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While research into tourism and accessibility has significantly advanced over the past decade, the perceived image of Accessible Tourism Destinations (ATDs) has remained largely unexplored. This study addresses this gap by examining the perceived image of Aveiro (Portugal) and A Coruña (Spain) as exemplars of ATDs. In this investigation, we scrutinized 1,051 Online Travellers Reviews (OTRs) posted between 2016 to 2023 in Google Maps. We employed content analysis and text mining techniques using the RapidMiner software. The findings reveal a correlation between accessibility conditions and visitors' satisfaction. Common concerns among travellers include the availability of parking spaces and adaptations for people with disabilities (PwD). Areas identified for improvement encompass information provision and signage. Further investigation is recommended to understand the factors influencing the increase in positive sentiments in Aveiro during the COVID-19 pandemic. This research presents a strategic framework for Destination Management Organisations (DMOs) to enhance the quality of the tourism offer while showcasing the potential of data mining within this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In building sustainable post-pandemic destinations, it is critical to understand the typologies of tourists' prosocial behaviours. Consequently, this study innovatively applied a latent class cluster analysis to segment the prosocial behaviours of 403 Macau tourists. Three ordered discrete segments were derived based on consistent tourists' probabilities of performing prosocial behaviours on the trip namely: the Self-centred, the Intermediate, and the Philanthropist. The associated ordered logistic regression predicting the segments revealed that relative to the Self-centred, the Intermediate and the Philanthropist are more likely to face death terror, are sociable – seek vacation friends – and believe in cultural and heritage conservation. Not only does this research expand the theoretical application of Terror Management Theory, the Scrooge effect, and the self-esteem concept, it contributes to prosocial alternative tourism with novel destination management implications for marketing and promoting prosocial tourism performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work combines the fuzzy best-worst method for assigning weights of indicators and the fuzzy simple additive weighting method for evaluating performance, along with the TALC model, in generating a single-valued index that would holistically describe the performance of a destination (e.g. small islands). Grounded on a real-world application, the evaluation process proved useful in evaluating the performance of Bantayan Island (Philippines), with a high degree of flexibility in dealing with variations of domain applications with different groups of decision-makers in different settings. The findings, although highly case-specific, offer starting points of discussion in managing small island destinations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This Research Letter aims to expand media-induced tourism to the domain of video games. It highlights the emerging influence of video games on tourism, particularly tourism destinations featured in video games. Based on this developing nexus, this paper conceptualizes the nascent link between video game-induced tourism and heritage attractions and argues that video games can be a potential driving force for restoring, preserving, and conserving heritage attractions in tourism destinations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research investigates the influence of Media Coverage and the perceived risks related to travel and tourism by the pandemic's time on the odds of potential outbound tourists' level of awareness. The data of 1845 individuals nested from more than 12 countries and 4 continents representing quarantined and most impacted areas in the world during the crisis phase. A multilevel model with a categorical dichotomous outcome was applied. The findings confirm that media have preeminent control on accentuating potential travellers' awareness during a crisis as the primary source of information. Besides, the physical perceived risk influences the likelihood to fall in the group of aware individuals. The research gives insights and evidence to practitioners of the tourism industry in destinations to plan and organize better with governmental authorities and provide ethical, responsible, and accurate information about the real situation and the health system's responses through their communication and information efforts during the recovery phase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper discusses the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on rural tourism in Czechia. It points out that the catastrophic scenarios of the decline in tourism mainly concern urban destinations focused on foreign tourism. In contrast, rural destinations create an alternative. Some of them have even shown an increase in tourism in the 2020 summer season as compared to 2019. However, this new orientation requires investing in infrastructure, marketing and regional cooperation. Highlights Paper investigates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on rural tourism in Czechia. The decline in tourism mainly affected destinations focused on foreign tourists. Czech countryside gained domestic tourists due to natural, gastronomic and local attractions. The specificity of COVID 19 new outbreaks is its local or regional limitation. The COVID-19 epidemy has created an opportunity for the development of rural tourism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of smart tourism destinations has gained increased interest in tourism research. In this study, we show how previous research has shaped the current discourse on smart tourism destinations. By analysing meta-narratives, we outline how the use of language has influenced the research domain of smart tourism destinations. When the scope of a research field is broad and still unclear, a systematic meta-narrative analysis of the literature is recommended, to provide a holistic view and an understanding of how narratives unfold over time. Our findings highlight that there are certain words that dominate the contemporary discourse in this research field, presented as meta-narratives of smart tourism destinations. Our study shows how language plays an important role in providing frameworks for the research discourse and offers a legitimation of master ideas. By analysing the language used in published scientific texts for describing and defining smart tourism destinations, we identify the meta-narratives that build major language-based concepts and how these have formed the research field of smart tourism destinations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tourism growth, particularly in cities, is coming under increased scrutiny. However, even often visited cities appear to find it difficult to agree upon a strategy to limit tourism growth. The current paper investigates this issue by looking at the extent to which different stakeholders' perspectives on tourism development align. Q-sort methodology is employed to find the main worldviews and the extent to which they are shared by stakeholders in similar roles (e.g. policymakers, industry, resident). Results point to the existence of five different worldviews, which differ in the extent to which tourism growth is desirable or problematic and whether resident participation is advantageous or counterproductive. Stakeholders have highly different worldviews, even those with similar roles, which may help explain the difficulty to change the tourism growth paradigm as they limit opportunities for generating new consensus-based collective solutions. If we accept that tourism development strategies are driven and informed at least in part by individual worldviews, it may be impossible to make 'objective' policy choices. Instead, it might be more useful to explore possibilities to allow stakeholders to express their worldviews to better understand what sustainable tourism development entails for different people at different places and moments in time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditionally, previous studies regard destination competitiveness as a static concept. More recent studies adopting a demand perspective consider competitiveness to be dynamic, with destination competitiveness varying according to tourism niche. Competitiveness also varies within tourist segments in the same niche. The authors apply the concept of travel experience to understand destination competitiveness better. Using the SCUBA diving tourism niche, the authors investigate the extent to which tourists' level of travel experience influences the importance they give to destination competitiveness attributes in a hypothetical SCUBA diving destination. Cluster analysis of results from an online survey (n = 712) revealed three groups with different levels of travel experience. Significant differences among the three groups were apparent in seven of ten destination competitiveness factors. The findings demonstrate the dynamism of destination competitiveness when measured from the demand perspective. Results also demonstrate that travel experience is an appropriate characteristic for classifying tourists regarding destination competitiveness attributes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the profile of locals willing to meet tourists in a context of experience interchange peer-to-peer (P2P) and identifies factors that drive such contact in an authentic setting of shared passions. This is a first step in creating the experiential P2P subindustry that academia, innovators and experts/trend-watchers have been waiting for over a decade. The data was collected using the 'snowball' sampling technique among locals from Mallorca (Spain). The results indicate that passion (within idle capacity) for the activity is a central factor to take into consideration in experiential P2P activity, together with other personal (self-perception of managerial and other emotional and communication skills) factors. In addition, the expressed disinterest in becoming experiential P2P providers suggests that there are factors of self-image (especially regarding managerial skills and entrepreneurial attitude) that play a decisive role in the democratization of tourism – an unexplored area in tourism literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to propose a suitable measure for evaluating the effectiveness of regional destination management towards building a successful destination image. The study introduces a new methodology that examines the similarities and differences of the views between the tourism demand side as expressed by tourists' opinions on TripAdvisor and the supply side as expressed by local policy makers. Analysis of quantitative and qualitative survey data reveals measurable discrepancies caused by local strategy and policy decisions and by attributes of the destinations. Destination management organizations could conduct similar surveys to evaluate the effectiveness and overall success of local branding and destination promotion strategies. This is one of the few studies focusing on the individuals with key roles in local tourism management, comparing the perspectives of the demand and supply side and identifying reasons for failure, based on factors acknowledged by the local policy makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the paper is to provide evidence of causal relationships between attributes of competitiveness and tourism destination competitiveness (TDC) in small and medium destinations (SMDs). A model of destination competitiveness has been developed and integrated with attributes of competitiveness, and then applied to a unique dataset of 370 outstanding Italian SMDs. A principal component analysis and a partial least square regression have been performed to test the model. The use of economic and financial measures as dependent variables, in addition to standard measures of destination performance, allows to investigate the concept of TDC from a wider economic point of view. Empirical evidence reveals that the multidimensionality and relativity of the concept of TDC influence the relationships among predictors and dependent variables. Managerial capabilities, quality of services, and policies aimed at fostering local empowerment are found to be key determinants of the competitiveness of Italian outstanding SMDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This current issue in the Caribbean raises the topic of destination management and more particularly the importance of considering natural phenomenon when planning and developing a tourism product. The impacts of Irma on some Caribbean islands such as Saint-Barthelemy, Saint-Martin, Barbuda and Anguilla show that hurricanes are major risks for the tourism industry of the islands. This risk could be said to be absolute in the Caribbean but the negative impacts can be mitigated by appropriate strategies. To some extent, natural disasters provide tabularaza that give destinations opportunities to reinvent themselves sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tourism is an extremely competitive industry where effective destination management is necessary to compete. One of the main destination management stakeholders is the hotel industry. Since the advent of the Internet websites that facilitate the sharing economy, the hotel industry has had to compete with an alternative accommodation market. This alternative market is difficult to monitor as there is no official data. Current research works on developing methods for calculating tourism metrics for a destination based on digital footprint with the objective of offering figures to complement official statistics. The objective of our research is to develop a method to monitor the alternative accommodation market based on data collected from Airbnb. This paper reports the results of the first step: the design of a sampling method for data scraping from this website that provides a representative sample of the accommodation offer of the Basque Country distributed through it and its prices. The results show that the length-of-stay (LOS) parameter of the queries to the website is key to obtaining a representative sample of the accommodation offered through this channel. A sampling method based on the representative values of LOS inferred from a data sample is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The communication that Destination Management Organizations (DMOs) address to destination stakeholders plays a central role in attracting attention and resources for sustainable destination development and disclosing the efforts made to be a sustainable territory. There has been extensive analysis on the role of official tourism websites that addresses both DMO's internal and external stakeholders. However, less exploration is available on the relationship between the contents disclosed through tourism websites and the strategic positioning of the destination. This study empirically examines that link with a focus on ‘green/sustainable/responsible' travel. Results show a positive association between the orientation to sustainability in online communication and both sustainable regulation of the tourism sector and tourism development. In contrast, there is no significant association with destination size, tourism maturity and pricing policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Destinations provide a combination of products and services. Using these resources, tourists create their own experiences. Providing a pleasing tourist experience is crucial for destinations’ long-term success. Although travellers’ experiences have been subject to extensive research, various segments might perceive them differently based on their motivations. Despite the fact that cultural tourism is considered as an important segment for most urban destinations, factors affecting cultural travel experiences have not been clarified in the literature so far. Therefore, the primary purpose of this study is to determine the factors affecting cultural tourists’ overall travel experiences. In order to achieve this study's goals, we chose Istanbul as a research context. After interviewing 21 tourists and analysis of transcribed data, 64 items were merged under 5 dimensions emerging as the key constructs affecting cultural tourist experiences in a destination, namely social interaction, local authentic clues, service, culture/heritage and challenge. Theoretical and practical implications were discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of a review of the literature concerning post-disaster and post-crisis recovery for tourist destinations. A total of 64 articles on this topic published in peer-reviewed tourism journals between January 2000 and June 2012 were included in the review. These articles were written on a number of different disaster contexts, including weather-related events (floods and hurricanes), natural disasters (earthquakes and tsunami) and other events (such as pandemics and terrorist attacks). The key themes that emerged included a lack of communication between stakeholders, media sensationalism, the importance of selecting the most effective marketing messages, lack of disaster-management plans, damage to destination image and reputation, and the changes in tourist behaviour following crises and disasters. The review identifies ways to improve the speed and effectiveness of response to disaster, the importance of relationship marketing with loyal customers and the need to quickly repair destination image. Suggestions for future research arising from this review include the urgent need to encourage tourism operators to engage with crisis preparedness and disaster-management strategies and the importance of gaining a better understanding of the consumer response to disastrous events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding tourists' use of public transport (PT) at the destination is important for sustainable mobility, destination satisfaction, PT management and destination management. This paper provides an overview of research in PT and tourism since 2000. The review identifies main topics and issues including how PT is used for tourism purposes in different contexts. It also recommends policies and strategies for a modal shift to PT in tourism, and identifies potential areas for future research. The review indicates that there are differences in the level of PT use by visitors between rural and urban destinations. PT is often not favoured by visitors in remote areas, although the situation is more promising in urban destinations. However, the overall potential of PT as an alternative mode for travelling is unclear, given tourist motivations and behaviours, and provision of visitor-oriented PT services including the need for appropriate communication and social marketing strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A unique selling proposition is vital for a destination in order to differentiate it from its competitors and to satisfy visitors' needs. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to test whether an adapted destination competitiveness model is empirically applicable for the demand side of a destination, and to discern what elements of destination competitiveness have an impact on the sport tourists' perceived satisfaction with their destination experience. A questionnaire survey of 1050 winter sport tourists was conducted in three municipalities in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in February 2011. The study confirms the applicability of the adapted model to research on demand side destination competitiveness. The results suggested that, from the tourist's perspective, infrastructure, accessibility, hospitality, mix of activities available within the destination, and the image of the destination are important factors for perceived satisfaction. Moreover, tourists were looking to spend their holidays at a place they consider to be safe. The adapted destination competitiveness model revealed that the tourists' perceived satisfaction was particularly influenced by supporting factors and qualifying and amplifying determinants. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper develops new measures of tourism yield in the context of Cambodia, a developing country in South East Asia. It first sets out some data regarding tourism in Cambodia and the reasons for tourism being identified as a tool for economic development and poverty alleviation. It then sets out the method and findings of a study by the International Finance Corporation-Mekong Private Sector Development Facility to develop standard and extended measures of tourism yield to assess the pro-poor impact of international tourism in Cambodia. These yield measures extend earlier work undertaken by the first author. It then discusses the policy implications of the findings. It is concluded that while tourism goes some way in reducing poverty in Cambodia, informed policy initiatives can enhance the effect. It is argued that different visitor yield measures provide an important basis for the development of strategies to increase tourism's pro-poor impact. A substantial barrier to the formulation of appropriate policies to increase the pro-poor benefits of Cambodia arises from the limited data available in poor countries generally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Price competitiveness is a key factor in the overall tourism competitiveness of a country or a destination. Given its importance to overall destination competitiveness, various indicators of prices have been developed. Different indicators shed light on different aspects of competitiveness, and the measures which are most useful depend on what questions are being explored. The authors explore several of the different indicators aimed at measuring destination price competitiveness, describing the strengths and weaknesses of using each. Some of the key aspects which condition which indicators should be used are: the need for accuracy and tourism-specific detail versus timeliness; the need for cross-country (or cross-destination) comparisons of the prices tourists are actually paying; the need for estimates of changes in relative price competitiveness over time and the need to provide overall summary measures of a country's price competitiveness at a point of time or changes in it over time. The specific measure used will therefore depend on the particular analytical and practical need of researchers and destination managers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research is often considered the immediate precursor of economic success and innovation but from a knowledge management (KM) perspective it is only an input into a system with knowledge production, adoption, and innovation as components. This article examines and compares the history and characteristics of tourism research in Australia and China to analyse areas where improvements in KM implementation may be made. Overall the amount and breadth of research in tourism in both countries appears to have improved over the past several years. The paper suggests a need for research into improving the transfer of knowledge to tourism business operators and different models of knowledge transfer applied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last 30 years, destination image has emerged as a dominant theme in tourism research studies for both tourism industry practitioners and academic researchers. The results of these studies are intended for destination management purposes and thus are of utmost importance for destination success. Various factors are postulated and demonstrated to influence destination image; however, there is a lack of focus on the methodologies employed when evaluating the image of a destination. The purpose of this study is to investigate the potential impact of some methodological tools used when measuring destination image. A large scale and longitudinal market survey dataset of the Michigan Regional Travel Market Survey was analysed for the purpose of this study. A wide range of methodological factors from data gathering modes to analytical techniques utilised were found to influence the revealed image of the study destination, Michigan. Detailed discussion of potential bias factors and potential research directions are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tourism is of great economic importance and significance for the European East Alpine regions. But to an increasing degree, low productivity resulting from the small- business structure of the Alpine region weakens the economic and social leadership of tourism. In the last few decades overcoming these difficulties often included substantial supporting of institutionalised tourism organisations by tourism policy, with the intention to bundle forces and to achieve growing global competition. Change in international tourist markets demands the pursuance of completely new strategies, particularly because the small-business structure of Alpine tourism in the past has always been the basis for its many positive effects for the local and regional population alike. By keeping its function of balancing regional economic growth, tourism policy's main responsibility for the future in the East Alpine region will be to create the prerequisites required for an adaptation to the new situation in the tourist markets. In addition, the support of tourism organisations is needed for achieving corporate success, which cannot be realised by individual entrepreneurs in the tourist industry owing to their small-business structure. The key to adaptation lies in the improvement of qualifications. This improvement should lead to the development of new skills for tourist cooperations as a basis for the strategic transition from institutionalised tourism organisations to flexible and market-oriented destination management companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]