Survey on Dining Experiences of Overseas Travelers

Abstract

Although the number of foreign visitors to Japan is increasing steadily, it has been reported that there is a need to improve the environment for accepting foreigners. According to a survey conducted by the Japan Tourism Bureau on foreign tourists visiting Japan in 2009, there were many complaints regarding the lack of foreign language display on signposts and multilingual support at places such as restaurants. Most of all, the dietary pattern, which people display during a trip, is an important aspect for improving their satisfaction when staying in Japan. The aim of this study is to solve the communication problems at dining facilities in Japan by developing a communication support system for foreign people to easily communicate in any language. To better understand user needs, we conducted an online survey on more than 400 people. The elements for system construction were extracted from the results of the survey.