Abstract Book of the 6th International Conference on Tourism Management and Hospitality
Year: 2025
[PDF]
Cultural Hospitality in Sake Tourism: Bridging Traditional Heritage and Modern Experience Through Cross-Cultural Case Studies
Yoshiko Ogawa
ABSTRACT:
This study examines the evolving landscape of sake tourism as a vehicle for cultural heritage preservation and hospitality innovation. Following UNESCO’s recognition of traditional sake brewing as an Intangible Cultural Heritage, this research investigates how contemporary sake tourism embodies Japanese hospitality (omotenashi) principles while adapting to global markets.
Through comparative case study analysis of Tokyo Hachioji Brewery—the first new sake brewery in Japan in 70 years—and Dojima Sake Brewery in the UK, this paper explores how cultural hospitality manifests in sake tourism experiences. The study analyzes three key dimensions: linguistic accommodation, service excellence, and spatial design that collectively create authentic cultural encounters for international visitors.
Findings reveal that successful sake tourism requires balancing traditional heritage preservation with modern accessibility challenges, including seasonality constraints, language barriers, and declining domestic youth engagement. The research examines potential AI-assisted solutions for enhancing cross-cultural communication and experience personalization.
Comparing sake tourism with established wine tourism models in France and other international contexts, this study proposes a sustainable cultural tourism framework. The analysis demonstrates how sake tourism can serve as a replicable model for heritage-based experiential tourism, offering insights for hospitality management in culturally-rooted tourism sectors while contributing to local economic revitalization and cultural continuity.
Keywords: sake tourism, cultural hospitality, heritage tourism, cross-cultural communication, sustainable tourism