As Japan is surrounded by the ocean, it has always been one of the key strategies in the nation's industrial policy making to take advantage of the ocean. The nation's industrial structure has changed, however, and the emphasis has shifted from the heavy industries to the service industries. How to revitalize the activities related to the ocean and the coastal towns has become an extremely important task. In response to this need, a new development concept has attracted much attention, in which vitalization of a given local area is achieved through utilization of its own resources. Eco-tourism offers a new and sustainable tourism development, incorporating the philosophy of harmony with the indigenous nature and unique culture. The keyword of Sustainable Development is particularly important not only in the revitalization of local industries but also in the preservation of global resources. In this paper, Eco-tourism is considered to be a new tourism industry that gives vitality to local communities. To gain basic data, residents' views on the local environmental factors are represented in concrete terms through Contingent Valuation Method(C.V.M.). The suburban town area of the Higashi-Geiyo Islands has been selected as the subject of the survey.
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