Sunsets: The New Tourist Attraction

A small city in Japan decided to market itself in a novel way - by building its tourist industry around the sunset.

With the help of a website, the little city of Matsue saw a jump of 41.5 percent in foreign visitors to watch sunsets. The site averages 7,000 hits a month, and dozens of people visit the park built especially for viewing the sunsets on a daily basis.

The city set up its web site with "what it believes is a first-of-its-kind sunset forecast, giving weekly previews of whether there is a view to enjoy."

Next on the agenda is a "sunset summit" that will highlight various ways to use the sunset as a tourist attraction, a huge condo complex, and concerts and events planned around the sunsets.