Population Decline and Urban Transformation by Tourism Gentrification in Kyoto City

Abstract

In recent years, tourist cities worldwide have experienced rapid tourism gentrification, which was caused by the spread of P2P accommodation-matching digital platforms. The research problem is set as follows: whether tourism gentrification caused a population decline in the historical center area of tourist cities. Therefore, this study aims to clarify the causal statistical relationship between population decline and tourism gentrification, focusing on urban transformation by accommodation. As a case, this study analyzes Kyoto City, a world-class tourist city. In summary, we conclude that tourism gentrification caused population decline through displacement in the historical center of Kyoto City. On the other hand, it was found that population decline occurred from factors other than tourism gentrification in the outside area of Kyoto City. The academic contribution is to clarify the effect of population decline on the cause of urban transformation through time precedence with statistical correlation. For tourist cities where the population is declining, the distinction between cause and effect is critical for policymaking toward sustainable tourism where the population is declining. The practical implication is the need for urban planning against tourism gentrification toward sustainability tourism in the historical center of Kyoto City.