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Research paper : Evaluating the effects of actions taken to attract visitors to sightseeing areas (Y. Yamamoto)−197−Synthesiology - English edition Vol.5 No.3 (2012) However, both the non-contact IC card and the printed receipt were to be used together for the following two reasons.First, the promotional message “a mobile phone is used as an out-spa ticket” was considered to be a very appealing new technology. A mobile phone is one of the most familiar IT technologies. Making use of such a technology at a spa resort is welcomed as a cutting-edge approach that has never been attempted by other resorts. Moreover, this approach is expected to be highly popular with the tourists. While enjoying an out-spa tour wearing a yukata, tourists try to minimize their belongings as much as possible. However, mobile phones are known to be an exception. “A mobile phone is used as an out-spa ticket” is a good point that should appeal to tourists.Another reason the two are to be used together is that it may help prevent the unauthorized use of a ticket. At the time, Kinosaki was planning to issue a one-day pass to be used for unlimited entries to out-spas on the purchased day. However, their hesitance was caused by their concern that one ticket might be abused by several people. It is expected that tickets will not be abused if tourists’ mobile phones are used as the out-spa ticket. Therefore, the application of FeliCa was positively incorporated into the needs design, though the cost was comparatively higher than the barcode-only system, which points to the fact that some part of technology pull was effectuated by users.Out-spa ticket with a credit functionCredit service increases the burden on hotels. They are obliged to explain the system to hotel guests and settle the bill at checkout time. There is no merit to hotels at this point; credit service is offered to the area as a whole. Therefore, it is at the hotel’s discretion to issue or not issue the out-spa ticket with a credit function. In order to save time and work for the hotels, it was arranged so that out-spa tickets came equipped with a credit function by simply entering the room number. The room number is essential to settle the hotel bill. Therefore, engineers considered that this would be the final form, as it is not possible to reduce the operational work any further.After the introduction of the OSF-POS system, many hotels prepared printed out-spa tickets before their guests arrived in order to avoid congestion at check-in time. However, hotels were obliged to discard the prepared tickets and reissue them if the guests requested a credit function. This is because the out-spa ticket with a credit function requires inscribing the room number before the ticket can be issued. With this fact in mind, engineers have added a function whereby the credit function can be added to an already-issued ticket by entering the room number. This function has been well accepted and has become a major trend in Kinosaki. Hotel clerks had a difficult time imagining that the new function could be added on to an already-prepared ticket later. In addition, hotels that issue out-spa tickets with a credit function are cooperating with the efforts of the area. Therefore, it is believed that those hotels were able to endure some inconveniences. This shows that engineers are sometimes expected to extract the needs. Pass codeIt was required that pass-codes be provided (from 1–3 digits), as guests may lose their out-spa ticket with the barcode; hence, a pass-code is given when issuing the ticket. Allowing guests to choose their own pass-code was not implemented in order to avoid congestion at the front desk. Throughout the trial, some guests contacted the hotel to ask for a forgotten pass-code, and hotels were obliged to respond which was troublesome at the time. In response to this, a specific number of pass-codes was allocated to each hotel and was made available to all guests for that day (the same pass-code number for all guests) in addition to the abovementioned system. This system in which all hotel guests were to use the same number for the day seemed very risky. (No engineers would likely recommend this system). However, many hotels used their specific number in a practical way, which can be considered part of the technology pull. As the reason for the OSF-POS system being introduced in a considerably short period of time, frequent dialogue or interchange between users and engineers were particularly noted. The users’ requirements were taken into consideration, and technological improvements were implemented (and sometimes new functions were added) and returned to the site. These reciprocal actions were conducted in approximately two weeks in each case. This interaction created new knowledge of a more user-friendly system and contributed a lot to making needs design much more attractive to the local entities involved. 5.3 Supporting users’ awarenessThe most difficult challenge was answering the question of who would conduct the analysis of the collected data. One option was to employ a consultant; however, this option was not affordable for many sightseeing areas. The ideal option was to build a structure in which the local people involved could freely exchange ideas. For people to be able to exchange a variety of ideas, they would need more opportunities to review data. Therefore, we presented push-style data, where we sent a graph to shopkeepers and so forth, showing the number of guests as

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