"The Senior Summer College" is gradually gaining popularity in Japan.  A learning course for seniors over 50 years of age are arranged at university campuses. A 2-week/20 classes program offers seniors opportunity to attend various lectures prepared by each university and region. Participants have access to most of the campus facilities, including library and computer rooms as regularly as the enrolled students.

The Senior Summer College is a new type of educational exchange program. It provides a favorable lifetime learning occasion to seniors and retirees who might not be satisfied with classes at culture centers. Universities are so enthusiastic about hosting the course that some lectures are given by university presidents themselves. The Senior Summer College started at Yamaguchi University and Hirosaki University in 2006 as a joint program of the National University Corporations and JTB. In 2007, the program extended to five Universities, Hokkaido, Hirosaki, Iwate, Shinshu and Gifu. Following the success of JTB, other travel companies such as Kinki Nippon Tourists began sponsoring similar programs.

Started out with 64 participants in 2006, the Senior Summer College had 204 enrollments in 2007* and the reputation of program is currently quite high. Not only attending classes, participants also take initiative to organize social gatherings or share their free time activities for further communication with their ‘class mates'. 

The Senior Summer College offers a membership program; its members are provided with information and invited to mock lectures. Such approaches motivate members to sign up again for the program next year.

For local governments which host the program, participants of The Senior Summer College are favorable visitors. While most overnight visitors stay only for one night, program participants normally stay for two weeks for the course. The Senior Summer College is, in this sense, expected to be a good trigger to expand "supporter of the region".

With the aging society to proceed and the birth rate to drop, such collaboration model of tourism industry and universities is highly expected to revitalize Japan's domestic travel market, which has been on long decline. The Senior Summer College can be regardeThe City of Hokuto is located 100km northwest of Tokyo in Yamanashi Prefecture. Surrounded by beautiful mountains of Yatsugatake and the Southern Alps, the city has a population of approximately 50,000.

Hokuto is recently founded by merging neighboring eight towns in Yamanashi Prefecture, including Takane (known for Kiyosato resort area) and Kobuchizawa. Blessed with the rich natural environment for tourism resources, tourism is Hokuto's main industry. The city's location is convenient for visitors from the Greater Tokyo area; one can reach there in 2 hours by both car and train from midtown Tokyo. This has brought steady growth in the tourist arrival to the city. The film shooting of a popular historic TV drama "Fu-rin-ka-zan" in the area also serves as a large trigger.

In the meantime, the number of tourists staying overnight in Hokuto has shown a continuous decline. Out of the total number of visitors to the city (7.2 million in 2006), a mere 10% spent nights there. Due to the strong seasonality in tourist arrival, accommodations in Hokuto see difficulty in offering stable local employment. Structural change in tourism is the important and urgent issue for Hokuto City.

In 2006, a corroborative experiment was jointly carried out by chamber of commerce, city government, public organizations and private sector in Hokuto. The experiment called "Status" aspired to host long-term tourists targeting seniors. The result revealed Hokuto's superiority as a tourist destination; short distance from Tokyo which is convenient for repeat visits. The city later declared to develop "Woodland Retreat for Long-term Stay " in June 2007, prior to other cities in Japan, in order to further vitalize Hokuto's local society.

Hokuto City signifies "retreat" as "a space for quality time and healing suitable for each visitor" and expects to provide exhausted urban dwellers with space for refreshment. Hokuto recently set up  "Woodland Retreat for Long-term Stay Promotion Committee". The committee promotes development of experience programs utilizing Hokuto's rich nature as local tourism resources. It also aims providing opportunities for tourists to communicate with local residents and culture. By such development, the committee expects to create and distribute new travel products such as various experience programs targeting long-term tourists to the city.

Additionally, Hokuto extends its tourism field to mental health. In November 2007, groundwork along with a new corroborative experiment starts for "business persons’ retreat" focused on company employees.

Could the promotion of long-term tourism stop the long decline of overnight stay visitors to Hokuto? The city's new challenge is worthy of note.
d as a project comprehending the four keywords to vitalize domestic travel market in Japan; "long term stay" "locality" "learning" and "people".

*Number of participants handled by JTB

Trends in Hokuto City's number of tourists and the number of staying over tourists
(Source: Survey result of Yamanashi Prefecture's Tourists Dynamic (in Kyohoku area)