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The relevance of neo-liberal critique of a community-owned, but commercially managed lodge, is examined with regard to Stasja Koot's paper on “The contradictions of capitalism” published in theJournal of Sustainable Tourismin 2016. Koot focuses on the ≠Khomani Bushmen's relationship with !Xaus Lodge in the Kalahari Desert. His argument locates this small facility as an exemplar of the global contradictions of capitalism in the tourism sector. My response critiques Koot's methodology, theory and conclusions. It provides the missing history of the project discussed, and details the financial evidence that cautions Koot's speculative interpretations. My analysis cautions the relevance and use of Koot's application of David Harvey's Marxist-derived theory of spatial and temporal fixes. This response's assessment is that Koot's conclusions are arrived at without sufficient supporting evidence, and that his theory-led argument conceals a myriad of contextual contradictions that question the unproblematic application of Harvey's theory into a political economic context for which it was not designed. Some comment is offered on researcher positions and responsibilities and on how to interpret responses offered by ≠Khomani sources, whose own playful (and sometimes wilful) exploitation of researchers results in information that must always be triangulated for accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Sustainable tourism indicators (STIs) are an integral element of tourism planning and management. This study systematically reviews the research contributions on the development of STIs based on four criteria including: i) the relevance of the STIs to the sustainable development goals (SDGs); ii) governance; iii) stakeholders involved; and iv) the distinction between subjective and objective indicators. A search of Scopus indexed journals published up to April 2018, yielded 97 papers for examination. The findings demonstrate the lack of direct attention to the SDGs in those papers published after their launch in 2016. However, the majority of the SDGs and their targets have indirectly been covered in the reviewed papers. The results revealed that, among the sustainability themes of economic growth, social inclusion, environmental protection, and governance, the STIs studies tended to overlook the dimension of governance. The findings showed that residents are the most engaged stakeholder group, and tourists the least engaged as compared with government and businesses. The results also indicated that more attention is afforded to objective compared to subjective indicators. The findings also demonstrated that much of the focus is on European countries rather than the Global South which is the major focus of the SDGs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews a content analysis of papers published in the Journal of Sustainable Tourism, the only journal exclusively devoted to sustainable tourism research over the past 15 years (1993-2007). Based on a detailed examination of the contents, a database was developed which consists of information about (1) volume/number/year; (2) study areas; (3) forms of tourism; (4) subject themes; (5) research perspectives; (6) concept and measurement and (7) methodology. A series of trends describing the growth of sustainable tourism research has been identified. The findings present the journal's contribution to theoretical debates, methodological sophistication and practical implications in sustainable tourism development. Future directions for sustainable tourism research are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special issue of the Journal of Sustainable Tourism showcases research that addresses an identified gap that is the relative neglect of the sustainability concept in a workforce context. The special issue presents 10 papers, each making a unique and distinct contribution to knowledge. This extended review/editorial presents a critique of current definitions of sustainability in an employment, and specifically in a tourism employment context, acknowledging and critiquing extant literature. The review then moves on to summarising all the submissions to this special issue, uniquely recognising the themes from both submissions as well as accepted papers. These exercises culminate in the presentation of a refreshed conceptualisation of sustainable employment, before we introduce the final selected papers. The submissions are mapped onto a proposed conceptual framework, which recognises the multi-dimensional influences of the evolving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), recent Sustainable Human Resource Management (SHRM) and tourism literature, and the hot-off-the-press contributions to theory of this special issue. Finally, the paper offers concluding remarks that we hope will influence and guide future research endeavours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this introduction to the special issue, we identify the key tensions underpinning the challenge of developing indicators of sustainable tourism, and use the papers submitted to the special issue to exemplify these tensions. The paper questions why it is that we need to measure sustainable tourism, the risk of becoming too focussed on measurement itself and losing sight of what is really important to sustainability. We consider who it is that should be undertaking the measurement of sustainable tourism and offer evidence of the way that societal power can be rebalanced by the kind of research inclusivity that controlling data collection brings. Determining the spatial boundaries has been a long-held tension between wanting data specificity and achieving wider comparability and engagement from policy makers and other stakeholders, while technological and methodological advances may allow for more progress to be made in addressing the weaknesses of measuring sustainable tourism. The paper questions whether indicators have led to any significant policy change, or whether the changes that have come are the result of indicators serving to create more sustainably literate stakeholders, more informed discussions and so a climate more receptive to taking decisions in support of a more sustainable tourism industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars have been interested in examining what drives pro-environmental behavior. However, only a few scientific studies have been devoted to analyzing and understanding the pro-environmental behavior of those that are on vacation. Therefore, the current paper contributes to the existing literature by employing a text-mining approach to conduct a full-text analysis of 210 articles and (1) describes pro-environmental conceptualization, (2) presents the important topics and studies that have emerged from the literature, and (3) suggests directions for future research. The eight core topics that were uncovered contributed to discussion of the content of publications, related theories, core constructs, methodologies, main authors, and journals. The paper shows that the literature on pro-environmental behavior uses more quantitative than qualitative approaches and uses structural equations or regression analysis to explore the data. The findings also show that researchers tend to employ well-known theories arising from psychology, sociology, and biology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Integrated sustainability indicators for tourism (ISIT) address tourism as an element of both economic and socio-ecological systems and as actively integrated in multi-level policy-making and planning. This paper aims to review studies of ISIT in peer-reviewed journals with a focus on methodological approaches. By specifically examining ISIT, this study embraces the interdisciplinary nature of both sustainability science and tourism studies. The results are based on a systematic literature review and categorization of the studies’ academic disciplines, methods and organization of indicators. The results reveal that despite being a relatively young area of study, research on ISIT has developed simultaneously across multiple academic disciplines, and is expanding. There seems to be greater interest in developing new methodologies than applying existing indicator frameworks. Most papers refer to indicators thematically and thus discuss tourism separately in the contexts of environmental, social or economic impact. However, emerging approaches analyze tourism as a system of interconnected components and an element of multi-level policy-making. These approaches emphasize public participation and a continuous redefinition of sustainability challenges in response to changes in socio-ecological systems. Current research on ISIT thus focuses on the interconnectedness of indicators and sustainable development as a dynamic process rather than an end goal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Political measures during the COVID-19 pandemic forced consumers to cancel flights, resulting in significant decreases of their individual greenhouse gas emissions. This paper introduces the concept of imposed flying sufficiency and asks whether this could lead to a flying rebound. Imposed flying sufficiency describes that external factors, such as political measures during the pandemic, force consumers to reduce their flights. The term flying rebound refers to the gap between the emissions that could be potentially saved due to flying sufficiency and the actualized emissions savings due to adjusted flying behavior. A major contribution of this paper is combining the economic mechanisms with moral-psychological aspects of rebound effects in an experimental study. In a 2 (with/without economic hint) × 2 (with/without ecological hint) between-subjects experimental study, this paper analyzes how the awareness of monetary savings and the awareness of ecological consequences affect consumers' flying intentions. The study reveals an interaction effect of these two aspects: While awareness of the monetary savings will increase flying intentions, awareness of the ecological consequences will buffer this effect. Furthermore, the degree to which consumers feel flight shame, strongly moderates the economic and ecological hints' impact. Finally, the paper provides implications for managers and policymakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

2023 was a landmark year for climate change, with hundreds of climate records broken around the world concurrent with the conclusion of the IPCC Sixth Assessment (AR6) process and the first United Nations (UN) Stocktake on climate action. This special issue builds on the AR6 with three papers on key global tourism and climate change knowledge gaps (tourism and climate policy integration, pathways to deep emission reductions, tourism demand) and nine in-depth assessments of tourism climate and carbon risk in each of the IPCC regions. These important contributions of 65 different authors from 30 countries also supported the first ever global stocktake of climate action in the tourism sector. The papers in this special issue make clear that global tourism as we know it in the early twenty first century will be transformed by the climate crisis. Based on the collective contributions, this introduction to the special issue summarizes the state of tourism and climate change research, sets out a research agenda related to the low carbon transition, adapting to accelerating climate disruption, and climate justice, and emphasizes the urgent need to mobilize the tourism academy in this decisive decade for climate action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The first climate action stocktake cycle under the Paris Agreement was completed in 2023 to assess global progress on mitigation, adaptation, and climate finance goals. State-driven action needs to be complemented by sectoral efforts, and this paper builds on the first Tourism Stocktake undertaken in 2023 that examined climate action in the tourism sector. First, an expert elicitation survey was conducted to validate and deepen the findings from the stocktaking activity. Second, an analysis of the Stocktake's 40 metrics was undertaken against six criteria of indicator quality. The expert survey revealed a sector still in the early stages of implementing its climate response, with a consensus that 2030 tourism emission reduction targets would not be achieved. Tourism policy and investment were deemed inconsistent with climate ambitions, and current adaptation is insufficient for projected climate change, so that future impacts will restrict tourism development in some destinations. Analysis of the metrics exposed significant data gaps and a core set of 13 robust metrics to measure change over the next stocktaking cycle is identified. The paper concludes with recommendations to advance sector capabilities and collaboration to monitor progress on climate action for an updated Tourism Stocktake in 2026. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Europe accounts for 51% of international tourist arrivals and the tourism industry provides about 10% of workplaces in Europe. Tourism will be impacted by climate change in a diverse number of ways. At the same time, tourism is also a significant contributor of greenhouse gas emissions. The aim of this article is, therefore, to provide an assessment of climate and carbon risks for the European tourism industry based on a systematic literature review. Climate risk is the dominant category with 313 papers (74%), while 110 papers (26%) were on carbon risks. The following gaps were identified: geographical gaps, especially in countries of the former Soviet Union and former Yugoslavia; a lack of coherent studies on national tourism's and its sub-sectors' emissions; research addressing how climate policies might affect tourism demand; assessments of the integrated carbon and climate risks; lack of evidence on the link between tourism climate indicators and tourism demand; lack of climate change and tourism studies addressing policy and institutional tools for adaptation and implementation of adaptation measures in destinations; and research on rising sea levels and coastal erosion and its impacts on tourism destinations and demand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews tourism-relevant advances in climate science and tourism policy in the Australasia region over the past 20 years, focusing particularly on the seven years (2015–2021) since the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report. Within the Australasia region, Australia and New Zealand have a complicated relationship with climate change, as both countries are dependent upon stable climates for tourism while contributing to high tourism greenhouse gas emissions. Both are economically reliant on their respective tourism industries, which market environmental products to predominantly long-haul tourism markets. In this paper we critically address the climate change context in Australasia, reviewing the tourism systems, climate risks and carbon risks in the region. We critique the (dis)connection of climate change and tourism policy at the national scale in the region, and find that the extent of climate responses in relation to tourism are generally limited to descriptive (Generation 1) and normative (Generation 2) approaches. We conclude that serious deficiencies remain in the climate science – tourism policy translation required to transform the tourism systems of Australia and New Zealand in response to climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Business travel is a major contributor to the greenhouse gas emissions of knowledge organizations. Through four case studies, the present research uses qualitative-structuring content analysis to identify seven dominant themes concerning reasons, strategies, and measures for decarbonizing business travel. The paper provides an in-depth examination of the structural and behavioral barriers to business travel decarbonization, highlights the need for a holistic approach to business travel decarbonization, and provides insight into the challenges organizations face in aligning their business interests and sustainability commitments. The main findings are that limited progress with business travel decarbonization raises questions about the effectiveness of voluntarism, that the question of who bears responsibility for decarbonization remains unresolved, and that a transition from non-behavioral approaches to changes in business-travel behavior is needed. By conceptualizing current states and mechanisms and considering relevant systemic interdependencies between travelers, organizations, and the environment, the paper presents a holistic conceptual model that extends the theoretical understanding of business travel decarbonization. In practical terms, the paper outlines how successful decarbonization in knowledge organizations can be achieved in terms of the interplay among reasons, strategies, and measures and provides concrete recommendations for action for organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although tourism is considered a vehicle for achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to eradicate poverty, protect the environment and facilitate social inclusion, limited empirical work has assessed the engagement of tourism literature with the associated 2030 Agenda. Water, both fresh and salt, is directly or indirectly implicated throughout the SDGs, and tourism both depends on clean water and exacerbates water problems. However, there has been limited discourse that maps water-centric knowledge and its relationship to the SDGs within the sustainable tourism literature. This bibliometric analysis, consequently, draws on a database of 220 relevant journal articles to identify affiliated themes and assess their relationship to the SDGs. Findings categorise the knowledge base into three first order themes, with water situated respectively as resource, attraction and hazard. This literature indirectly supports the Agenda through specific SDGs of poverty eradication (#1), sustainable economic growth (#8), and sustainable consumption (#12). Direct links occur between the themes and specific SDGs, as with resource (#6, sustainable management of water for all), attraction (#14, life beneath the sea) and hazard (#13, climate change action). Future research in the tourism and water nexus should consider deeper engagement with priorities as outlined in the SDGs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on women/gender in host communities has shifted towards a feminist perspective. In line with this trend, this paper further explores women's self-awakening and self-growth in a host community by considering feminine subjectivity based on Foucault's perspective, which is a critical feminism topic. This paper presents the case of the Cheongsam Sisters, a local women's group that participates in leisure activities in Yangshuo, China. Based on longitudinal and anthropological research, this work describes and interprets Cheongsam Sisters' feminine subjectivities at the individual level and the collective level. It is found that tourism development not only changes the gender structure in the host community but also provides conditions for the formation of feminine subjectivities. Furthermore, in the tourism context, the emergence of feminine subjectivities is a dynamic process, which means the feminine subjectivity iterate from the individual level to the collective level along with Cheongsam Sisters' practices. With these findings, this paper contributes to the literature on tourism impact by linking feminine subjectivity, women and tourism, which is critical to endogenous and sustainable development in underdeveloped destinations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyses sustainability and competitiveness through measurements of efficiency, using data envelopment analysis. It constructs a meta-frontier non-radial directional distance function (meta-frontier NDDF) approach, which is then used to define a tourism development index and a tourism sustainability index. Using these indexes, the paper evaluates the efficiency of the tourism sector and its dynamic evolution for 27 cities in the Yangtze River Delta, China, (YRD) from 2010 to 2019. Considering regional heterogeneity, this paper analyzes the meta-frontier, group-frontier efficiency and technology gap ratio of urban tourism in the YRD, and explores the competitiveness of the cities. The results show that the more traditional measure of tourism efficiency, namely the tourism development index, which does not take account of the sector's undesirable output (i.e., the negative impacts of carbon emissions from travel), produces overestimates. This study highlights the following practical implications: The increasing competition among tourism destinations requires tourism industry managers to determine the appropriate allocation of resources to promote the sustainable development of urban tourism. In the context of the need for global 'carbon neutrality', more consideration should be given to the negative impact of tourism on the natural environment to enhance the competitiveness of tourist destinations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Botswana re-introduced trophy hunting in 2019. This generated a debate about the relevance of trophy hunting in achieving wildlife conservation and human well-being among wildlife stakeholders. The stakeholders include the Government of Botswana, local agro-pastoralists, photographic and trophy hunting tourism operators and anti-hunting groups. Stakeholders differ in opinion on the acceptability of trophy hunting as a socio-economic development and conservation tool. This paper, therefore, adopts the socio-ecological framework and uses Spivak's rhetoric question: "Can the Subaltern Speak", to analyse contradictions of trophy hunting, human well-being and wildlife conservation trajectory in Botswana. The study is qualitative and makes use of interviews and secondary data sources. The results indicate that the Government of Botswana and communities (agro-pastoralists) especially those residing in wildlife areas prefer both trophy hunting and photographic tourism as a strategy to derive tourism benefits and achieve wildlife conservation. Conversely, animal rights groups reject trophy hunting noting its failure to promote wildlife conservation. The paper concludes that the socio-ecological framework is the ideal guide for wildlife conservation and human well-being in wildlife areas. Both photographic tourism and trophy hunting are sustainable land use options with the potential to achieve wildlife conservation and human well-being in Botswana. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This conceptual paper adds to the theoretical exploration of inter-organisational pro-environmental knowledge transfer in small and medium sized tourism enterprises (SMTEs). It does so by focusing on the role of trust, a concept which has received only scant attention in this context. Drawing on theoretical and empirical research, we argue that the willingness of SMTE managers to engage in the transference of pro-environmental tacit knowledge is based on their intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, coupled with the perceived trustworthiness of both the message and social actors involved. It remains a challenge for SMTE managers to receive, absorb and respond to appropriate pro-environmental knowledge, based on organisational needs. The paper makes an important contribution to the work on pro-environmental knowledge transfer in tourism by proposing a model of four key antecedents of trust in the knowledge transfer process – self- efficacy, social norms, credibility of knowledge source and social capital between actors. We identify a future research agenda including the need to assess the weighted impact of each antecedent of trust; establish the influence of tourism networks on trust formation and development; and explore if peer perception intervenes in tacit knowledge transfer between pro-active and reactive SMTE managers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Air transport and tourism are interdependent systems wherein idealized gender performances are shaped by organizational cultures and particular commercial interests that have implications for gendered representations. Organizations use social media spaces to influence public perceptions, yet in doing so they may (re)construct hegemonic notions pertaining to images of masculinity and femininity. This paper utilizes a feminist poststructuralist approach to deconstruct normative gendered assumptions that exist within the aviation sector's use of Instagram. Netnography is used to uncover the dominant discourses, as well as the complex representations of gender as represented by airlines on Instagram. Findings reveal that despite a minority of images that defy stereotypes, the airlines consistently construct and distribute playful imagery that objectifies female staff and hyper-feminizes the cabin space. In uncovering how airline organizational images may portray employees in gendered ways, this paper contributes to the achievement of SDG 5 i.e. gender equality in tourism. The paper recommends that the industry incorporates more diverse performances across all aviation occupational roles so that images that challenge stereotypes become part of the everyday. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An increasing body of literature has highlighted the significant carbon impact of academic conferences. Our paper further adds to this growing body of evidence by introducing a newly assembled dataset from a sample of 263 economics conferences, including 55,006 presentations by 26,312 academics. First, we offer a detailed description of the travelling pattern of academics presenting their work at these conferences, and highlight the main differences between academics and institutions in different geographical regions. Academic conferences are intuitively linked to increased dissemination in the expectation that they boost various impact metrics. For this reason we look at the relative role of the distance travelled and the number of trips made to present each paper in driving the number of citations these papers receive. We present evidence that the number of trips matters for more citations but longer distances are only associated with higher citation numbers for European academics. The potential reasons behind this heterogeneity are discussed in detail. Our results offer support to recent evidence showing that higher carbon impact is not necessarily associated with enhanced academic outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThis paper presents the first empirical evaluation of Climate Perks, an employee benefit scheme designed to reduce air travel demand by offering additional paid annual leave to those travelling without flying for vacation purposes. In-depth interviews and surveys were undertaken with employers that offer Climate Perks and travellers who have claimed journey days. The findings show the value of positive action to enable sustainable consumption in contributing to catalysing and mainstreaming low-carbon travel, drawing out key themes around recruiting travellers to surface travel, sharing knowledge and know-how, recrafting temporal experiences and learning-by doing to overcome infrastructural complexities of surface travel in a mobility system presently dominated by air travel. The paper also discusses how the boundaries around personal action on climate change are shifting as employers recognise the contribution of work to the formation of personal routines. This paper thereby contributes to understanding air travel demand and explores the potential for reducing this emissions intensive practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper advances relational thought in tourism studies as a means for facilitating greater scrutiny of the relational matrices that have rendered possible the continuity of unjust, oppressive, and discriminatory relational patterns, particularly when these become detrimental to individuals, communities, other species, and the environment. Amid the growing determination to build more ethical, just, and sustainable futures, it contemplates whether critical scholarship has arrived at a relational turning point, whereby certain manifestations of tourism are increasingly deemed undesirable and problematic, and that transformation is needed in areas such as unsustainable growth, persistent colonial domination and racial conditioning, continued disregard for the environment, ongoing gender inequality and gender violence, and enduring injustices. The paper explains how relationality is interconnected with sustainability and critical scholarship and outlines the premise of critico-relational inquiry in the field. New conceptual vocabulary is offered to emphasise the critical vitality that can be injected into the examination of relations including: relational programming, relational reprogramming, relational hacking, meta-relational concerns, and relational thriving. Critico-relational inquiry is delineated as a viable strategy for transitioning towards sustainable alternatives, and as an integral part of future sustainability cum critical studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A shift from memorable to transformative experiences is taking place in the emerging transformation economy. Experiences constitute the essence of the tourism industry. While the literature has recognized the link between sustainability and local food, how local food affects tourists’ perceived sustainability, service experience, satisfaction, and advocacy is little known. This paper contributes to filling this research gap by examining the relationship between local food and sustainability at Spanish destinations within the transformative service theoretical framework. We conducted a questionnaire on 1476 Spanish tourists to show that service experience, perceived sustainability, and local food, are fundamental to any tourist destination strategy. Data reveal that perceived sustainability is a determining factor of tourists’ service experience at the destination, and the perception of local food reinforces perceived sustainability. Moreover, tourists’ service experience significantly and positively affects satisfaction and, consequently, advocacy. The significance of safe experience as an additional dimension of the service experience is also shown. This paper contributes to the transformative service literature in the field of tourism by demonstrating the enhancing role of local food over visitors’ sustainable experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractAs sustainable tourism advances, issues such as environmental pollution, overexploitation, and ecological imbalance have been identified alongside the effects of climate change and tourism. Thus, the literature related to sustainable tourism in emerging economies, especially in China, has grown rapidly and contributed to knowledge development in recent years. An in-depth and systematic review is required to explore research development and potential research opportunities. This paper explored 1,293 documents on Chinese sustainable tourism in the Scopus database, using indicator analysis along with scientific mapping methodologies such as VOSviewer and Gephi. It uncovered key journals, authors, and papers in relevant fields and identified four thematic clusters, namely, “government policy,” “rural and heritage tourism,” “ecotourism,” and “urban tourism.” Analyses based on Sustainable Development Goals suggested that advancements in Chinese sustainable tourism contribute positively to global efforts. Furthermore, this study outlined the pertinent themes and research areas for Chinese sustainable tourism, offering information and recommendations for future researchers and tourism practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper takes a critical, historical employment relations approach to present an original contribution to research on sustainable tourism employment. The research is focussed on a gendered analysis of (un)sustainable employment practices in the New Zealand tourist hotel sector from 1950 to 2000, specifically concentrating on the role of the Hotel Workers Union and the broader post-war corporatist and neo-liberal economic, political and social policies that affected tourism work during this period. After presenting a detailed historical narrative in the findings, the paper argues that by uncovering the influences of global, national and organisation level change on sustainable labour we can gain meaningful, new perspectives on employment in this sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Against the background of neoliberal conservation and green grabbing, this paper investigates an ecotourism initiative through the notion of 'multiple environmentalities' (neoliberal, disciplinary, sovereign and truth), which concerns the governance of people for environmental causes. We apply this to the inhabitants of Batu Katak, Sumatra, Indonesia, where the Green Life Project has been established next to Gunung Leuser National Park as a Private Protected Area. An important governance strategy for Green Life is the establishment of volunteer ecotourism to generate funds and to include the local community. We argue that ecotourism can play a crucial role in legitimising the activities and increasing the power of nature conservation organisations, which, in the case of Green Life, is visible in the growth of coercive means to secure protected areas. If ecotourism is the kernel of neoliberal environmentality at Green Life, the core issue is the prevalence of truth environmentality, in which nature is often valued higher than people. This valuation led to the strengthening of disciplinary and sovereign environmentality. Arguably, ecotourism at Green Life will not establish the intended sustainable relations with the community, and this paper functions as an important lesson for practitioners to scrutinise the consequences of their governance strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Healthy oceans are of great importance in achieving global sustainability, and are thus identified as one of the core Sustainable Development Goals in 'Life below Water' (SDG 14). However, at present, we still face a significant challenge in achieving lay understanding of the influence of the oceans on our lives and the impacts of our behaviour on it. As a key interface, marine ecotourism can support the development of place-based ocean literacy, but this can only be achieved through 'effective partnerships' (SDG 17). This paper examines how stakeholder collaboration can contribute to increased ocean literacy through empirical work on scuba diving in Mallorca, Spain. Ethnographic fieldwork was conducted with divers and other key stakeholders (operators, scientists, government, NGOs, and professional associations). Adopting stakeholder models based on pentahelix opportunities for collaboration we analyse the current challenges. The study identified a sector which currently lacks effective partnerships: there is limited systematic transfer of knowledge; staff are poorly trained in interpretation and communication skills; there is weak industry collaboration; and the sector is neglected in government tourism strategy. Consequently, the current structure fails to connect divers to marine issues in the Mediterranean Sea. Nevertheless, suitable conditions for developing effective partnerships are present: motivated staff and suitable facilities; interested authorities; an active network of knowledge production; and a vigilant society. This paper proposes a multi-stakeholder structure to put place-based ocean literacy into practice in order to contribute to the aspirations of improved global ocean awareness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to identify the potential that cross-border tourism partnerships may have for destination integration and how it may contribute to advancing SDG goals in these regions. It takes the cross-border Cerdanya Valley as a case study. Tourism development in this region initially evolved without much regard for SDGs, nor for cross-border destination integration. This started to change with the emergence of a community-led cross-border tourism partnership. However, despite the best intentions of those involved in the partnership, it ended in stagnation, and a business-led cross-border cluster ensued. The paper analyses these developments and modes of partnership to (i) identify the dimensions of cross-border destinations that either foster or hinder the contribution to SDGs and (ii) determine how different modalities of cross-border partnerships (SDG17) deal with these hindrances and opportunities for attaining SDGs. Over an eight-year period, data were collected through interviews with the main stakeholders, including tourism entrepreneurs and representatives of communities and local governments, as well as through participant-observation. Results show that areas of concern for partnerships willing to integrate cross-border destinations that contribute to SDGs include the size and peripherality of the region, cross-border complementarities, uneven development, institutional similarities/dissimilarities and methodological nationalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Indigenous tourism sector in Canada is rapidly developing. However, Indigenous communities are challenged by the overrepresentation of Indigenous children in the child welfare system. This multidisciplinary paper explores the intersection of child welfare and Indigenous tourism in Canada, specifically, by examining the role of Indigenous tourism in contributing to the welfare of Indigenous children in their communities. This paper reviewed grey Canadian tourism literature and analysed whether the industry is publicly acknowledging child welfare in their public discourse. Results indicate that Canadian tourism associations are not addressing child welfare in their public facing documents. Applying complexity theory as a lens, this paper discusses how this unlikely partnership between the child welfare and Indigenous tourism industry is critical in increasing the benefits of tourism, while intentionally finding ways to reduce the risks, particularly to children. This article concludes with recommendations on how this unlikely partnership can be fostered to become a likely partnership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Indigenous tourism focus of the 16 papers in this special issue provides readers with an opportunity to explore the dynamics behind an array of issues pertaining to sustainable Indigenous tourism. These papers not only provide a long overdue balance to the far too common, negatively biased media reports about Indigenous peoples and their communities but also highlight the capacity of tourism as an effective tool for realizing sustainable Indigenous development. Throughout the papers reviewed in detail here, readers are reminded of the positive (capacity building) and negative (commodification) realities of Indigenous tourism development. Concomitantly, readers are privy to the practical and theoretical contributions pertaining to the management of cultural values and Indigenous businesses and the social and economic empowerment of Indigenous groups. The main contribution of this special issue, however, is a call for increasing research by, or in collaboration with, Indigenous researchers so that Indigenous authors and editors of academic journals become the norm in academia. Ultimately, Indigenous scholars and tourism providers should be the major contributors to, and commentators about, mainstream and niche approaches to Indigenous tourism management, whilst communities gain visibility not just as the visited “Other”, but as global leaders within tourism and related sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines whether the relationship between tourism development and income inequality is sensitive to the media environment. Using panel data from 88 countries for the period 1996 to 2020, we find that countries with uncensored media environments experience lower income inequality as the tourism industry develops. We also find that a favourable media environment enhances tourism development. Further analysis shows that asymmetries in a hostile media environment; namely, media biasedness, media corruption, and harassment of journalists, inhibit tourism development, particularly in emerging countries. This paper calls for strong support for press freedom to develop the tourism industry as countries emerge from the adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite substantial attention to sustainability issues, much of current research regarding tourism development does not fully appreciate the essential dynamics of the concept of sustainability, failing to appreciate the role played by changing capital stocks as sources of resident well-being. Since tourism development impacts on resident well-being through build up or depletion of different types of capital stocks, the sustainability challenge involves managing these stocks rationally for sustained or increasing intertemporal well-being. The paper proposes a conceptual framework for assessing sustainable tourism development with the concept of capital at its centre. Tourism stakeholders must meet several different types of challenges, both conceptual and practical, if the capitals approach is to be most effective in supporting good policy to promote sustainable tourism development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a first attempt to propose a multidimensional study of overtourism and undertourism in Majorca, a Spanish island and one of the world's leading mass tourist destinations. The study was conducted before and after the pandemic started through a survey to local stakeholders. They were asked for their perceptions of overtourism and undertourism, what problems these phenomena generate, which sustainability indicator might be used to measure each problem, and, lastly, what solutions they suggest. Three main dimensions were taken (economy and demography, culture, and ecology) to classify the problems, sustainability indicators, and solutions. The main conclusion is the stakeholders' consensus that both situations are the outcome of an economy based on a tourism monoculture and they view the stoppage brought about by the pandemic as being an opportunity to restructure the current tourism model, mainly by tackling labor conditions, the wellbeing of local residents, and ecological resilience. The sustainability indicators proposed by the respondents could contribute to the establishment of a monitoring system of the problems generated by overtourism and undertourism. Most of these indicators are available in official statistics, but there are others that need to be developed ad hoc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers how an Action Design Research (ADR) research methodology can contribute to impactful research in sustainable tourism. ADR arguably combines the best of Action Research with Design Science, by solving an applied problem within its contextual setting (a feature of Action Research) and drawing wider lessons or universal principles from the solution (a feature of Design Science). It argues that approaches like ADR are required to address what is a fundamentally goal-oriented (through the very definition of sustainable tourism) area of research, and bridge the academic-practitioner divide. The paper presents an ADR case study on using technology to build the eco-literacy of tourists visiting Australia's Great Barrier Reef. This natural attraction represents a highly complex ecosystem, in an educationally challenging (underwater) environment, surrounded by political and scientific controversy. The case study involves the creation of a virtual reality interpretive game (the artefact) to illustrate the four stages of ADR, namely, Problem Formulation; Build, Intervene, Evaluate; Reflect and Learn; Formalise Learning. The case study highlights the importance of ADR's principles of "reciprocal shaping", "mutually influencing roles" and "authentic and concurrent evaluation" to bridge the gap between practice and theory, and build impactful research that can support more sustainable tourism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses discourse theory to obtain a broader understanding of how research impact of sustainable tourism research develops in the environmental policy domain. Discourse theory shifts emphasis from the substance of science versus policy to the use of science in policy processes and explains the political dimensions of policymaking. We first review a well-documented science-policy gap in sustainable tourism research on climate change to develop an alternative conceptualisation of research impact. Then, using a case study approach, we investigate this framework by evaluating the impact of a PhD thesis about aviation's global CO2 emissions on the Dutch aviation policy process. The case study shows research impact is entwined with various other elements, and embedded in a specific governance context. Research influenced contrasting science-policy interactions and contributed to conflicting policy actions and reactions. The impact of research in this case was manifested through the formation and interplay of multiple knowledge objects that were both embraced and marginalised. In settings like this, research is used to legitimise pre-existing policy positions rather than to develop new policies. We discuss the implications of narrow conceptions of research impact. The paper highlights the need for advanced policy analysis in sustainable tourism research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the growing social entrepreneurship (SE) literature in other disciplines, the research on tourism social entrepreneurship (TSE) is still in its infancy, and the knowledge has not been explicitly mapped. Moreover, the existing literature consists primarily of descriptive case studies of successful TSE initiatives, and few of them have reached a comprehensive conclusion on operational experiences, nor have they further reflected on the mechanisms of how these operational experiences lead to more successful TSE. Given these voids, by systematically reviewing the extant literature, this paper contributes to the literature by depicting a knowledge map, extracting 17 operational experiences, and proposing two roadmaps demonstrating the mechanisms through which these operational experiences lead to more successful TSE. Additionally, we suggest potential theories to help researchers understand the relationships in the proposed roadmaps. Lastly, this review also critically discusses the limitations and gaps of the existing literature. Particularly, this review shows that TSE researchers usually maintain a somewhat uncritical and idealistic stance on the impact of TSE because they tend to uncritically acclaim TSE as a panacea for various social problems. Based on the limitations and gaps, we also provide recommendations for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The tourism academy is a key site through which gender is produced, reproduced and, potentially, challenged. In this paper, we draw on Acker's (1990) concept of gendered organisations to present a case study of a tourism department preparing to apply for an international gender equality charter-accreditation, Athena SWAN. Ketso was used as a method to try to stimulate active involvement of all staff members and breakdown traditional hierarchies within the team, and to encourage honest discussion about gender and inequality in this context. This was only partially successful, however, and we discuss how explicit focus on gender (in)equality through this process both enabled discussion of usually ignored topics and revealed entrenched gender power dynamics and structural and institutional barriers to reform. The paper illustrates both the possibilities of gender equality initiatives like Athena SWAN to highlight many of the gendered practices of tourism academia and the limitations they hold for overcoming deep-rooted gender inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With public concerns about fostering the inclusion of women, especially those with low socio-economic status, governments and private entities have started to develop collaborative strategies to improve women's development. One such strategy is collaborations with sharing economy entities, which are online platforms that provide entrepreneurship opportunities for individuals despite geographical and structural barriers. This paper draws on Ostrom's concept of the commons to explore how to foster the inclusion of women as entrepreneurs in the sharing economy through collaboration. Thematic analysis reveals the nature and outcomes of policies geared towards women's development. While previous studies on the sharing economy have noted that the top-down nature of its operations has resulted in individualised gains, this paper highlights the collaboration within these settings – leading to individual and mutual monetary and non-monetary benefits – stemming from a shared digital and traditional commons with context-based ideologies and stakeholder actions. This paper gives practitioners a clear understanding of how they can successfully support and create a context for women's entrepreneurship in the age of digitisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews resident tourism attitude research through the lens of the individual- and community-level perceived impacts of and responses to tourism. It explores how perceived impacts of tourism and responses to tourism development have been conceptualised and measured in the existing resident attitudes models published between 1990 and 2020. Three categories of variables were identified and used: antecedent variables, tourism impact variables, and dependent variables. The latter three categories are used to discuss the research topic from the lenses of improvements in measurement instruments. Finally, the paper suggests rethinking the overall conceptualisation of residents' perceptions of and reactions to tourism – it proposes future research directions to distinguish between individual-level and community-level effects and reactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThis paper examines contextual dynamics shaping the development of trust in the management of indigenous tourism. It focuses in particular on the role of women’s leadership in fostering community autonomy and a sense of community, which is argued to be key to building trusting relations essential to sustaining the tourism enterprise. Based on empirical fieldwork with the Pataxó Jaqueira community of Porto Seguro, Brazil involving document analysis, participant observation and interviews, the paper shows how trust, tradition and culturally embedded indigenous leadership capacities interact when seeking to develop and deliver tourism that meets community needs. The data show how investing in cultural resources builds social capital and reinforces the credibility women’s leadership, which is then leveraged to challenge patriarchal gender norms. Moreover, it identifies mechanisms of trust development and maintenance between entrepreneurial indigenous women and other community stakeholders, stressing the impacts of the women’s capacity for openness, solidarity and risk taking. The article thus provides contextualised and historically-informed, socio-cultural insights regarding the intersections of gender, trust and traditions in shaping sustainable indigenous tourism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a form of tourism that aims to be sustainable and, in broader terms, responsible and ethical, ecotourism occupies a peak position in terms of people's understanding of sustainable tourism. The purpose of this paper is to articulate how responsibility can be actuated through a deeper consideration of duty (good as intrinsic) and strategic (good for business) perspectives. In pursuit of this overall aim, the paper investigates a sample of Ecotourism Australia (EA) certified company websites to examine inclusivity barriers based on the social model of disability: physical, attitudinal, and informational. The choice of Australia is based on the observation that ecotourism providers in this region are often cited as highly advanced in terms of policies and practices. Results suggest that there is only limited statistical support for the hypothesis that the "leading" ecotourism operators (with advanced EA certification) in Australia pay more attention to disability issues than those in the "following" group (with lower categories of EA certification). The paper concludes by suggesting that the responsibility agenda is most likely to move forward by providers adopting ways of "thinking" and "doing" that emphasise duty and justice instead of following accepted business practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many ways, the expansion of commercial for-profit, P2P social dining platforms has mirrored those within mobility and accommodation sectors. However its dynamics and impacts have received less consideration to date, with a notable paucity of attention to the hosts of social dining events. The aim of this paper is to address this research lacuna. Through its exploration of the social dining platforms VizEat in Athens and Eatwith in Barcelona, this paper identifies, analyses and compares the social practices of hosts around their social dining events in two key tourist destinations in Europe. Data is gathered through multiple methods from participating in and observing social dining events in each city to interviews with key stakeholders in the P2P social dining process (such as hosts, platform employees and ambassadors). The research reveals how dynamic rules, tools, skills and understandings shape and reshape the performance of hosting social dining events. It exposes tensions and ongoing negotiations between hosts and guests regarding matters of authenticity and privacy, an uneven risk burden between hosts and platforms with regards liability and scant regard for matters of sustainability. As a result there is little alignment between P2P social dining and the goals of sustainable tourism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In January 2020, infections with a novel coronavirus were confirmed in China. Two years into the pandemic, countries continue to struggle with fifth and sixth waves, new virus variants, and varying degrees of success in vaccinating national populations. Travel restrictions continue to persist, and the global tourism industry looks into a third year of uncertainty. There is a consensus that the COVID crisis should be a turning point, to "build back better", and that a return to pre-pandemic overtourism phenomena is undesirable. Yet, there is very limited evidence that the crisis has changed or will change tourism beyond the micro-scale. In regard to many issues, such as new debt, global tourism has become more vulnerable. Against the background of the climate crisis, the purpose of this paper is to take stock: Which lessons can be learned from the pandemic for global warming? To achieve this, relevant papers are discussed, along with a dissection of the development of the crisis in Germany, as an example of ad hoc crisis management. Findings are interpreted as an analogue to climate change, suggesting that our common interest should be to put every possible effort into mitigation and the avoidance of a > 1.5 °C future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corporates commonly adopt green practices when propelled by external pressures or internal considerations. However, the relative performance of external and internal motives in promoting exhibitors to conduct such behaviours remains uncharted. This paper applied the institutional theory (IT) and diffusion of innovations theory (DIT) as representatives of external and internal motives respectively and compared their power in explaining exhibitors' willingness to adopt eco-exhibiting, that is, an innovative means to mitigate the construction waste problem at business events. Following a mixed-method design, we conducted 1129 surveys (Study 1) and 40 semi-structured interviews (Study 2) at the Canton Fair. The results of Study 1 suggest that both the IT and DIT can explain exhibitors' willingness to adopt eco-exhibiting, but the DIT model offers a superior explanation. Interviewees' narratives in Study 2 confirm the prominent role of internal motives and reveal a shift from externally to internally driven approaches. In addition, booth type moderates the effects of normative pressure and compatibility on willingness to adopt eco-exhibiting. This paper clarifies the mechanisms that drive the adoption of eco-exhibiting and empirically attests business events as change agents in promoting pro-environmental behaviours among exhibitors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An important sector of animal-based tourism is wildlife tourism, which includes a diverse base of attractions in captive, semi-captive and wild settings. We argue that actors (tourists, tourism operators, and academics) must have the prerequisite knowledge of animal welfare to assess animals' conditions in tourism settings. To this end, this paper has two aims. The first is to develop an animal welfare syllabus that should be used to teach students in higher learning institutions (who may ultimately work at animal attractions upon their graduation) as well as operators. The second aim is to mesh the papers in this special edition as case studies within the syllabus in making a case for an enhanced animal welfare educational tool for wildlife tourism. While the animal welfare syllabus is constructed for all animals used in tourism, we apply it specifically to the wildlife tourism sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The scant existent literature on the link between wildlife tourism and consumption relies on case studies and does not directly measure attitudes towards wildlife tourism or consumption. This paper uses empirical survey data (N = 12,378) from 12 countries in Europe, Asia, and the Americas to examine the links between wildlife tourism and wildlife consumption, with a particular focus on evaluating forms of wildlife tourism typically considered "non-consumptive." The first set of analyses looked at the full sample and examined the relationships between wildlife tourism participation and (a) acceptability of wildlife consumption and (b) wildlife consumption behavior. The second set of analyses divided the sample by country and by location of the wildlife tourism activity (abroad or at home) and focused on the associations between participation in live animal encounters and wildlife consumption behavior. Models were built for two forms of wildlife consumption: eating/drinking wildlife and purchasing products/souvenirs made from animal parts. The results indicate that participation in entertainment-based live animal encounters is a strong correlate of increased wildlife consumption. Implications for wildlife tourism policies, wildlife consumption research, and wildlife crime prevention are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on animal ethics in tourism has gained traction but posthumanist approaches to wildlife (eco)tourism remain sparse. There has never been a more urgent need to redress this paucity in theory and practice. More than 60% of the world's wildlife has died-off in the last 50 years, 100 million-plus nonhuman animals are used for entertainment in wildlife tourist attractions (WTAs), more than one billion "wildlife" live in captivity, and some scholars argue that earth has entered its sixth mass extinction event known as the Anthropocene. This paper presents a posthumanist multispecies livelihoods framework (MLF) based on an applied ethnographic study of 47 wildlife ecotourism (WE) operators and wildlife researchers in protected area WTAs across four countries. Like any framework, it is a snapshot of the authors' thinking at a particular time and must be improved upon. The MLF does not purport to solve the negative treatment of nonhumans that can occur in tourism settings, but rather responds to calls in the tourism literature to acknowledge our effects on other species and advocates for equitable human-nonhuman livelihoods. This paper argues that we have a moral responsibility to nonhumans and the environment, and the authors hope to generate reflexive discourse concerning the role tourism can play in redressing the ecological crisis and improving the treatment of individual nonhumans to foster wildlife-human coexistence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowledge is recognised as having more value when it is created and shared amongst stakeholders. Applying knowledge management principles can assist tourism organisations in achieving a competitive advantage. Importantly though, one-way, top-down transfer of knowledge, particularly in developing countries, can result in ignoring valuable local knowledge and compromise sustainable development objectives. Certainly, when considering the context of sustainable tourism, relying solely on more powerful stakeholders' knowledge inputs to make decisions can result in injustice and undermine sustainability values. Given the importance of justice principles to sustainable tourism, this study applies the concept of organisational justice with a focus on the three dimensions of distributive, procedural and interactional justice to examine local knowledge sharing in tourism development. To address issues of justice and fairness in the context of sustainable tourism development, this study proposes a safe space framework to facilitate knowledge sharing in a local context that is based on recognition of diversity in social patterns and embedding multiple forms and sources of knowledge. This conceptual paper contributes to the framing of justice principles with regards to local knowledge sharing and discusses practical implications for how different claims of justice by local actors can be addressed in sustainable tourism development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although in recent years intangible assets are considered a basic factor of production, it is necessary to show that their mere possession will not always guarantee superior performance. Accordingly, based on the resource-based view of the firm and the intellectual capital-based view, this paper has a twofold purpose. First, it analyses the existing relationship between sustainable intangible capital and performance. Second, it analyses the role played by corporate social responsibility and strategic knowledge management as mediator capabilities in the relationship between sustainable intangible capital and performance. Three hypotheses are proposed and a quantitative methodology based on PLS on 120 Spanish hotels with three or more stars is used. The findings do not support the hypothesis that sustainable intangible capital directly influences hotel performance. However, the two mediating hypotheses are supported, showing that corporate social responsibility and strategic knowledge management act as mediators by creating the values, philosophy and necessary foundations for sustainable intangible capital to have a significant influence on hotel performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]