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Research paper : Evaluating the effects of actions taken to attract visitors to sightseeing areas (Y. Yamamoto)−192−Synthesiology - English edition Vol.5 No.3 (2012) as point of service to determine where, when and what kind of service customers can receive and as a survey technology used to learn the movements of tourists in a sightseeing area. For this purpose, we developed cloud service to establish services at POS (point of service), which are required in sightseeing areas, as well as a small terminal to access such services. This terminal is called an OSF-POS (Open Service Field Point of Service(Note 2)) (Fig. 1). In addition, we asked hotels and shops about the kind of services they wanted within this POS system in sightseeing areas.3.1 Turning up unaware needs designWhile explaining the physical functions of printers, displays, audio playback, non-contact IC card readers, and so forth, as well as the outline of software-oriented functions (such as creating member cards) of OSF-POS, we did a hearing investigation with local entities concerned about the kind of services they wanted to provide to customers.Credit cards accepted under town managementThe first request was to accept credit cards under town management. At Kinosaki Spa Resort, a “buy and sell on credit” culture has taken root. Tourists in yukata (summer kimono) can enjoy shopping and dining on credit. Such payment is settled when customers check out of the hotel.(Note 3) The person who presented this idea had plans to expand this service even to small purchases such as ice cream and juice so that more tourists can enjoy the credit service. Computerization of out-spa ticketsIn addition to the request for credit payments, many local entities asked for computerization of out-spa tickets. At Kinosaki Spa Resort, the out-spa tour(Note 4) is a major attraction, and almost all hotel guests receive such tickets from the hotel and then tour the town (Fig. 2).Conventional out-spa tickets are printed on paper, and tourists are required to have a ticket for each spa. There are several problems with these paper tickets. Hotels and inns and the Toyooka City Office, which administers the out-spa tour, experienced several disadvantages(Note 5). Moreover, there were disadvantages for the tourists as well. The tickets are available at the hotels’ front desks. Hotel guests may take as many tickets as they want. However, some guests only take a few tickets, thinking that that will be enough. When guests run out of tickets, they are sometimes denied entrance to the out-spa, resulting in disappointment and dissatisfaction. Some imprudent guests take many tickets and sell them on the Internet. To avoid these problems, it became necessary for tourists to provide identification. This was accomplished by having hotel guests wear a yukata (summer kimono) with the hotel logo emblazoned on it. However, this restricted use of spas by hotel guests causes inconvenience to hotel guests, as they are not able to wear the yukata after they check out of the hotel. Based upon the abovementioned requests, computerization of the out-spa ticket was requested. Proposal for other applicationsWe had several meetings with local entities to hear their requests for applications even after the demonstration experiment started, and some hotels started issuing tickets on a trial basis. Among the requests was an application for sightseeing guidance. At Kinosaki Spa Resort, there are Kinosaki guides who are voluntary local guides. However, this system was not very popular because it requires advance booking. Moreover, the system was not able to accommodate the increase in the number of foreign tourists. The service was then expanded to provide sightseeing information by authenticating the out-spa ticket via the OSF-POS system. In addition to the above, there were requests to create Kinosaki member cards, applications for a rental-cycle system, and so on.(Note 6) Fig. 1 OSF-POSFig. 2 Kinosaki Spa Resort and locations of out-spa1.Satonoyu2.Jizouyu200 m12345673.Yanagiyu4.Ichinoyu5.Goshonoyu6.Mandarayu7.Kounoyu

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