainly English), finding a temporary part time job, 
starting a webshop (typically exporting Japanese goods to overseas). The second subcategory, sabbatical 
means that they are not sure what to do and using this time period to figure out their future plans, change of 

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/


Szabo, R. A. (2022) / Events and Tourism Review, 5(2), 16-29. 
22 

Events and Tourism Review Vol. 5 No. 2 (2022), 16-29, DOI: 10.18060/26534                                                                                                  
               Copyright © 2022 Renata Andrea Szabo 

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. 

 

 

career or other activities.  
The second category is self-improvement, which involves stepping up in the educational field, such 

as going to university, joining online courses and using the time to brush up individual skills. The other 
subcategory is writing and publishing, which shares the same time-constraint limitation, and they used the 
opportunity to write a book or publishing articles, building up their own blog etc.  

The third category contains professionals, who wish to restructure their businesses and create a 
strategy for survival. It includes accommodation owners who refurbish their short time rental for long term 
rent or using it for other purposes and tour guides, who are creating on-line experiences and live streaming 
services.  

The fourth category related to increased activities in the online field such as building up their social 
media presence and partaking in online communities.  

 
4.3. The growing areas in inbound tourism sector of Kyoto 
 
4.3.1. New communities  

In November 2020, a new informal organization started to grow online, collecting foreigner 
residents, who are involved in tourism on a professional level, like employees of tourism centers, ryokans, 
tour operators, tours guides, etc. The online group has more than 270 members from all over Japan, and 
continuously sharing information such as surveys, job offers, cooperation possibilities etc., resolving the 
mission of the founder related to building a community and supporting each other. But why wasn’t this 
community alive before the pandemic, whereas there were much more projects and options to work together 
than during the travel ban? Before the pandemic professionals were not much in need to contact each other, 
in a sense they were competitors and typically they had limited connections with their peers. However, covid 
disrupted their business and economic survival, so the group started as a platform for information sharing and 
introducing themselves, and during the time it became the base of many co-operations between the members, 
which would have been impossible in the pre-covid scene.   

 
4.3.2. Live streams, virtual tours, on-line events 

Live streams, virtual tours and live streamed events became popular during the pandemic, offering a 
variety of alternative ways to visit Japan. These options existed on a limited range pre-pandemic, but 
companies and individuals started to offer them more frequently in the last period. A before completely 
closed and private world is also opened up: the first live stream of a geisha dinner entertainment in English 
also happened during this period, organized by a foreign-born tourism professional. Similar happened with 
tea ceremonies, sake tastings, ikebana experiences: they were available only as an in-person experience, the 
travellers had to be physically present. Offering these in an on-line space opened up the opportunity to a more 
wide audience and offered a semi-present feeling. The importance of this is not just the fact that you don't 
have to travel to experience it, but the ever-increasing degree of interconnectedness. A few years ago, it 
would have been impossible to connect and communicate in this way, spreading Japanese concepts more 
widely and increasing international common understanding.  
 
Table 3. Differences between a virtual tour and live stream 

 Virtual tour Live stream  

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/


Szabo, R. A. (2022) / Events and Tourism Review, 5(2), 16-29. 
23 

Events and Tourism Review Vol. 5 No. 2 (2022), 16-29, DOI: 10.18060/26534                                                                                                  
               Copyright © 2022 Renata Andrea Szabo 

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. 

 

 

Timing Pre-recorded videos  
Audio (narration) is happening in real 
time 

Audio and video happening in real time 

Tool Zoom or other hosting platform FB, Youtube, Tik-tok 

Communicat
ion 

Visual: not interactive (pre-recorded) 
Audio: interactive, questions and 
answers 
With locals: no option to communicate 
with locals 
Between tourists: they have the option 
to see each other, but no other 
information (no profiles) 

Visual: happening live and interactive 
Audio: interactive, questions and 
answers 
With locals: option to communicate 
with locals 
Between tourists: they communicate in 
writing, only seeing each other profiles 

Long-term 
option 

Typically they don’t meet again after 
the tour, but it is possible to join again 

They have the chance to meet next time 
too 

Editing The content is edited The content is not edited, happening real 
time 

Location of 
the guide 

At a computer in any location Live at the visited location 

 
Ms A. completely changed her lifestyle because of her live streaming activity. Whenever she goes 

around in Kyoto or inside Japan, she is always taking the time to do a 30 minutes-1 hours live streaming, 
almost every day. She not only introduces tourist sites, but the normal, everyday life, because this is what is 
the main interest of her online tourists. She casually walks around in different areas of the city, but also holds 
on-line lessons about the geisha culture of Kyoto. As the place of the live stream is continuously changing, 
she shortly prepares before the live streams, but mainly interacting with her viewers and answering their 
questions about various topics - mainly not tourism related, but garbage collection, prices, cleaning of the 
streets, everyday customs etc. Ms. D. applies the same approach, however the tours are more planned and it is 
possible to know the time and place beforehand, so a bigger audience can gather at the same time. Offering 
virtual tours works differently: Mr. C. prepared a few topics like zen gardens as virtual tours and offered the 
same content every time to different, small groups. He is using his own recorded videos and pictures, adding 
narration during the tour. As he was a highly rated tour guide pre-pandemic, he is using the same logic and 
after a session of explanation, starts to interact with the guests and motivates them to ask questions. He has 
also inquiries from companies to lead team building activities, so in this context the digital tourists are taken 
to a “field trip” together. 
 
Table 4. Summary of the activities 

Origin Business 
model 

Activity On-line 
presence 

Community Interactions 

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/


Szabo, R. A. (2022) / Events and Tourism Review, 5(2), 16-29. 
24 

Events and Tourism Review Vol. 5 No. 2 (2022), 16-29, DOI: 10.18060/26534                                                                                                  
               Copyright © 2022 Renata Andrea Szabo 

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. 

 

 

Ms. A. 
Israel 

Open, free 
tours   
Collecting tips 

Live streaming 
Educational 
webinars 

Social media Manages her 
own group and 
building up 
community 

Frequent and 
long term 
between 
tourists and 
guide-tourists 

Mr. B. 
Singapore 

Paid events, 
fixed date 
tours  

Virtual tour Tour and guide 
sites 

Have a social 
media 
presence, but 
not community 
building 

Limited during 
the tour with 
follow up  

Mr. C.  
USA 

Paid events, 
fixed date 
tours  
Private tours  

Virtual tour Tour and guide 
sites 
Youtube 

Have a social 
media 
presence, but 
not community 
building 

Limited during 
the tour with 
follow up 

Ms. D 
Hungary 

Open, free 
tours 
Monthly 
subscriptions  
Private tours 

Live streaming Social media Manages her 
own group and 
building up 
community 

Frequent and 
long term 
between 
tourists and 
guide-tourists 

 
4.3.3. New on-line tourists 

During the stay-at-home regulations, many companies and people shifted their personal and working 
life on-line and adapted (relatively) new technologies like video calls, on-line conferences, friendly meetings 
in chat applications, tv shows shifted to broadcast over the internet etc. Many people who were not familiar 
with these solutions before, started to use them to overcome the difficulties of the pandemic. This led to 
higher digital competencies among people who were not daily users before, like elderly and people whose 
work or personal life was not necessary based on on-line activity. The consequence of this in the tourism 
sector is that a previously non-existent audience joined into the virtual space and started to consume different 
on-line contents. Based on the impressions of interviewees, their audience contains people who can’t travel 
other ways (because of health, money or time issues), families who want to share experiences, even if the 
family members live apart from each other, often in different countries, therefore under travel restrictions, 
this was the only way to meet and share experiences. And not only families, but also friends and 
acquaintances joined these live broadcasts, and friendships and acquaintanceships were often formed between 
participants as a result of the repeated shared experience. In the case of Mr. D., another segment of virtual 
travelers emerged: companies that used virtual tours for team-building activities. The interviewees all said 
that they bring together people of completely different ages, social backgrounds, educational backgrounds, 
countries and mother tongues through their online activities.  

 
4.4. The core motivation behind the adaptation process 
 

These people would have had the opportunity to do well in other areas during the pandemic, but they 
decided to stick to tourism and to transform their activities in this area. Apart from the financial needs, what 
was their motivation? Their answers can be categorized as follows: a) as personal mission:  “I am more of a 
teacher than a tour guide”, “I want to heal through my walks”, “I feel I have a mission to teach Japanese 

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/


Szabo, R. A. (2022) / Events and Tourism Review, 5(2), 16-29. 
25 

Events and Tourism Review Vol. 5 No. 2 (2022), 16-29, DOI: 10.18060/26534                                                                                                  
               Copyright © 2022 Renata Andrea Szabo 

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. 

 

 

culture”, “I can be an English teacher anytime, but I wanted to use my knowledge other way”, b) a 
responsibility towards local community: “I wanted to support the local Japanese community”, “Empty Kyoto 
felt really sad”, “I wanted to raise awareness towards less-known places, so Kyoto will be not so 
overcrowded like before.” and c) “being the bridge”: “I am a bridge between cultures'', “I enjoy to connect 
concepts together from different cultures” , “I try to interpret complex ideas in a simple way”, “I would like 
them (the tourists) to adapt good things from Japanese people, like cleaning the streets”, “I don’t want them 
to see me, I am just the mediator, I want them to see what I want to show about Japan.” 

So the common point among these foreign-born individuals, originally from different countries, 
social background, native language is this core motivation, which starts with a personal mission, 
responsibility towards local community and it peaks in the mediator role, which they are aware of and using 
different expressions to explain their “bridging role”. 
 
4.4.1. Bridging capital on different levels 
 
4.4.1.1. Tourists and tourists 

Guides are meeting tourists in-person and nowadays on-line too. In this research the focus is on the 
digital tourists, where the tourist groups are homogenous. In the case of the Ms. A., the common point is the 
language (Hebrew), not the physical location and the same is with the Hungarian guide, where Hungarians 
living in different countries are also joining the tours. Both of them are conducting tours in English for 
international audiences, but the interest is not so high because of many factors: different time zones make it 
difficult to join for live streams at the same time, and the atmosphere is not so intimate without the common 
reference. These online tourists typically don't know each other, but because the same people could join many 
times, they can get to know each other, and both guides received messages related to forming friendships 
through this activity. Both of them started a group on social media to connect these digital tourists with each 
other through the common interest, boosting the communication and community forming among them and 
also expanding the social network of the guides. This is working differently for Mr. B. and Mr. C, because 
both of them offer one-time or short time on-line experiences, which are virtual tours or team building 
activities for companies. Therefore, they help to form connections inside those groups, but do not contribute 
to longer or deeper understanding between them.  
 
4.4.1.2. Tourist and guide 

Tourism is often seen as an upper, superficial layer of globalization, offering insight but often not 
immersion. The role of tourist guides in mass tourism is often limited to organizing and providing historical 
information, but there is a growing trend worldwide to move away from this. Even before the pandemic, there 
was a move towards private or small group experiences and immersion, greater involvement in local life, 
including sustainability issues.  

The role of guides is changing in the online space. Since the traveler cannot see everything around 
them, the guide chooses the slice of reality they want to show (either live or through a virtual tour). As a 
consequence, the guide's narrative is also becoming more valuable, and is not limited to classic tourist 
information. For each of the interviewees, a good part of the questions and interactions relate to the guide 
himself, the everyday events of the world around them, their own personal experiences and interpretation of 
what is happening around them. No matter how many people join a tour, the voice and person of the guide 
are just as close to everyone, and what they see through the camera becomes a shared experience for the 
viewers, because everybody is seeing the same slice of the reality during live streams.  

Virtual passengers cannot look away or look around, they only see what the tour guide shows them, 
which is why they encounter the different faces of Kyoto through the interpretation of the guides. For those 
who have never had such an experience, the importance of this cannot be stressed enough: the guide has 
never had such a strong influence on what tourists focus their attention on, and they are given a narrative 
world filtered through the guide’s personality, knowledge and stories. At the same time, when asked, 
participants feel "as if I had walked there", "as if I had been there", the experience is authentic and genuine 

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/


Szabo, R. A. (2022) / Events and Tourism Review, 5(2), 16-29. 
26 

Events and Tourism Review Vol. 5 No. 2 (2022), 16-29, DOI: 10.18060/26534                                                                                                  
               Copyright © 2022 Renata Andrea Szabo 

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. 

 

 

for them. This feedback is particularly evident during live broadcasts, the pre-recorded nature of virtual tours 
gives participants less of this experience.  
 
4.4.1.3. Guide and local community 

Apart from a person walking the streets of Kyoto with a camera and a microphone, speaking in a 
foreign language, what do local people experience from these online tours? Ms. A considers it of the utmost 
importance to be able to support the local community both financially and relationally. During her walks, she 
regularly shops at local temples and stores, and raffles off prizes to participants. Ms. D not only conducts 
walks, but regularly invites Japanese participants or interviews them and pays them for their participation in 
the spirit of supporting their lost income due to the disappearance of tourism.  

Virtual tours do not have such a direct impact on the local community, as the tour guide is not present 
in person. However, in the case of Mr. B., the effect is indirect, as he reinvests a percentage of his income 
back into the local community.   

These guides have an ongoing impact on shaping the image of Japan in the minds of the participants, 
and help to connect people who would otherwise not find each other. They support the creation of economic 
links (linking foreign tea traders with Japanese tea planters, helping Japanese knives to be exported abroad, 
etc.) and cultural links (developing Japanese-Swedish ikebana relations, linking craftsmen to each other, etc.)  

In summary, the growing areas consist of new types of tourists, new communities among tourism 
professionals, growing publications and virtual events, supported by the strengthened digital activity by 
tourism professionals, who are mindfully aware of their role in the process and have strong mission as their 
core motivation to conduct this activity. The transformative power of this crisis caused more interdependence 
between tourists and guides through online occasions and also strengthened on-line community activity.  

 
5. Conclusions 

 
During digital tourism activity, people are getting into situations where they interact with other 

persons, who they never met before or normally wouldn’t have the chance to meet, as they differ in country 
of residence, native language, educational background, class, religion etc.  
As can be seen from the above sections, the tourism sector has not only experienced negative losses, but also 
forward-looking, community-shaping changes, which are not often analyzed in academic research. In this 
new kind of tourism, the growing role and continuing role of tour guides in shaping the image of Japan can 
be easily observed, which has an impact on the interest and willingness to travel of tourists. All participants 
reported that some of them had not previously been interested in Japan, but that this had changed as a result 
of the live tours and the visual experience, and many were planning to make a real trip to Japan. Therefore, 
this type of activity among those who are able to travel is not a trigger, but a precursor or motivation to 
travel. Digital tourism does not work against face-to-face tourism, but rather channels and thematically 
narrows the interest of travelers. The newly established and strengthened online communities have become 
important platforms for cooperation and support for joint, united action, thus promoting the long-term 
sustainability of the profession and good practice.  

The legitimate question is whether this on-line tourism will disappear or decrease with the lifting of 
travel restrictions. From an economic point of view, it is the cheapest way for tourists to travel, and the pool 
of people who want to travel to Japan is much larger than those who can afford to, so it is likely that these 
opportunities will continue to exist in the future. All of the interviewees want to continue their activities when 
there are no longer travel restrictions. 
Even before the pandemic, Kyoto had seen the rise of a foreign professional class in tourism, and those who 
gained a larger follower base during the travel restrictions can expect greater demand in the future. In this 
way, not only do they benefit through their own self-generated desire to travel, but also the local community 
where tourists spend and consume - a revenue stream in Japanese tourism that was generated by foreign 
professionals during the pandemic. The phenomena described earlier are not only temporary and transitory, 
but also provide new ways of doing tourism in a global world.   

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/


Szabo, R. A. (2022) / Events and Tourism Review, 5(2), 16-29. 
27 

Events and Tourism Review Vol. 5 No. 2 (2022), 16-29, DOI: 10.18060/26534                                                                                                  
               Copyright © 2022 Renata Andrea Szabo 

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. 

 

 

 
References 
 
Abbas, J., Mubeen, R., Iorember, P. T., Raza, S., & Mamirkulova, G. (2021). Exploring the impact of 

COVID-19 on tourism: transformational potential and implications for a sustainable recovery of the 
travel and leisure industry. Current Research in Behavioral Sciences, 2(100033), 100033. 
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crbeha.2021.100033. 

Akhtar, N., Khan, N., Mahroof Khan, M., Ashraf, S., Hashmi, M. S., Khan, M. M., & Hishan, S. S. (2021). 
Post-COVID 19 Tourism: Will Digital Tourism Replace Mass Tourism? Sustainability, 13(10), 5352. 
https://doi.org/10.3390/su13105352. 

Am, J. B., Furstenthal, L., Jorge, F., & Roth, E. (2020, June 17). Innovation in a crisis: Why it is more 
critical than ever | McKinsey. Mckinsey; www.mckinsey.com. https://www.mckinsey.com/business-
functions/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/innovation-in-a-crisis-why-it-is-more-critical-
than-ever 

Benita, F. (2021). Human mobility behavior in COVID-19: A systematic literature review and bibliometric 
analysis. Sustainable Cities and Society, 70, 102916. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2021.102916 

Bennett, A. (2007). Case Study Methods: Design, Use, and Comparative Advantages. In D. F. Sprinz & Y. 
Wolinksy-Nahmias (Eds.), Models, Numbers, and Cases: Methods for Studying International 
Relations. The University of Michigan Press. 

Benyon, D., Quigley, A., O’Keefe, B., & Riva, G. (2013). Presence and digital tourism. AI & SOCIETY, 
29(4), 521–529. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-013-0493-8 

Brass, D. J., & Borgatti, S. P. (2020). Social networks at work. New York And London Routledge. 
Bulchand-Gidumal, J. (2022). Post-COVID-19 recovery of island tourism using a smart tourism destination 

framework. Journal of Destination Marketing & Management, 23, 100689. 
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdmm.2022.100689 

Casado-Aranda, L.-A., Sánchez-Fernández, J., & Bastidas-Manzano, A.-B. (2021). Tourism research after the 
COVID-19 outbreak: Insights for more sustainable, local and smart cities. Sustainable Cities and 
Society, 73(73), 103126. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2021.103126 

Colombo, M. G., Piva, E., Quas, A., & Rossi-Lamastra, C. (2016). How high-tech entrepreneurial ventures 
cope with the global crisis: changes in product innovation and internationalization strategies. Industry 
and Innovation, 23(7), 647–671. https://doi.org/10.1080/13662716.2016.1196438 

COVID-19: global tourism revenue loss by country 2020. (2021). Statista; STD. 
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1221255/countries-with-the-highest-tourism-revenue-loss-due-to-
covid-19/ 

Data Analysis on Japanese Inbound Tourism Trends. (2020). JTB. https://www.tourism.jp/en/wp/wp-
content/uploads/2020/03/inbound-market-trend-202002_en.pdf 

Data Analysis on Japanese Inbound Tourism Trends Special Issue focused on Market Recovery. (2022). JTB 
Tourism Research & Consulting Co. https://www.tourism.jp/en/wp/wp-
content/uploads/2022/03/inbound-market-trend-202203_en.pdf 

DBJ and JTBF: Survey on Tourist Travel to Japan from Asia, Europe, the United States, and Australia. 
(2020). Development Bank of Japan. 
https://www.dbj.jp/upload/investigate/docs/20201005_DBJ%20and%20JTBF%20Survey%20of%20
Tourist%20Travel%20to%20Japan%20from%20Asia%2C%20Europe%2C%20the%20United%20St
ates%2C%20and%20Australia.pdf 

DBJ and JTBF: Survey on Tourist Travel to Japan from Asia, Europe, the United States, and Australia. 
(2021). Development Bank of Japan. 
https://www.dbj.jp/upload/investigate/docs/1550b7c44ade1ce024b26432916bf6bb.pdf 

Deng, Z., Benckendorff, P., & Wang, J. (2021). Travel live streaming: an affordance perspective. Information 
Technology & Tourism. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40558-021-00199-1 

European Council. (2020, March 26). Statement by President Michel and President von der Leyen after the 

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/


Szabo, R. A. (2022) / Events and Tourism Review, 5(2), 16-29. 
28 

Events and Tourism Review Vol. 5 No. 2 (2022), 16-29, DOI: 10.18060/26534                                                                                                  
               Copyright © 2022 Renata Andrea Szabo 

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. 

 

 

extraordinary G20 video conference on COVID-19. Www.consilium.europa.eu. 
https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2020/03/26/statement-by-president-michel-
and-president-von-der-leyen-after-the-g20-video-conference-on-covid-19/ 

European Union Tourism Trends European. (2019). UNWTO. 
Fursenthal, L., Hirt, M., & Roth, E. (2021, March 18). Innovation in a crisis: Your launchpad past COVID-

19 | McKinsey. Www.mckinsey.com. https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/strategy-and-
corporate-finance/our-insights/innovation-your-launchpad-out-of-the-covid-19-crisis 

Garcia, M. (2020, April 6). Airlines Could Lose Up To $115B In International Passenger Revenue In First 
Half: ICAO. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/marisagarcia/2020/04/06/airlines-could-lose-up-
to-115b-in-international-passenger-revenue-icao/?sh=24155b174839 

Gössling, S., Scott, D., & Hall, C. M. (2020). Pandemics, tourism and global change: a rapid assessment of 
COVID-19. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 29(1), 1–20. Tandfonline. 
https://doi.org/10.1080/09669582.2020.1758708 

Hao, F., Xiao, Q., & Chon, K. (2020). COVID-19 and China’s Hotel Industry: Impacts, a Disaster 
Management Framework, and Post-Pandemic Agenda. International Journal of Hospitality 
Management, 90(102636), 102636. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2020.102636 

Henseler, M., Maisonnave, H., & Maskaeva, A. (2022). Economic impacts of COVID-19 on the tourism 
sector in Tanzania. Annals of Tourism Research Empirical Insights, 3, 100042. 
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annale.2022.100042 

Im, J., Kim, J., & Choeh, J. Y. (2021). COVID-19, social distancing, and risk-averse actions of hospitality 
and tourism consumers: A case of South Korea. Journal of Destination Marketing & Management, 
20, 100566. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdmm.2021.100566 

Japan-bound Statistics - Tourism Statistics. (n.d.). JTB Tourism Research & Consulting Co. Retrieved 
October 4, 2022, from https://www.tourism.jp/en/tourism-database/stats/inbound/#annua 

Johnson, J. L. (2006). Brokerage and Closure: An Introduction to Social CapitalBrokerage and Closure: An 
Introduction to Social Capital, by BurtRonald S. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005. Academy of 
Management Review, 31(3), 757–759. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2006.21318931 

Jones, P., & Comfort, D. (2020). The COVID-19 Crisis, Tourism and Sustainable Development. ATHENS 
JOURNAL of TOURISM, 7(2), 75–86. https://doi.org/10.30958/ajt.7-2-1 

Jordan, E. J., Moran, C., & Godwyll, J. M. (2019). Does tourism really cause stress? A natural experiment 
utilizing ArcGIS Survey123. Current Issues in Tourism, 24(1), 1–15. 
https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2019.1702001 

Kitamura, Y., Karkour, S., Ichisugi, Y., & Itsubo, N. (2020). Evaluation of the Economic, Environmental, 
and Social Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Japanese Tourism Industry. Sustainability, 
12(24), 10302. https://doi.org/10.3390/su122410302 

Lee, C.-C., & Chen, M.-P. (2021). Ecological footprint, tourism development, and country risk: International 
evidence. Journal of Cleaner Production, 279, 123671. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.123671 

Mariolis, T., Rodousakis, N., & Soklis, G. (2020). The COVID-19 multiplier effects of tourism on the Greek 
economy. Tourism Economics, 135481662094654. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354816620946547 

Nguyen, A. T. N. (2020). Japan’s Inbound Tourism Boom: Lessons for its Post-COVID-19 Revival. SSRN 
Electronic Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3721193 

Okafor, L., & Yan, E. (2022). Covid-19 vaccines, rules, deaths, and tourism recovery. Annals of Tourism 
Research, 103424. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2022.103424 

Paxton, P. (2002). Social Capital and Democracy: An Interdependent Relationship. American Sociological 
Review, 67(2), 254. https://doi.org/10.2307/3088895 

Pelling, M., & High, C. (2005). Understanding adaptation: What can social capital offer assessments of 
adaptive capacity? Global Environmental Change, 15(4), 308–319. 
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2005.02.001 

Proganó, R. N. (2020, October 15). [Research column] (Vol.2) The COVID-19 pandemic impact on Japanese 
inbound tourism | 和歌山大学. Www.wakayama-U.ac.jp. https://www.wakayama-

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/


Szabo, R. A. (2022) / Events and Tourism Review, 5(2), 16-29. 
29 

Events and Tourism Review Vol. 5 No. 2 (2022), 16-29, DOI: 10.18060/26534                                                                                                  
               Copyright © 2022 Renata Andrea Szabo 

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. 

 

 

u.ac.jp/en/ctr/news/2020101500016/ 
Reagans, R., & McEvily, B. (2003). Network Structure and Knowledge Transfer: The Effects of Cohesion 

and Range. Administrative Science Quarterly, 48(2), 240. https://doi.org/10.2307/3556658 
Schowalter, K., Goldberg, A., & Srivastava, S. B. (2019). Bridging Perspectives on Bridging: A Framework 

of Social Contexts that Integrates Structural and Cultural Bridging. In D. J. Brass & S. P. Borgatti 
(Eds.), Social Networks at Work. Routledge. 

Sun, Y.-Y., Li, M., Lenzen, M., Malik, A., & Pomponi, F. (2022). Tourism, job vulnerability and income 
inequality during the COVID-19 pandemic: A global perspective. Annals of Tourism Research 
Empirical Insights, 3(1), 100046. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annale.2022.100046 

Szabó, R. A. (2021). Japan as a “Tourism Nation”: Emerging Migrant Entrepreneurship in the Tourism sector 
of Kyoto. Kokusai Kankei Ronshu, 21. https://www.ritsumei.ac.jp/ir/isaru/ronsyu/ 

Tussyadiah, I. P., Wang, D., Jung, T. H., & tom Dieck, M. Claudia. (2018). Virtual reality, presence, and 
attitude change: Empirical evidence from tourism. Tourism Management, 66, 140–154. 
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2017.12.003 

UNWTO. (2018). European Union Tourism Trends. https://doi.org/10.18111/9789284419470 
UNWTO World Tourism Barometer and Statistical Annex, January 2021. (2021). UNWTO World Tourism 

Barometer, 19(1), 1–42. https://doi.org/10.18111/wtobarometereng.2021.19.1.1 
van Staveren, I., & Knorringa, P. (2007). Unpacking social capital in Economic Development: How social 

relations matter. Review of Social Economy, 65(1), 107–135. 
https://doi.org/10.1080/00346760601132147 

Wan, Y. K. P., Li, X., Lau, V. M.-C., & Dioko, L. (Don). (2022). Destination governance in times of crisis 
and the role of public-private partnerships in tourism recovery from Covid-19: The case of Macao. 
Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 51, 218–228. 
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhtm.2022.03.012 

Widén-Wulff, G., Ek, S., Ginman, M., Perttilä, R., Södergård, P., & Tötterman, A.-K. (2008). Information 
behaviour meets social capital: a conceptual model. Journal of Information Science, 34(3), 346–355. 
https://doi.org/10.1177/0165551507084679 

Yagasaki, N. (2021). Impact of COVID-19 on the Japanese travel market and the travel market of overseas 
visitors to Japan, and subsequent recovery. IATSS Research, 45. 
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iatssr.2021.11.008 

Zeng, Z., Chen, P.-J., & Lew, A. A. (2020). From high-touch to high-tech: COVID-19 drives robotics 
adoption. Tourism Geographies, 22(3), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616688.2020.1762118 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

	Abstract
	1. Introduction
	2. From overtourism to empty streets
	2.1. Covid as a transformative power
	2.2. From overtourism to empty Kyoto
	2.3. New ways of travelling: interactive digital tourism

	3. Data collection and research method
	4. Transformations in tourism sector of Kyoto related to covid-19
	4.1. Overview of the transformations in the tourism sector of Kyoto
	4.3. The growing areas in inbound tourism sector of Kyoto
	4.3.1. New communities
	4.3.2. Live streams, virtual tours, on-line events
	4.3.3. New on-line tourists
	4.4. The core motivation behind the adaptation process

	5. Conclusions


