Tourism is one of the world’s fastest-growing economic sectors and a key driver of jobs and economic activity in cities and regions. It stimulates investment across a wide range of directly and indirectly linked industries, including hospitality, transport, cultural and creative sectors. Cities, in particular, serve as anchors of tourism growth, offering a concentration of experiences, services, and infrastructure, while also functioning as gateways to surrounding regions.
At the same time, many cities face persistent challenges, including infrastructure gaps, fragmented policies and governance, congestion, rising housing costs, and environmental pressures. In such contexts, the benefits of tourism often do not reach local communities. To harness tourism as a sustainable driver of job creation and urban development, cities require comprehensive policies, quality infrastructure, and strategic approaches grounded in strong public–private and community collaboration.
Against this backdrop, the Tokyo Development Learning Center (TDLC) convened the Technical Deep Dive (TDD) on Cities for Tourism and Jobs from December 1 to 5, 2025, in Kyoto, Sapporo, and Tokyo. The program was delivered in collaboration with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), UN Tourism, the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), the World Economic Forum (WEF), Brookfield Asset Management, Airbnb, and Les Roches Global Hospitality Education. The program brought together more than 40 policymakers and practitioners from nine countries—Albania, Argentina, the Dominican Republic, Indonesia, Kenya, Mozambique, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Together with Japanese and international experts, participants engaged in in-depth discussions and learning on how cities can leverage tourism to promote urban growth and job creation.
The TDD approached tourism not as a stand-alone sector, but as an integrated system supporting urban development and employment. Cities were examined both as tourism destinations and as gateways that attract investment and talent to wider regions. Participants discussed how to view tourism as a system of destinations within a country and how to identify cultural and natural assets with strong market potential, including assets located in neighborhoods within cities, while also recognizing key bottlenecks that can constrain cities with high potential. Discussions explored how the alignment of policies, infrastructure, institutions, the private sector, and local communities can enhance the value of tourism. Attention was given to combining interventions across multiple scales—city, neighborhood, tourism site, and accommodation—to translate tourism growth into job creation and strengthen local economies.
Lessons from Japanese Cities
Through site visits and discussions in Kyoto, Sapporo, and Otaru, the TDD highlighted how Japanese cities leverage rich cultural and natural assets to strengthen tourism-led urban development and job creation. Participants explored how Kyoto balances tourism infrastructure and services with residents’ quality of life, while showcasing and preserving cultural heritage and cultural and creative industries. In Sapporo, a gateway city to Hokkaido, discussions focused on how cities can connect visitors to dispersed regional destinations by providing the infrastructure, services, and accommodations needed to host large numbers of tourists, while supporting regional economies. Across Hokkaido, participants examined how public–private collaboration and product diversification have supported the evolution of destinations into year-round tourism hubs, helping spread benefits across the wider region. The case of Otaru illustrated how a former industrial city regenerated its historic center and creative industries through tourism and citizen-led co-creation.
Global Perspectives
In addition to Japanese cases, the TDD shared experiences from cities around the world on tourism and urban development. Discussions covered the regeneration of historic cities, the conservation of cultural assets, destination development through public–private collaboration, and approaches to managing tourism’s negative externalities. These diverse examples highlighted common principles and adaptable strategies for linking tourism growth to job creation and urban value across different city contexts.
As a key outcome of the TDD, participating countries developed concrete action plans tailored to their national and local contexts. These plans combined tourism-led urban development with investments in infrastructure, strengthened public–private collaboration, heritage conservation, and greater community engagement to support job creation and local economic growth. Participants identified specific next steps, such as the regeneration of tourism sites and historic districts, stronger destination management, and institutional and regulatory frameworks to crowd in private investment. These outcomes demonstrate that the TDD moved beyond knowledge sharing to support real-world implementation in urban development and tourism strategies.
The TDD provided an opportunity to reflect on how cities can generate jobs and enhance local value through tourism by integrating urban policies, infrastructure, institutions, and partnerships. By combining practical lessons from Japanese cities with international knowledge exchange, participating countries were able to examine concrete next steps aligned with their own contexts. Through continued dialogue and peer learning among cities, tourism was reaffirmed not merely as a growth sector, but as a powerful driver of sustainable and inclusive urban development.
Participant Voices
“We learned in this week that the partnership between public and private sectors is very important and the potential that natural resources have in the new destinations.”
Leticia Esteves, Minister of Tourism for the Province of Neuquen, Argentina
“I think we are now able to improve on the planning of our project because of these exercises that we have done here. And at the same time, we're also very enthusiastic that this event will probably lead to a strengthening of the relationship between the Cabo Rojo projects.”
Simon Suárez Peña, Vice President, Institutional Relations and Special Projects, Grupo Puntacana, Dominican Republic
“We should really think about how to make people come and visit our countries because every country, so every country in the world has potential of tourism.”
Dritan Agolli, Executive Director, Albanian Development Fund, Albania
Please view the photos here.