Otomo, which operate private tour services for inbound travelers have collaborated with the Anime Tourism Association to develop a pilgrimage tour plan to sacred grounds where stages for some renowned anime works were based off.
For the 1st tour, the official sacred grounds pilgrimage tour for 『Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai』, 『Hyouka』 and 『The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya』 will be released in October 2019.

Anime culture is one of the world's greatest contents from Japan, according to an oversea surveys, 56% of people in Asia and 75% in Europe replied that they were interested in Japan because of 『Anime, Manga, and Games』 boasting popularity worldwide.
The number of tourists visiting Japan from overseas is increasing every year, with over 31 million people in 2018 as the needs of travelers are diversifying.

Among that, anime fans 「sacred pilgrimage」 to sacred grounds where stages of certain anime works were based off became quite the topic, with a lot of tourists visiting various sacred grounds. Though in recent years, there have been troubles between the tourists that are visiting the sacred grounds and the local residents, giving rise to the concern of 「Tourism Pollution」.

Therefore, the official anime sacred grounds pilgrimage inbound
tour was developed by otomo in collaboration with the Anime Tourism Association along with the cooperation of local governments and other regions and works to realize a 「Sustainable Tourism」. By developing a system for accepting pilgrimages through this initiative, will contribute to the promotion of local tourism through anime tourism, as well as to allow overseas anime fans to enjoy the sacred grounds pilgrimage.

The first line-up that will be released in October 2019 consists of 『Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai』, 『Hyouka』 and 『The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya』 three works in total. The pilgrimage destination for 『Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai』 is Fujisawa City, Kanagawa Prefecture, 『Hyouka』 is at Takayama City, Gifu Prefecture while 『The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya』 is at Nishinomiya City, Hyogo Prefecture.

In each tour, an exclusive guide will guide you through the actual places and buildings that appeared in the anime works, and during visits of the area where the stage was set, there will be introductions for not only the sacred spots but also the attractive tourist spots in the area. Inbound travelers who participated in the tour will also be given special limited goods at the 「Sacred Grounds」 during the tour.
There will be further work line-up expansions in the future, with a lot more to look forward to.

[Anime！Anime！ Biz／Reprinted article from animeanime.biz]

（C）2018 Hajime Komashida／ＫＡＤＯＫＡＷＡ　ASCII Media Works／Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai Project
（C）Honobu Yonezawa・Kadokawa Shoten／Kamiyama High School Classics Club OB Association
（C）2006 Nagaru Tanigawa・Noizo Ito／SOS Brigade