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In recent years, many rural areas have turned to tourism as a way of reviving their communities. One challenge to such efforts is that community leaders in these areas often have limited experience with tourism and consequently lack the knowledge and resources to best facilitate sustainable tourism initiatives. Moreover, an influx of tourists to an area puts new demands on infrastructure. Information about tourists' itineraries can help communities to address new challenges that result from tourism, however using emerging technologies such as GPS and Internet-based map surveys can be expensive and require expertise many rural tourism planners do not have. Paper-based itinerary mapping methodology can be a cost effective way of providing local officials, tourism planners, and businesses with important information to inform decisions about how to invest limited resources. This study applies paper-based itinerary mapping to an emerging wine tourism area in a rural county in the US state of Michigan. Because it involves tourists travelling from place to place within a region, wine tourism is particularly well-suited for itinerary mapping. Results provide specific recommendations to local officials, tourism planners, and businesses. Moreover, the study offers an example to researchers interested in conducting studies that use paper-based itinerary mapping methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current explosive growth of global consumption has caused many environmental problems, so guiding and regulating the public's green consumption intention and behavior is an important issue. By constructing the tourist green consumption model of urban and rural tourism destinations (TAM-TPB), this paper uses the PLS-SEM method to expound the realization path and mechanism of tourists' green consumption intention in urban and rural destinations. The TAM-TPB model provides better explanatory and predictive power for urban destinations than for rural destinations. In addition, the perceived usefulness plays a significant mediating effect, especially in urban destinations, and the green consumption attitude will not mediate or directly affect consumption intention. Finally, there is a certain gap in tourists' green consumption intention between urban and rural destinations, but it is limited to the paths from perceived ease of use to consumption attitude and from subjective norm to consumption intention. The paper studies the realization path and mechanism of tourists' green consumption intention in urban and rural tourism destinations. The paper first applies TAM to tourism green consumption field, constructing the model of TAM-TPB by PLS-SEM. The TAM-TPB model provides better explanatory and predictive power for urban destinations than for rural destinations. The green consumption attitude does not mediate or directly impact consumption intention. The findings will contribute to enrich the theoretical system of tourism green consumption research and provide practical references for the guidance of public green consumption behavior and the transformation of green consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The need for more sustainable tourism has long been recognised, and the COVID-19 pandemic precipitated renewed calls for large-scale and rapid transformation of the sector. Attractive as such calls were, implementing aspirations for more sustainable futures requires significant 'buy-in' from the demand side. Yet, substantive evidence of tourists desiring more sustainable futures was lacking. This paper aims to address this empirical deficit and to critically reflect on early pandemic rhetoric calling for transformative change. It reports on the results from a panel survey conducted with visitors to Northern Devon—a UK destination with a long-standing commitment to sustainable development—who stayed overnight in the region during Coronavirus restrictions. Of three possible trajectories for tourism development, the majority of respondents preferred a sustainable future. However, just under a quarter preferred a scenario associated with further growth in tourism, and this trajectory was perceived as the most likely to occur. Using a case-study approach, the paper critiques emergent discourse around sustainability transitions in tourism, highlighting a supply-side emphasis in extant analysis and the need for closer examination of tourist preferences for transitional pathways. If conceptual architectures from Transitions Studies are to support the implementation of sustainability transitions in tourism, both the Multi-Level Perspective and the Transitions Management approach must consider tourists' perspectives on destination change more carefully. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How to alleviate tourist incivility (i.e. social and environmental deviant behaviors) is not only a practical concern but an emerging tourism research topic. Advocating civilized tourist behavior could be an effective tool in enhancing sustainable tourism. In this paper, we test how tourists' anticipated emotions and perceived severity (of tourism incivility problems) shape tourist civility via an extended norm activation model (NAM). A total of 401 valid questionnaires were obtained from tourists of a national wetland park in China. The results indicated that: 1) both positive and negative anticipated emotions not only have a direct impact on tourist civility but also have an indirect impact via personal norms, 2) positive anticipated emotions (as compared to negative ones) play a more vital role in the tourist civility formation, and 3) perceived severity of tourism incivility problems negatively moderates the links of personal norms and negative anticipated emotions to tourist civility. This paper provides theoretical and practical implications to better understand the role of anticipated emotions and perceived severity in tourist civility decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the mechanism of tourist crowding perception on their decisions of absolute displacement based on the conservation of resource theory and social influence theory. We collected 455 valid questionnaires from a tourism destination (West Street in Quanzhou city) in China. Results show that both physical crowding and human crowding motivate tourists to select absolute displacement. Perceived wait time partly mediates the effect of physical crowding on absolute displacement, while it fully mediates the effect of human crowding on absolute displacement. Travel group size negatively moderates the effect of tourist crowding perception on absolute displacement. Theoretically, this paper enriches the literature and theories on understanding the mechanism of crowding perception on tourist behavior and expands insights into how tourists respond to crowded situations. Practically, this paper provides implications for destination marketing organizations to use various tourism services to solve over-tourism issues and achieve sustainable tourism development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that developing practical interventions of responsible behavior requires a deeper understanding of different segments of tourists with different environmental and psychological dispositions. Dwelling on two socio-psychological theories of cognitive dissonance and the focus theory of normative conduct, 724 Chinese tourists are surveyed and segmented. Three segments namely eco-distressed, eco-pragmatic, and eco-calm are identified revealing different dispositions of eco-paralysis, environmental concern, and pro-environmental behaviors. Complemented by 37 interviews, we found that eco-paralysis does not necessarily mean inaction but helplessness and perceptions of feeling "small" in the face of "giant" climate change while overcoming numbness with small actions. This study suggests that the eco-paralysis of Chinese tourists is manifested at the cognitive-emotional level rather than at the behavioral level. Our findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the varying degrees of cognitive dissonance among different tourists with each group displaying unique environmental concerns and behaviors. It, theoretically, highlights how social and injunctive norms such as government environmental advocacy and traditional virtues ["qinjian jieyue"] stimulate progressive actions despite feelings of powerlessness. Thus, it questions the prevalent interpretation in environmental psychological research that helplessness means inaction by revealing that tourists could still be environmentally proactive despite cognitive-emotional challenges from climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tourists harm the destination environment in many different ways. Behavioural economics contributes to the formulation of public and private policies to reduce this harm. The nudging agenda is converging with tourism, where managers and policymakers realise that the implementation of nudges leads to lower costs, higher effectiveness of behavioural changes, and decreased harm produced by tourists. However, little effort has been made to comprehend the relationship between nudges and tourism sustainability. To fill this gap, this paper systematises the literature on nudge interventions in tourism and sustainability studies. Our results present the main disciplinary background in these investigations with Anglo-Saxon countries leading research on green nudges. The methodological approach adopted by the nudge studies is limited, and causal evidence is lacking. The thematic analysis categorises the interventions and supports the idea that nudges target both unconscious and conscious behaviours. The preferred interventions are those with a low-cost application, such as bed linen reuse. Social norms are the main trigger for developing hypotheses and designing nudges. Our study also presents the mediators and moderators of pro-environmental behaviours and develops a model to design nudges in the tourism industry. Theoretical, managerial contributions and suggestions for future studies are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The commodification of hot spring bathing reflects a diversification of alternative modalities for healing and leisure. It also presents challenges for the development of sustainable tourism. However, whether and how tourist activities generate environmental challenges at hot spring destinations has received scant attention from scholars. Situated in the increasing contributions that practice theories make to tourism and sustainability studies, this paper argues that a practice theoretical perspective is essential for understanding the escalating demand for hot spring water and resources at tourist destinations. Employing ethnographic approaches in a hot spring town in China, we identify three patterns of hot spring bathing performances: public foot bathing in the town square, commodified bathing in resort hotels, and private bathing in households or B&B rooms. The (re)configurations of cultural conventions, tourist facilities, socially shared knowledge and skills across spaces produce alternative patterns of water consumption. The co-existence of multiple ways of performing hot spring bathing brings to the fore the complexities of sustainability issues in tourism, going beyond infrastructural efficiency or tourist values. The paper concludes in elaborating on how practice theories and studies of tourist bathing benefit each other, and could inform policy interventions for sustainable tourism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the various dimensions that affect the tourist sector in order to provide an assessment of the environmental quality and logistic and infrastructural dimensions of Italian coastal municipalities. The analysis starts from the assumption that the environmental resources and logistic and infrastructural dimensions of each area represent an asset for the whole territory, since they are able not only to increase the quality of life of residents but, above all, to attract travellers, thus contributing to the development of the tourism sector. Therefore, it can be said that the dimensions assessed in this work increase the capacity of the territory to generate income. In the analysis a quantitative aggregative partially non-compensatory method, known as Mazziotta Pareto Index (MPI) was used; by means of the MPI it was possible to express the magnitude of the tourist phenomenon reducing the compensation effect that occurs every time indicators with non-homogeneous values are aggregated. The contribution provides further insights into coastal tourism, a particularly important tourist sector on a national scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides an empirical application of some recent developments in the social science of sustainability to understanding sustainable transport behaviour. We analyse talk about holidaymaking taken from interviews with self-defined "eco" or "sustainable" tourists. The focus of this paper explores the ways in which participants understand and reconcile the potential conflict of air transport and the notion of sustainable holidays. We identify a number of discursive strategies participants used to project and maintain positive self-representations in the context of complex, often incompatible constructions of sustainability derived from this particular dilemma. Such strategies are considered as concrete examples of the psychosocial organisation of denial and thus offer discursive barriers to sustainable transport futures. However, the analysis also demonstrates the ways in which some individuals were able to resist or challenge such forms of socially organised denial. The potential implications of these discursive barriers and strategies for sustainable transport futures and the tourism sector are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper shifts the debate on sustainable tourism destinations from an emphasis on ecotourism and eco-resorts towards sustainable urban tourism destinations. A quantitative online survey of visitors to Melbourne, Australia, examined tourists’ pro-environmental behaviours in four major categories: recycling; green transport use; sustainable energy/material use (lighting/water usage), and green food consumption. It explores five major antecedents to those categories: habitual behaviour, environmental attitudes, facilities available, a need to take a break from environmental duties, and sense of tourist social responsibility. The paper also examines the poorly understood belief that pro-environmental behaviour weakens when residents become tourists. Existing habits were found to strongly influence all four urban pro-environmental behaviours. Available facilities are the second most important antecedent. Overall, urban tourist pro-environment behaviour drivers differ markedly from those of residents or ecotourists. A range of tourism industry and public sector agency policy recommendations are made, in terms of developing specific, well sited and easy to find/use environmental infrastructure assets such as recycling facilities and public transport, reducing implementation barriers and in formulating an overall pro-environmental image for the destination. The study envisages a new concept, tourist social responsibility, with high relevance to furthering tourism's sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper interrogates the polarized and heated discussions about mountain bike tourism in Austrian forests, with several organizations favoring permitting biking on all forest roads, using claimed tourism development opportunities, while other stakeholders including hikers, hunters and landowners wish to restrict development. An international literature review on the value and impacts of mountain biking shows that both sides have oversimplified complex cases. The paper draws on 12 in-depth interviews with Austrian tourism destination and mountain bike experts to find ways forward. Results suggest that in Austria, bike tourism will increase in the future, supported by new bike technology, including electric bikes and new hand-held route information technology. It notes the complexity of the market for mountain and other forms of cycle tourism, and the pressing need to create not more trails but more sophisticated tourism products, including appealing and well-maintained trails plus attractive leisure infrastructure (bike rental, service and repair facilities, attractive localities, accommodation suited to the mountain bikers’ needs, etc.). Collaborative planning with all stakeholders, better trail construction standards adapted to differing preferences, needs and environmental conditions as well as clear standards for monitoring are prerequisites of an Austrian strategy for sustainable cycle tourism development and management, which can be replicated elsewhere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Learning is often a central element of tourism. Tourists can learn actively, i.e. with a specific purpose, as well as passively through the comparison of values, norms and customs. It has been argued that travel supports active learning that has positive outcomes for sustainability, for instance, in the context of conservation. Yet, the complexity of active and passive learning processes and their outcomes for environmental sustainability and sustainable lifestyles remain insufficiently understood. Against this background, the paper discusses selected learning outcomes for transportation (air travel), accommodation (hotels) and activities (theme park visits). Findings suggest that “desirable” learning (defined as pro-sustainable development learning) in tourism may be very limited, while in particular, passive learning processes which redefine social norms frequently have outcomes that are largely detrimental to sustainable lifestyles. They include forms of moral licensing, the diffusion of responsibilities as well as the attenuation of the negative consequences of travel. Given the economic, social and cultural importance of tourism vís-a-vís its global implications for environmental sustainability, learning outcomes in tourism deserve to be studied in greater detail, while strategies need to be devised to enhance sustainable learning effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to evaluate how prices are formed in the informal tourism market and how this has a bearing on the livelihoods of informal traders. More specifically, the objectives of this research were to: (i) determine the dependence and strategies of informal traders on sales and fair prices for their livelihood; (ii) assess price judgement of tourists in two currencies and (iii) determine whether altruism influences price judgement. A mixed-methods approach was followed, where interviews were held with informal craft traders and a questionnaire was electronically administered to 450 international tourists who visited South Africa. The results show that the informal craft traders are supporting extended family members in southern African countries. The informal tourism economy in South Africa therefore plays an integral part in providing a source of livelihood for many migrants. In addition, tourists have inaccurate price judgements, which is more pronounced for lower valued items, and leads to price distortions in the market. We also find that price judgement in the unfamiliar currency distorts the effect of pro-social behaviour on price judgement, with higher levels of altruism only being associated with price overvaluations in the respondent's home currency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Debates surrounding the human impact on climate change have, in recent years, proliferated in political, academic, and public rhetoric. Such debates have also played out in the context of tourism research (e.g. extent to which anthropogenic climate change exists; public understanding in relation to climate change and tourism). Taking these debates as its point of departure, whilst also adopting a post-structuralist position, this paper offers a Foucauldian Discourse Analysis of comments to an online BBC news article concerning climate change. Our analysis finds three key ways responsibility is mitigated through climate change talk: scepticism towards the scientific evidence surrounding climate change; placing responsibility on the “distant other” through a nationalistic discourse; and presenting CO2as “plant food”. The implications of these ways of thinking about climate change are discussed with a focus on how this translates into action related to the sustainability of tourism behaviours. In doing so, it concludes that a deeper understanding of everyday climate talk is essential if the tourism sector is to move towards more sustainable forms of consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This opinion piece addresses issues surrounding the role of researchers’ behaviour in bridging the science–policy gap in sustainable tourism mobility. Currently, the research agenda on bridging this gap encompasses the development of fuller understanding of the determinants of tourist behaviours, and only a partial understanding of the behaviour of policy-makers and industry. That latter area needs research to identify how those key actors can be encouraged towards developing sustainable tourism mobility. This paper argues that key determinants ofresearchers' behaviourneed to be added to that research agenda. It discusses seven tensions and structures hindering researchers exploring how to mobilise and engage with other industry and policy-makers, including dangers related to the politicisation of science, balancing objectivity and engagement, and the consequences of the current publication culture that characterises the academic community. The discussion concludes with a call for action to researchers to address these tensions and structures. It suggests four ways forward, including informed and skilled engagement with the quality mass media, using proven methods of academic–industry cooperation, workshops to help editors and reviewers to better understand practice-linked, values-driven research issues and the creation of a policy-makers' industry and researchers' action group to encourage joint projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on ethnographic research on Utila, Honduras, this paper suggests that conservation volunteerism suffers from “fictitious conservation”, surrounded by “spectacle”. The “spectacle of saving” associated with the promotion of conservation voluntourism advances the creation of new neoliberal citizens while further concealing the micropolitics of commodified nature. Volunteer conservation tourism creates value in the trade of experiences in or with “nature” while detracting from the labour and value produced through grounded local interactions with natural resources. While voluntourists are busy “saving” endangered species, they are also collecting the entrepreneurial skills and competencies to be successful as the new neoliberal economy. Thus, as a site of fictitious conservation under neoliberalism, conservation voluntourism advances the creation of new neoliberal citizens while justifying its own existence by furthering ecological devastation, obscuring uneven development processes and devaluing local labour and relationships to natural resources. The paper closes with a proposal to reconfigure volunteer arrangements to move nature-based voluntourism towards a rights-based conservation approach through three strategies: (1) collaborative programme design by embracing “friction”, (2) expanded understanding of local impacts, and (3) redesigning volunteer activities to embed a social justice pedagogy using the steps of transformative learning. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Food is a sustainable part of destination tourism. However, few studies attempt to separate and examine the role played by local foods within tourists' overall experience when claiming the benefits that local foods can bring to a destination. Using Mainland China as the case in point, this study aims to evaluate the potential for destinations to use local food as a sustainable marketing tool. This is achieved through examining how local food, as part of the tourist experience, can contribute to tourists' destination loyalty. This study proposes a structural model addressing the potential relationships between tourist food-related behaviours (tourists' food-related motivation, information search, food involvement, and food satisfaction) and destination loyalty among domestic tourists in China. Useable data was collected from 1353 respondents at eight destinations in China, this was screened and analysed with SPSS 21 and partial least squares-structural equation modelling. The results reveal the positive correlation between tourists' food satisfaction and destination loyalty, confirming the value of local food in China as a sustainable marketing tool. However, the paper highlights that tourists' food-related motivation, information search, and involvement are not in direct correlation to their destination loyalty. Possible implications for destination marketers and researchers are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From a management and research perspective, it is important to get a better understanding of what influences tourists in their decision to choose environmentally friendly travel options, and how these are related to social cognitive processes. This paper reports findings from two separate studies investigating the role of biases in social comparison, with particular reference to tourists' perception of their personal roles as environmentally friendly tourists, and especially tourists’ views of the environmental attitudes of other tourists. Samples ofN= 1607 andN= 2076 tourists, respectively, were obtained for two studies in Western Norway. Results indicate that tourists perceive themselves to hold more pro-environmental attitudes than other tourists (i.e. “typical tourist”, “average tourist”, “tourists”). This suggests that there are differences in the perception of the self and others when it comes to social comparisons concerning issues of environmental sustainability. The findings also suggest that tourists hold overly positive views of themselves generally concerning issues of environmental sustainability and that their environmental attitudes reflect perceived desirable standards. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed from a social psychological perspective, and implications for tourism managers and researchers noted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review article advances debate and research on the global–local nexus that shapes, and increasingly determines, the existence of Protected Areas (PAs) and their function as areas of high conservation value as well as tourism destinations. The demands on PAs have grown from an initial focus on facilitating recreation experiences and species and habitat protection, to more inclusive and participatory approaches that seek to safeguard ecological services whilst also supporting regional and national livelihoods. We propose that the simultaneous analysis of global and local drivers of change will generate a deeper understanding of impact processes and response implications. To this end, a draft framework for better understanding the global–local nexus of PAs is developed and tested through a Delphi sketching approach to 20 experts in least developed, newly industrialised and developed countries. Key challenges, implications and opportunities for PA management and governance, and for tourism development at local and global levels (and their interactions), are discussed in follow-up papers to this review, including research priority areas, the measurement of tourism numbers, economic impact modelling, private PAs, the changing roles of zoning, the need for flexible, inclusive and accountable governance structures, and for better understanding of tourist behavioural change mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the organization of the 25th annual ENTER eTourism conference by the International Federation for Information Technologies and Travel and Tourism (IFITT) in Jonkoping, Sweden in January 2018. Topics discussed during the conference include research on information and communication technologies (ICTs) in tourism and travel, and important issues relevant to tourism-related industry and the responsibility for society and sustainability.

There is an urgent need to redirect tourist policies and products towards a more economically and environmentally sustainable model. The main objectives of this paper were to identify the profile of hiking cultural tourists; to segment the hiker profile using the intensity of the sports activity undertaken, and according to the pursuit of various cultural activities during their stay; and finally, to model the factors of being a cultural tourist. Based on a sample study composed of hikers, four groups were distinguished based on their physical capabilities and propensity towards risk, as soft and hard hikers and soft and hard cultural tourists. The analysis reveals different characteristics and patterns of associated behaviour, justifying the development of differentiated commercial strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tourism based on cultural issues is growing fast in recent years. This type of tourism promotes the diversification of demand and supply at destinations, while keeping and valuing the local culture. Improving our knowledge on cultural tourism could help to foster the sustainability of destinations. Despite efforts devoted to define the “cultural tourist”, still little is known about her/his particular behaviour. The objective of this paper is twofold. First, identifying the profile of cultural tourists versus visitors not pursuing any cultural activity. Second, and building on econometric modelling, comparing the behaviour of these two groups in terms of factors influencing expenditure and trip satisfaction. All these findings are putted in context regarding the literature on tourism sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mobilities of people, capital, labour, expertise, resources and images create significant challenges for sustainable destination governance. This paper discusses the implications of mobilities for destination governance where fluid populations of tourists, residents, second home owners and recreationists, and transnational flows of labour and capital intersect to create and recreate the physical, social, economic and political characteristics of place. Three key processes that affect destination management are identified: the spatial restructuring of destinations, the pluralisation of destination management and the re-envisioning of community. In a study of the hyper-neoliberal destination of the Gold Coast, Australia, mobilities are examined and implications for governance are discussed. Our research highlights the challenges of measuring, evaluating and understanding the extent and complexity of mobilities, and explores the tensions between mobilities and established sustainable tourism principles that suggest governance should be grounded in local community dialogue and values. The differences between “hard” and “soft” power structures in destination governance are noted. The paper contributes methodological insights into the study of mobilities and to theoretical and practical debates about the influence of mobilities on sustainable destination management, especially the need to re-visit the meanings of long-accepted concepts in sustainable tourism, including “public interest”, “community” and “community-based” tourism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, attempts to improve the economic and environmental sustainability of both tourism and agriculture have been linked to the development of "alternative" food networks and a renewed enthusiasm for food products that are perceived to be traditional and local. This paper draws on research from two UK regions, the Lake District and Exmoor, to argue that local food can play an important role in the sustainable tourism experience because it appeals to the visitor's desire for authenticity within the holiday experience. Using evidence from qualitative interviews with tourists and food producers, the paper records ways in which local foods are conceptualised as "authentic" products that symbolise the place and culture of the destination. By engaging with debates surrounding the meaning of locality and authenticity, the paper challenges existing understandings of these concepts and offers a new way forward for tourism research by arguing that "local food" has the potential to enhance the visitor experience by connecting consumers to the region and its perceived culture and heritage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates perception of self and others by hosts and guests, which may be critical for sustainability of a destination receiving tourists with different cultural backgrounds. Specifically, the study investigates self-perception of hosts and reciprocal perception between hosts and guests on several service personnel characteristics using importance and performance analysis. Thus, a triple lens of hosts' evaluation of self, hosts' evaluation of the guests, and hosts' evaluation by the guests is involved in a multi-cultural tourism experience context. Results report differences between the lenses, hosts' self-evaluation being harsher than guests' evaluation of hosts. Suggestions are provided for destination marketing and management organizations to design effective tourism experiences for both hosts and guests for a more sustainable gaze between hosts and guests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Constantly growing transport demand by tourists within holiday destinations and related increases in CO2emissions have helped foster a new trend amongst German destinations towards promoting a green transportation mode for vacationers. A key innovation is the “Gästeticket” or Guest Ticket concept, which offers tourists free public transport, on buses and trains, within defined destination areas throughout their stay. This paper describes the background to this concept, and the many different ways in which it has been created, designed, implemented and administered. A qualitative research methodology interviewed key public and private sector stakeholders, including local and regional politicians, accommodation providers, public transport providers and public transport authorities to identify favourable starting conditions, successful financial and institutional implementation strategies, and both supporters and opponents of guest tickets. Local politicians and many small accommodation providers opposed the concept, while regional and national politicians supported it, as did public transport providers and public transport authorities. The concept is compared to the more holistic Alpine Pearls concept founded in Austria, and the case made for better explanation of the Guest Ticket concept to its opponents, better marketing, further research and closer cooperation between transport providers and planners with tourism attractions and accommodation providers. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents a two-stage development model for low-carbon tourism (LCT). In study I, a qualitative questionnaire was developed using the Delphi and analytic hierarchy process methods, and this was then distributed to 19 experts, whose opinions were used to develop a complete index system for low-carbon tours. In study II, 393 tourists questionnaires administered in the Sun Moon Lake National Scenic Area were utilized to determine whether the index system would affect visitor purchase intentions. The findings showed that the LCT index system positively influenced tourists' purchase intentions, and their actual purchase behaviors toward low-carbon products. However, this study empirically found that there are significant differences with regard to what these two groups (experts and tourists) view as important in a low-carbon tour system. The contributions of this study include: (1) confirming the importance of the multiple perspectives obtained from the travel industry and tourists to establish the LCT system; (2) using the case study to investigate tourists' opinions to better understand whether the LCT index that was developed based on the industry perspective in stage one was appropriate; and (3) offering practical suggestions to help businesses better understand specific trends and plans for LCT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Online tourism crowdsourcing platforms, such as AirBnB, Expedia or TripAdvisor, rely on the continuous data sharing by tourists and businesses to provide free or paid value-added services. When adequately processed, these data streams can be used to explain and support businesses in the early identification of trends as well as prospective tourists in obtaining tailored recommendations, increasing the confidence in the platform and empowering further end-users. However, existing platforms still do not embrace the desired accountability, responsibility and transparency (ART) design principles, underlying to the concept of sustainable tourism. The objective of this work is to study this problem, identify the most promising techniques which follow these principles and design a novel ART-compliant processing pipeline. To this end, this work surveys: (i) real-time data stream mining techniques for recommendation and trend identification; (ii) trust and reputation (T&R) modelling of data contributors; (iii) chained-based storage of trust models as smart contracts for traceability and authenticity; and (iv) trust- and reputation-based explanations for a transparent and satisfying user experience. The proposed pipeline redesign has implications both to digital and to sustainable tourism since it advances the current processing of tourism crowdsourcing platforms and impacts on the three pillars of sustainable tourism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The nexus of tourism and sustainability has emerged as a catchphrase in academic literature in recent years. The present study employed an integrated path model to investigate the increasing significance of sustainable tourism, which is attributed, in part, to the penchant of domestic tourists to consume locally sourced food. The investigation additionally ascertains the potential influence of local food products on the various dimensions of sustainability, including economic, cultural, social, and environmental aspects. Data is collected using a purposeful sample technique, with 462 responses from domestic tourists to the Kashmir Valley being screened and analyzed using SPSS and partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The findings derived from PLS-SEM analysis demonstrate that the act of domestic tourists consuming locally produced food has a considerable and statistically significant influence on sustainability-focused tourism. Furthermore, the consumption of locally grown foods has a positive influence on various dimensions of sustainability, including the economic, social, cultural, and environmental aspects. The present study contributes to the existing scholarly literature on the subjects of regional gastronomy and sustainable tourism. In the current work, the authors aim to present the potential of local food to promote sustainable tourism in the tourist host regions. The outcomes of this research can be utilized by policymakers in the tourism sector to enhance their ability to effectively market indigenous cuisine, thereby sustaining the industry's enduring viability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces a new line of research in international coastal mass tourism destinations. Such destinations have started to function in a more complex and potentially beneficial way, acting as transitional areas between the global city and local territory while at the same time developing their own unique characteristics. From this perspective, such destinations can potentially become environments for creativity and innovation, two factors that act as economic driving forces in the so-called “knowledge society”, thereby promoting the sustainable development of the destination from a socioeconomic perspective. The methodology used herein develops 10 indicators that are calculated and mapped out for two case studies which examine the same geographical context and comparable populations in order to demonstrate the creative capacity of a location whose economy is heavily reliant on tourism. The results show that tourist destinations have greater potential for generating creative capital than non-tourist destinations. Therefore, the consolidation of international mass tourism destinations as creative and innovative spaces which are capable of generating creative capital without losing their competitiveness as tourist destinations merits a reconception of their current role in global–local networks. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Virtually all destinations seek to increase tourist numbers, pursuing economic maximization strategies. Considerably less attention is paid to optimizing existing tourist systems to create more profitable, stable, resilient and potentially more sustainable entities. While aspects of tourist expenditure, average length of stay and seasonality as three key destination management variables have received considerable attention in the literature, focus has usually been on the identification of “profitable” tourism markets by considering observed patterns of spending, length of stay and vacation timing. Building on such earlier studies, this paper focuses on flexibilities in these parameters: could tourists have spent more, stayed longer or visited during a different season? Perceptions of destination expensiveness as a potential deterrent to visitation were also addressed. Based on a sample (n= 1914) of domestic and international tourists in the Swedish cities of Kalmar and Stockholm, data were collected in face-to-face interviews using questionnaires. Results indicate considerable potential to optimize the Swedish tourism system with regard to all variables studied, while also providing new insights for destination management in the context of economic resilience. Results also indicate the need for researchers everywhere to have detailed market knowledge if they are to persuade the industry to change its sustainability behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Tourists' travel decisions can be influenced by appropriate policies that seek to encourage them to choose travel plans leading to more sustainable tourism practices. Based on using conventional cognitive decision-making models, most current policy recommendations employ market-based economic incentives (e.g. taxes). This paper employs a dual emotional-cognitive decision-making model to represent tourists' choices. This framework allows comparing the efficacy of taxing emission levels against non-market sustainability policies including: (1) environmental information labelling; (2) emotional communication messages, and (3) limiting time pressure marketing practices. A field experiment (N= 509) was used to test the effectiveness of both market- and non-market-based sustainability policies in reducing overall CO2emission levels by affecting destination choice. It found that the sensitivity of the choice decision to price is overestimated if and when emotions are not considered in the choice context. Tourists' decisions can not only be guided by rational financial calculations but also by the interplay of their emotions or the “animal spirits” cited by John Maynard Keynes. Therefore, effective policies to change behaviour towards more sustainable practices in tourism can be induced by working through non-market interventions like shaping positive emotional messages (but avoiding negative ones) and limiting time pressure marketing techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Beach certification schemes (BCSs) have been designed to bridge the gap between recreation and conservation. However, there is no evidence supporting their effectiveness as tools for achieving a high level of sustainability. This paper evaluates the effectiveness of nine BCSs in Latin America and the Caribbean, based on indicators of sustainable development and integrated coastal management. For this purpose, a list of 27 objectives with 62 indicators was compiled and each scheme's effectiveness was measured by testing 95 requirements found in BCSs against the indicators. The results indicate that the analyzed schemes have low levels of effectiveness. The most effective certification complies with 60% of the indicators, while the average compliance level is only 33%. The weak areas of beach certifications involve, monitoring, management and planning, stakeholder participation, and conflict resolution. A few of the schemes were found to be moderately successful in these areas, but the less effective BCSs focused primarily on amenities and visitor satisfaction. It was found that the effectiveness of the BCSs could be increased by addressing their main weaknesses in a cost-effective manner through the hybridization of environmental management systems and benchmark certifications, and by implementing compliance standards based on beach type. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Many commentators suggest that tourism could help fund the ever growing number of protected areas. The traditional reliance on government sources to support protected areas is increasingly untenable, in both the developed and developing world. This paper reviews the relationship between tourism and protected areas to assess opportunities for sustainable funding to assure effective stewardship. It explores a range of innovative and creative alternative funding mechanisms which could be consistent with a positive evolving relationship between tourism and protected areas. An outline classification of four protected area archetypes for management and funding purposes is suggested, based on a combination of visitation and biodiversity levels. To service the management of those four types, a series of non-government revenue streams are explored such as payments for ecosystem service (ES), environmental mortgages, intrinsic value funding, carbon abatement funding and research dividend funding. Issues discussed include: the willingness to pay on the part of potential visitors, the potential impact of fees on visitation, “quarantining” particularly valuable ecosystems from visitation and intrinsic value funding, the unpredictability of environmental mortgages and the potential stability of ES payments. Further research is required in data analysis and into the design of land tenure systems and regulatory mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This research uses a market segmentation approach to reducing transport-related environmental burdens from visitors, while maintaining economic benefit. The approach was tested in the Lake District National Park (UK). It aimed first to explore visitor transport behaviour using a social psychological framework, to understand what might best predict desired behaviour change (i.e. reduced visitor car use). Second, it developed and tested different types of marketing messages to reduce car use, based on persuasive communication theory, establishing marketing propositions appropriate to different visitor types and market segments. Third, it identified market segments with both a high propensity towards positive behavioural change and the highest economic contribution to the destination. The work is based on Ajzen's Theory of Planned Behaviour and on persuasive communication. Three hundred and ninety completed questionnaires were obtained. The paper emphasises the importance of context in successful communication to influence behaviour and shows that a market segmentation approach to behavioural change can be successful. Complex patterns of visitor mobility and modal choice emerge. For example “New Explorers” and “Familiar Families” are most likely to reduce their car use (45% and 48% respectively) and less likely to perceive this as difficult. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

German national parks are increasingly under pressure from land use change and need objective information on economic values associated with different forms of use to help policy-makers resolve conflicting policy goals. To date, a complete cost–benefit analysis of a German national park has not been undertaken. This paper addresses this gap through a study from the Bavarian Forest National Park (BFNP), the oldest and best known park in Germany. The research questions are: (1) Is the designation of the national park economically justified? and (2) Can revenue from park tourism compensate for its costs? Databases used include a visitor and enterprise survey, qualitative interviews and secondary sources; analyses involved several interrelated environmental valuation methods. Results suggest that the BFNP is an economically favourable land use option under most scenarios. At national level, half of the scenarios show a benefit–cost ratio (BCR) greater than 1. At regional level the park acts as a tool for economic development, generating net monetary gains for surrounding counties, with BCRs of over 1 throughout. Tourism contributes to over 60% of the benefits and compensates for more than two-thirds of the costs in half of the scenarios discussed. Key policy implications are listed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Franz Josef and Fox Glacier townships in New Zealand's “Glacier Country”, neighbouring Westland National Park, are remote tourist attractions facing multiple future sustainability challenges. Despite their distance from their markets, they attract 600,000 visitors annually and are fundamental to the district's economy. However, issues of geographic isolation are compounded by major threats of flooding and earthquake, rising fuel prices and climate change scenarios which imply serious glacier melting. Using 24 stakeholder interviews, this study evaluates susceptibility to change at multiple scales which could undermine the economic and social longevity of this iconic destination. Adopting a human–environment systems perspective, it utilises the concepts of vulnerability and resilience to examine dimensions of change and response that have shaped the community, conservation and tourism in this peripheral region. It finds high levels of vulnerability do not necessarily determine low levels of resilience, nor vice versa. Rather than mutually exclusive, vulnerability and resilience are discrete, but highly compatible concepts, offering much to the analysis of protected area tourism facing global change. The paper notes the potential guidance and governance role of the protected area in building resilience, and equally the threat to the protected area's integrity if tourism is compromised by its vulnerabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The spatial behaviour of tourists within cities is not well understood, partly because of the complexities of cities as spaces and partly because few studies have addressed this phenomenon. This paper reports on collaborative research studies, conducted in conjunction with destination-management agencies in the Australian cities of Sydney and Melbourne. The studies used Global Positioning System (GPS) tracking devices to find out how various kinds of tourists moved around each city, supplemented by semi-structured interviews with the tourists to help explain their movement patterns. A total of 154 participant groups took part. Each study sought to provide information to destination-management agencies to help them improve aspects of the visitor's experience by improving wayfinding systems. Findings were analysed visually using a space syntax approach. Tourists walked between 10 and 35 km per day. Lack of knowledge of public transport systems and ticketing was a major constraint on public transport use. Melbourne's street pattern and its free city circle tram were found more user-friendly than Sydney's street pattern and public transport. The resulting visual maps provided destination managers with a valuable diagnostic tool; a range of new initiatives have been developed, including better conference visitor information, and training for information centre staff. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In western society since the 1970s, interpretation has played an important role in improving tourists’ appreciation of the natural environment, developing their environmental attitudes and facilitating the adoption of environmentally sensitive behaviour. In China, interpretation of natural attractions is a more recent phenomenon and a largely cognitive approach has been taken, focusing on the presentation of scientific information. This paper questions whether the “scientific” approach used in the development of environmental interpretation in Chinese natural areas meets the needs of Chinese tourists. It explores this theoretically through an examination of the relationship between Chinese tourists and the natural landscape, noting that landscape memories and intangible cultural heritage are important mediators of Chinese landscape appreciation. Practically, research in the Danxia Shan National Natural Reserve and Geo-Park demonstrates that self-guided interpretation using the “western” scientific approach with signage, an information centre and a geological museum, is ineffective, and ignored by the majority of visitors. Guided tours, employing an “aesthetic” approach to interpretation, using stories, art and poetry to emotionally engage visitors with the landscape, appear more appropriate, culturally relevant and effective in China. Key techniques used by guides include numerous adjectival words, figurative or metaphorical landscape descriptions and exaggeration of the landscape's beauty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scientific journals are academic publications that produce information in a specific discipline. In the current study, 522 studies published between 2009 and 2017 in Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research, were bibliometrically examined. According to findings, the author with the highest rate of contribution to the journal is Rob Law, the most often published institution is Hong Kong Polytech University, and the most researched topic is customer loyalty. Periodical analysis of academic journals enables inferences to be made about the intellectual structures of the disciplines and provides leading summary information on important studies, scientists, and research trends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the challenges and critical factors for the development and management of a form of wildlife tourism that is based on an active and practice-near role of natural sciences knowledge, and that, ultimately, can contribute to sustainability. Based on the study of a specific firm located in northern Norway which has developed a scientific form of wildlife tourism, the main challenges are identified in the limited access to competent and dedicated human capital and the difficulties related to networking, especially in the local area. The case study suggests that the factors that contribute positively to the attractiveness of wildlife tourism are also the ones that tend to affect its development negatively. The peripheral location makes the tourist product exotic, but at the same time it makes the recruitment of qualified co-workers particularly challenging. Similarly, the peculiarities of the individual firm contribute to the uniqueness of the tourist product, but they can isolate the individual firm from the other actors of the local context. Based on the findings, policy implications and directions for further research are identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable tourism development is crucial to small island developing states, given that tourism is often the main pillar of their economy. Stakeholders therefore need to embrace principles of environmental, economic and social sustainability for continued success. This study assessed hoteliers' perceptions of the tourism impacts of hotel development. Existing attitudinal scales on tourism impacts were applied to the Mauritian context and measured among top and middle management of hotels. The findings, based on 90 questionnaires, indicated 11 underlying dimensions. Hoteliers on average agreed that hotel development should contribute to environmental sustainability, and have positive economic, social and cultural impacts. They were not entirely convinced that there were negative cultural and economic impacts, and they disagreed that there were negative social impacts. The paper suggests implications for tourism policy, hotel development and management of tourism impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the contingent valuation method, this study examines the determinants of German tourists' willingness to pay for accommodation in a Finnish holiday cottage. A particular focus is on the communication of credentials relating to three dimensions of sustainability (environmental, socio-cultural, and economic). The results suggest that there are significant differences in how tourists value the different sustainability attributes of their accommodation. The environmental dimension was the only sustainability dimension to have a positive and statistically significant effect on tourists' willingness to pay. In terms of tourists' demographic characteristics, meanwhile, employment status was the only socio-demographic factor to have a significant effect on the tourists' willingness to pay. The managerial implications include investing in, and actively communicating, environmental sustainability features as part of a successful business strategy for Finnish cottage service providers targeting German tourists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last years, social and environmental issues have played an increasingly important role both for tourists' destination choice and for the consumption of agri-food products. However, in the literature on culinary tourists' behavior, it is not clear whether sustainability issues also affect the configuration of specific culinary tourists' targets. This study tries to bridge this gap by carrying out a segmentation of culinary tourists in Italy, a country known worldwide for its culinary specialties. In particular, this study aims to understand whether the growing tourists' sensitivity toward environmental and social aspects shapes specific targets of culinary tourists. The results show that in culinary tourism, sustainability plays a key role in culinary destination choice. These findings may have a twofold purpose. On the one hand, the results enrich the literature on culinary tourism by revealing that motivations linked to food sustainability could shape a specific target of culinary tourists. On the other hand, the findings provide insight and hints to entrepreneurs and managers of the hospitality and tourism sector interested in improving their performance to fully satisfy culinary tourist expectations in terms of environmental and social concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We aimed to evaluate the impact of sustainable tourism indicators on destination competitiveness with reference to the European Tourism Indicator System (ETIS), a scheme funded by the European Commission to address the evidence gap in tourism policy making. To do this, we evaluate the absorptive capacity of destination management organisations (DMOs) to implement and use sustainable tourism indicators to make policy decisions. We provide evidence of how DMOs have acquired knowledge about the importance of sustainable tourism indicators through ETIS, and how they have assimilated it by developing their own systems based on the principles of ETIS. However, we find that the European Commission had unrealistic expectations that DMOs, or their policies, would be transformed as a result of the use of indicators, or that indicators would be exploited to improve tourism sustainability and competitiveness. We contribute to the study of policy science by showing how absorptive capacity can be used to analyse and evaluate policy interventions, despite being a linear rational approach to explaining a complex policy context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to evaluate the differences between residents and visitors in their attitudes and behaviours towards sustainable tourism. The study examines the validity of the 21-item version of SUS-TAS, measuring invariance between residents' and visitors' attitudes in Madrid, a mature tourist destination with high use of accommodation-sharing platforms, in order to have a new testable tool for future sustainable planning. For multi-group invariance assessment, the Spanish version of the SUS-TAS for residents and the version for visitors are validated separately following a first-order, seven-factor model. The multi-group confirmatory factor analysis showed full configural invariance, partial metric invariance and partial scalar invariance across residents and visitors. Findings suggest that the main variations between residents and visitors were related to the "community-centered economy" and "maximizing community participation" constructs. To conclude, SUS-TAS can be used to measure residents' and visitors' attitudes towards sustainable tourism in a context with high use of accommodation-sharing platforms. Implications for future research and limitations are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For years, sustainable tourism has commanded the attention of academics and practitioners given its achievement through participatory planning. However, much research in the area has neglected to consider all voices of those (i.e., children) affected by tourism. This study, employing a post-test only experimental design, addresses this gap by including the voices of 498 children from six diverse European destinations concerning perceptions of tourism. Results show that children are willing to express their opinions given the opportunity. Moreover, their attitude towards tourists is negative, while they perceive locals to hold a subordinate position to tourists. In general, this study offers insight into children's attitudes to tourism from the host perspective, demonstrating that there is a unique insider's perspective that needs further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Festivals attract diverse visitors to tourism sites and contribute significant solid wastes every year. One way to help customers engage in recycling at tourist attractions is to adopt an effective communication tactic using product transformation salience (PTS). To better understand the influence of PTS, the current study investigated the roles of visitors' characteristics, such as gender and age, by using PTS messages to promote recycling behavior by presenting moderation models. This study further examined the underlying psychological mechanisms to explain the effect of PTS on recycling intention by proposing a serial mediation model. The results indicated that the effects of PTS on visitors' feedback toward green messages varied when considering visitors' age and gender. In particular, women and older attendees perceive the higher green value of recycling and develop higher intentions toward engaging in recycling practices at events. The serial mediation effects of PTS → perceived green value → attitudes → intentions were also confirmed. The findings of this study contribute to the green advertising literature and provide practical suggestions to industry practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban recreationists interact at various locations at various times, resulting in potential conflicts. For sustainable urban tourism, this study extends the resident–tourist comparison into that of local, domestic, and overseas tourists and applies social network analysis to compare the spatiotemporal patterns of these three types of tourists. Results show that locals are accustomed to visiting natural parks and hutongs on weekends, while out-of-town tourists might tour popular sites in the city center during holidays, where domestic and overseas tourists may still encounter each other in hot spots. Only the flow of overseas tourists contradicts the distance attenuation effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]