The number of tourist sites that can be accessed within a ninety-minute range has increased thanks to the opening of the San-in Expressway. Four tours that take passengers towards the central-eastern part of Tottori that had not existed in FY 2011 were planned in FY 2014.

Accordingly, it is expected that a system for accepting foreign travelers will be developed in and around Sakai Port and that a system for enabling spillover effects to spread throughout all areas of the prefecture will be established.

(Attractive travel proposals based on the use of infrastructure in various locations)

## ■ Setouchi Shimanami Kaido (Ehime and Hiroshima)

Setouchi Shimanami Kaido links Onomichi City in Hiroshima with Imabari City in Ehime through nine large and small islands in the Seto Inland Sea. Suspension bridges connecting these islands to one another also feature passageways that can be used by motorized bicycles and regular bicycles and are visited by cycling enthusiasts from overseas and across Japan.

Both prefectures are endeavoring to revive tourism through cycling and have developed many examples of bicycle-friendly infrastructure. Roads used for a main cycling course feature blue painted lines (known as the 'blue line') and destination signs to allow cyclists to arrive at their desired destinations without having to carry a map on their persons. Trains and buses that have been outfitted to enable bicycles to be transported by passengers have been developed and fees charged for carrying bicycles as levied on passengers riding vessels linking islands to one another have been kept low. In these and other ways, cyclists can travel freely with their bicycles and can choose to take any combination of various courses made available to them.

Peripheral facilities have also been developed, such that facilities from which visitors can rent bicycles and services for repairing bicycles in the event of an accident or breakdown can be found everywhere. Cycling stands have been set up by convenience stores and commercial establishments along routes as so-called 'cycling oases', facilities that give cyclists a change to interact with locals while maintaining their bicycles and replenishing supplies of water. In both Ehime and Hiroshima, ordinances have been amended to legalize the riding of two-person tandem bicycles on Shimanami Kaido and other general roads.

Figure 3-1-26

Setouchi Shimanami Kaido

Source) Ehime Local Promotion Association (left), Ehime Prefecture

The Honshu-Shikoku Bridge Expressway Company, with the cooperation of local private-sector companies, abolished bicycle tolls on the Setouchi Shimanami Kaido in July 2014 and organized Cycling Shimanami, an international cycling meet, in October of the same year in hopes of further promoting cycling in the area (Figure 3-1-27). This event was attended by 7,281 participants from overseas and across Japan thanks to awareness of the fact that this was the only expressway in Japan in operation that permits cyclists to use it and to the establishment of ten different types of courses for their benefit. Five hundred and twenty-five participants from thirty-one different countries and regions also attended. This event helped generate economic effects amounting to approximately JPY 1,500 million in both Ehime and Hiroshima.