Reducing Costs of Knowledge Transfer in Tourism Development using Historical Materials

Maidosan: Voluntary Tour Guide Organization

Maidosan was established in 1994. Its members studied twenty tourism subjects (30 hours) in a school for volunteers in Kanazawa before joining it. There are two hundred eighty members in Maidosan. It provides sightseeing voluntary guide services to advanced tourists’ requests and has publicized regular tours.

There is no manual in the Maidosan organization, and each guide must decide on the contents of their explanations. Beginners therefore accompany senior guides to learn their know-how of guidance. The organization’s aims are to introduce Kanazawa’s interesting points of which is not listed in guide books, using Kanazawa's dialect and increase the fans of Kanazawa and also tourists who make repeated visits to Kanazawa. Guides of Maidosan are expected to discover local resources and show their attractive points to tourists in addition to serving as guides in major sightseeing spots. Discovering local resources is important to maintain the organization’s activity. Visiting lecturers give lectures in regular meetings of Maidosan, and Maidosan’s members who designed new tour courses conduct training tours four or five times a year. After the training tours, these tour courses are used as regular tours which discover some new spots.