On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Hokuryu-cho Sunflower Tourist Association
With the designation of Shokusambetsu Provincial Park, the building of a new sightseeing mountain trail, and the creation of Kompirayama Park, full-scale tourism projects have begun in this town.
At the time of its establishment, the main activities were the holding of the Hokuryu Town Cherry Blossom Festival in Kompirayama Park and the "Full of Flowers" campaign to beautify the environment. The festival has been passed down from generation to generation.
In particular, since the opening of Sunflower Village in 1989, the town has received an increasing number of media coverage, attracting many tourists and establishing the image of "Hokuryu-cho, the town of sunflowers. As a result, 356,000 people visited the area in 2009.
During this period, the association was reorganized as the "Hokuryu Town Sunflower Tourism Association" in 1999, and has literally been in charge of promoting sunflower tourism in this town. During the Sunflower Festival, we would like to express our sincere respect for the efforts of the members of the Sunflower Tourist Association and many other volunteers from the town, who make the festival a great success through various events and sunflower guided tours.
Nowadays, many tourists visit our town not only from Japan but also from abroad. Although we are a small town, we hope that many people will experience the charm of our town.
In conclusion, I would like to thank all the past chairpersons and many others who have contributed to the promotion of tourism in our town and congratulate them.