There is a shortage of lodging on remote islands; is a campervan the answer?

What can be done on an island with a shortage of lodging?

Yoron Island has a chronic problem.
The number of places to stay is overwhelmingly small.

The same goes for rental cars; during peak seasons, reservations fill up in the blink of an eye.
Just the other day, a friend contacted me saying they wanted to go to Yoron Island in a hurry, and there was only one rental car left for August 31st.

Even if they want to move around, they end up stuck because they cannot book a car.
Their interest, which they had gone to the trouble of developing, stops right there.

As one answer to this challenge, I started an initiative called "Yoro-Cam".
Note: We named the act of enjoying a campervan on Yoron Island "Yoro-Cam".

Instead of building new rooms, we turn the vehicle itself into a place to sleep.
The idea of utilizing a campervan as lodging is what Yoro-Cam is all about.

A "mobile living room", might be a closer way to describe it.

Why am I involved in this?

I was appointed as a Yoron Island Tourism Ambassador in 2022.
As long as I hold this title, I believe I have a responsibility to continue proposing special experiences to tourists and followers who visit the island.

However, that is not the only reason.

I was born and raised on Yoron Island, and I have always had a desire to give back to the island.
Specifically, I am always keeping two things in the back of my mind: creating a mechanism where money is spent on the island, and using that tax revenue to solve the island's problems themselves.
I always keep these two things in the back of my mind.

And above all, I actually experienced staying in a campervan (Yoro-Cam stay) on Yoron Island for three nights.
This is not a project I thought up in my head; it is a fact I verified with my own body.

When I woke up on the bed inside the vehicle, I was amazed at the comfortable, air-conditioned interior, thinking, "Wow! This is amazing!"
Also, when I was relaxing near the sea during the day, time would pass with only the sound of the waves echoing.
The reason I could be certain that this campervan experience was the real deal was not because of calculations on paper, but because of my actual experience.

One vehicle cannot change everything. Even so, the reason I am pushing forward.

To be honest, Yoro-Cam currently only has one vehicle.
It is far too small a scale to solve the lodging shortage for the entire island.

I do not think that this alone will change anything dramatically.
However, I am convinced that this first vehicle has meaning.

By starting it as a trial, the possibility for what comes next is born.
Businesses that agree will gradually increase, and the government, seeing that, will also begin to take an interest.

Eventually, people with fresh ideas from outside the island may visit.
In this way, the track record of one vehicle will become the seed that attracts a second and a third.

Creating new accommodation options on Yoron Island.

Building new accommodations takes both time and money.
The reality that we cannot increase accommodations immediately cannot be ignored.

That is precisely why I believe we need options that are not bound by existing frameworks.
Staying in a campervan is just one form of that.

The idea of a "mobile living room" that I intuitively put into words should be applicable to other remote islands struggling with a shortage of accommodations.

Creating new accommodation options on Yoron Island.
This is the conclusion I have reached and a theme I want to continue pursuing.

Starting with one small campervan, I want to gradually move the island's future forward.

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