Tour. Hosp., Volume 7, Issue 2 (February 2026) – 34 articles

This study examined the influence of Shariah-oriented attributes on Indonesian Muslims’ intention to visit Thailand, which is a non-Muslim country. This stimulus–organism–response (SOR) model was used to examine the relationships between Shariah-oriented tangible and intangible attributes (stimulus), perceived halal safety and Muslim trust (organism), and visit intention (response). The data from 387 Indonesian Muslim respondents were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modelling combined with Importance–Performance Map Analysis (IPMA). The results supported six of seven hypotheses establishing that Shariah-oriented attributes significantly influenced perceived halal safety, Muslim trust, and visit intention. Notably, perceived halal safety showed a significant direct negative effect on visit intention (β = −0.108, p < 0.05); it did not significantly mediate the relationship between Shariah-oriented attributes and visit intention (β = −0.049, p = 0.059). Muslim trust demonstrates a strong positive mediating effect (β = 0.236, p < 0.001). The IPMA results revealed that Shariah-oriented tangible attributes demonstrated both high importance and excellent performance, while intangible attributes showed high importance but moderate performance, indicating a priority area for improvement. These findings highlight that Muslim trust and tangible Shariah-compliant attributes are crucial for attracting Muslim tourists to non-Muslim destinations, providing valuable insights for tourism stakeholders. Full article

Croatia’s tourism market is highly exposed to digital platforms and peer-to-peer information flows, yet evidence on how Croatian users differentiate between promotional formats (digital channels, agency websites, traditional media and word-of-mouth) remains fragmented and rarely translated into actionable priorities. This study aims to identify the underlying dimensions of perceived promotional influence and to prioritize promotional formats for destination choice in Croatia by integrating PCA and the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). An online survey (N = 299) was used to extract promotional dimensions via PCA and to test group differences by gender, age and primary information source, while AHP translated expert judgments into a comparative priority structure. Results consistently indicate that word-of-mouth is the most persuasive driver of destination choice, but its perceived importance varies significantly across demographic segments and information-source profiles. Younger respondents place greater emphasis on digital channels (especially social media and travel agency websites), whereas older respondents show higher reliance on traditional formats. The combined PCA–AHP approach provides a structured bridge between user perceptions and managerial prioritization, offering segment-specific guidance for more efficient allocation of promotional resources in Croatian destination marketing. Full article

Experiential and transformative travel are increasingly central in tourism scholarship and “life-changing” marketing, yet the proliferation of these labels has produced conceptual drift and persistent accountability gaps. This paper presents a narrated critical integrative review that distinguishes experiential travel from transformative travel and synthesizes how value, meaning-making, impact and methods are theorized across stakeholders and time. Searches of Scopus and the Web of Science Core Collection, supplemented by citation chasing, yielded 1284 records; screening produced 168 tourism-focused and 103 foundational sources (271 total). Iterative coding indicates that experiential research commonly foregrounds experience design and short-horizon valuation, whereas transformative research emphasizes change-over-time yet often relies on tourist self-narratives. Across both streams, valuation expands from transactional utility to affective, existential and ethical registers but remains frequently tourist-centred; meaning-making is patterned by narrative scripts and platform mediation; and impacts are distributed and ambivalent across tourists, hosts/communities, environments and institutions. Methodologically, claims about durability and justice are often unsupported by designs that assess persistence, comparison and distribution. This state-of-the-art review paper contributes working definitions and boundary conditions, an integrative framework linking antecedents, encounter mechanisms, valuation and multi-stakeholder impacts, and a method-specified research agenda with minimum reporting standards to support accountable research and practice. Full article

Stock returns are a key indicator of investor confidence and capital allocation in the tourism sector, particularly during crises that compress demand and elevate liquidity risk. This study investigates firm-level determinants of stock returns among 27 Indonesian listed tourism firms over 2019–2023, covering the COVID-19 disruption and initial recovery. Operational efficiency is estimated using an input-oriented, constant returns to scale (CRS) Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) model, and stock returns are modeled with Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE) to account for the longitudinal panel structure. The results indicate that higher DEA-based efficiency and a stronger liquidity position (current ratio) are positively and significantly associated with stock returns, whereas profitability (ROA, ROE) is not significant. Leverage, growth, and firm age also show no significant effects. In contrast, higher valuation multiples (price-to-book and price-to-sales ratios) are associated with lower subsequent returns, and larger firms exhibit lower returns over the sample horizon. The findings support signaling and resource-based interpretations, suggesting that in crisis periods investors reward operational efficiency as an indicator of disciplined resource use that helps preserve cash and sustain liquidity, while discounting firms priced at high multiples. Full article

India’s inbound tourism potential has not been fully realised, even though it has rich heritage resources, expanding air networks, and sustained policy attention. To identify the key determinants of foreign tourism demand, this study applies a novel interpretable machine learning framework, XGBoost with SHAP and ALE plots, on a panel dataset of 61 source countries to India between 2002 and 2024. Using a gravity-based tourism demand model, the analysis uncovers nonlinearities and interactions in tourism demand based on origin-country income, India’s hotel capacity, domestic and international aircraft movements, UNESCO heritage sites, mega-events, inflation, and governance indicators. Accumulated local effects (ALEs) and SHAP values were used as interpretable tools. The results show that source-country income and air connectivity are the most influential drivers of arrivals, while heritage sites and hotel rooms display clear saturation and diminishing returns, and governance and inflation exert only mild or nonlinear effects. Mega-events provide small and inconsistent short-run gains without strong persistence. The findings indicate that India’s future tourism gains lie less in further capacity expansion and more in strengthening air connectivity, strategically targeting emerging middle-income markets, and upgrading quality, governance, and price stability to convert existing assets into sustained spatially dispersed arrivals. Full article

Rural tourism has been regarded as a vital approach for the development of marginalized rural regions. Against the backdrop of Lebanon’s ongoing crisis, there is a significant and increasing interest in the tourism sector that can advance key SDGs by creating decent jobs, building sustainable communities, promoting responsible resource consumption, and conserving the environment. Nevertheless, the promise of this approach is endangered by the current situation of weak governance and institutional deficiencies. This paper examines the role of tourism governance in shaping the development of sustainable rural tourism in Shouf El-Souayjani, a rural area in Lebanon. The study adopts a sequential explanatory design to integrate quantitative and qualitative viewpoints, with a quantitative survey consisting of 388 respondents for collecting data, which is further enriched by 43 interviews with different stakeholders. Quantitative results indicate statistically significant relationships between governance dimensions, participation, knowledge sharing, empowerment, community knowledge, and legislative adequacy with perceived sustainability outcomes in Lebanon. Qualitative findings show major governance gaps, balanced by rural strengths like entrepreneurship and resilience. The study proposes a comprehensive governance model that highlights how a particular governance mechanism shapes rural tourism sustainability, particularly in a country affected by successive crises like Lebanon. Full article

Resilience in cruise tourism has been particularly important in recent years and especially after crises such as the financial crisis (2011–2013), in addition to the COVID-19 pandemic (2020–2021). The role of cruise ports is not limited only to the operation of the transport service, but also includes shaping their competitive position, as well as their ability to maintain and recover cruise demand in times of crisis, while contributing to the long-term sustainability of tourism. This study analyzes the resilience of passenger demand in eight Greek cruise ports during the period 2010–2024, examining the stability and recovery of passenger traffic through two composite indicators, the Project Management Index (PMI) and the Multimodal Access Index (MAI). Panel data were used with the passenger traffic as the dependent variable and the PMI and MAI as independent variables. The results show that multimodality plays the most important role for the resilience of cruise demand as it enhances the stability and recovery of cruise passenger demand while the pandemic had a negative impact. The contribution of the study lies in the quantitative mapping of the resilience of cruise ports, which is part of the framework of sustainable tourism development, offering useful tools for policy-making and strategic planning of cruise ports’ connectivity. Full article

This paper presents an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven framework designed to bridge the gap between raw user feedback and strategic decision-making. Moving beyond traditional sentiment analysis, which often overlooks the specific “why” behind visitor dissatisfaction, this research utilizes a sophisticated dual approach. By integrating the contextual precision of Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT) with the generative reasoning of Large Language Models (LLMs) like Gemini, the system extracts fine-grained, aspect-based insights and actionable recommendations. The framework’s effectiveness is demonstrated through a case study of the Archaeological Site of Mystras. Ultimately, this work offers a scalable solution for tourism professionals and policymakers to listen more deeply to the authentic voice of the traveler. Full article

The whale shark aggregation area in La Paz has given rise to vital wildlife tourism activity since the mid-1990s, which has been consolidated during the first decade of the 21st century. La Paz Bay is one of the three sites in Mexico where whale shark wildlife tourism is practiced. Biological and ecological research of whale sharks in the La Paz Bay is extensive. However, there is a considerable lack of knowledge about the socioeconomic implications of this activity. Understanding the recreational values of whale shark area users is fundamental to formulating an effective management policy. Using the individual travel cost method, we estimate the recreational value of whale sharks in La Paz Bay—the estimated individual’s willingness-to-pay ranges from 8 to 27 USD per trip. The recreational value of whale shark wildlife tourism ranges from 304,600 to 1,028,025 USD/season. The recreational value per whale shark ranges from 2361 to 14,083 USD. These results serve as a baseline for implementing economic and environmental policies and/or instruments to collect financial resources, strengthening actions oriented towards site and species conservation. Community-based management options, limitations, and opportunities are also discussed. Full article

In the context of fierce competition among tourist destinations and increasing difficulty of differentiation, developing a strong destination image is particularly important. A comprehensive understanding of how tourists perceive destinations through user-generated images can help destination management organizations (DMOs) design more effective marketing strategies. This is especially relevant for destinations with spatially and temporally dispersed tourism resources and strong seasonal dynamics. This paper analyses inbound tourist photographs by combining deep learning techniques with spatial analysis to examine the spatial and temporal distribution of photo scenes and shifts in scene preferences among tourists. The study focuses on three distinct types of destinations in Slovenia—urban (Ljubljana), nature-based/alpine (Bled), and coastal (Piran, Izola, Koper)—providing insights into how image-based spatial scene analysis can inform destination marketing strategies. The results reveal significant spatial and temporal heterogeneity of scenes across micro destinations. Nature-based destinations exhibit lower topic entropy and fewer topic changes per user, whereas urban destinations show higher variability, with users changing topics on average five times per day. Seasonal effects are moderate: nature-based destinations display lower topic entropy in winter and higher in autumn and spring, coastal destinations show less pronounced seasonal variation, and urban destinations show almost none. These findings provide valuable insights into the spatial and temporal distribution of tourist interests and offer practical guidance for DMOs in strategic marketing planning. Full article

Wellness tourism, mainly connected to meditation, thermal springs and spa resorts, is an emerging tourism sector. At the same time, contact with natural environments through physical exercise, hiking or walking in forests proves significantly positive in terms of stress reduction, relaxation, mental restoration and revitalization. In this framework, the unique natural landscapes of mountains, along with their plethora of local cultures, comprise important places for the development of wellness tourism based on hiking, mountaineering, forest bathing, yoga and Pilates practice. In view of this, an online study regarding 234 participants of hiking/mountaineering clubs and yoga/Pilates studios in northern Greece was conducted in 2022. In total, 16 clubs and studios participated in the questionnaire survey, with a random sample consisting of 68% women and 32% men. This study investigated the choices and preferences of people who visit mountains for hiking and mountaineering in Greece. The findings reveal that young people and especially women, who are well educated, engage dynamically in this male-dominated sector. Hiking and mountaineering appear to be habits of commitment and devotion rather than sporadic recreational activities; they are distributed throughout the year and hold strong potential for the sustainable development of peripheral mountainous communities. Relevant policies and spatial planning principles focusing on environmental and cultural responsibility, community involvement, gender inclusivity and diversity of target groups are further suggested to support the development of hiking- and mountaineering-based wellness tourism in mountainous Greece. Full article

This study aims to examine how e-servicescape dimensions, demographic characteristics and user experience influence consumer perception of Peer-to-Peer (P2P) online platforms. The literature review is focused on servicescape, e-servicescape, and peer-to-peer (P2P) platforms in the hospitality sector. A relevant research model and hypothesis were established. For the empirical study, a questionnaire was developed and conducted on 135 users of P2P online platforms in the hospitality sector. Reliability analysis and hypothesis tests were identified through SPSSv31. Study results and implications were discussed and suggested. The results showed that all six subdimensions such as aesthetics, social presence, perceived personalization, perceived trust and safety, perceived interactivity and superior functionality, overall, create a positive perception in P2P users. While demographic characteristics showed no significant impact on consumer perception of the six e-servicescape dimensions, the user experience (frequency of use) confirmed that individuals that more frequently use P2P online platforms have a more positive perception of the e-servicescape. This study identified the importance of the dimensions of e-servicescape in P2P platforms in the hospitality sector and how they influence consumers’ perceptions, addressing a research gap caused by the limited empirical evidence on the role of demographic characteristics in the e-servicescape within hospitality in the sharing economy. Full article

Social networks are now integral to corporate strategy and daily social life. They enable the rapid and extensive dissemination of information, proving highly effective for promoting hotel marketing content. Consequently, they facilitate interaction and engagement between hotels and their customers, serving both advertising and evaluation purposes. This study aims to analyse the use of the Facebook social network by luxury wine hotels located in countries associated with the Mediterranean Diet. An analytical model examining the variables of content, interactivity, and visibility was employed. A total of 17 luxury hotel pages were analysed, with data collected using the Karma Fanpage platform, an online tool for social media analysis and monitoring. The findings indicate that the majority of profile posts were photographs, and that this format generated the highest number of user reactions. It is recommended that hotels publish more photographic content to foster greater engagement and conduct further analysis of the specific types of posts that elicit the most reactions. Full article

This study examines the political dilemma in tourism governance in Mandalika, Indonesia, focusing on three key components: accountability, transparency, and resource allocation. This research aims to reframe the role of political activity to align with the principles of community benefit and justice. Data collection was conducted through a survey from August to September 2025, with 465 questionnaires distributed. A total of 444 questionnaires (95.48%) were deemed valid, while 21 (4.52%) did not meet the criteria and were excluded from the analysis. Data were analyzed through Microsoft Excel and SmartPLS version 4.1.1. The results show that a serious political problem leads to less freedom in how things are managed, making it harder to trust the systems for accountability, transparency, and resources in tourism governance. This condition is closely related to the dominance of the central authority, which holds significant control over the tourism industry and positions it as a national strategic sector. Consequently, the limited policy flexibility and strict restrictions of the tourism management framework leave local authorities and communities with limited maneuvering options. Statistical testing supports significant relationships, both direct and indirect. This study recommends more genuine and balanced integration between national and local authorities to create mutually beneficial opportunities, strengthen sustainability, and enhance international competitiveness through multi-stakeholder engagement in more inclusive governance. This research employs a quantitative, exploratory approach to elucidate the political dynamics and constraints that limit the involvement of local tourism authorities and communities in tourism management in Mandalika, Indonesia. Full article

This study investigates the antecedents of consumers’ willingness to pay more for sustainable (green) events, applying the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) in the context of Serbia, a developing non-Western economy. Using survey data from event attendees, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was employed to identify empirically supported dimensions underlying the original TPB-related constructs. Four factors emerged: Integrated Behavioral Orientation toward Green Events, Preferences for Green Events, Subjective Norms and Perceived Behavioral Control, and Attitudes toward Green Events. Regression analyses show that Subjective Norms and Perceived Behavioral Control and Preferences for Green Events are the strongest predictors of willingness to pay more, while Integrated Behavioral Orientation has a weaker but significant effect. In contrast, Attitudes toward Green Events did not significantly influence willingness to pay, suggesting that positive attitudes alone are insufficient without supportive social norms, perceived control, or strong personal preferences. These findings also highlight the importance of social influence, perceived control, and individual preferences in shaping consumers’ financial support for green events. The study provides an empirically grounded framework for understanding willingness to pay in green event contexts beyond Western settings and offers practical guidance for organizers seeking to enhance participation and investment in sustainable practices. Full article

The awareness and participation of local communities play a critical role in the sustainable development of tourism. This study aims to examine, in depth and systematically, the levels of awareness among the local population regarding the natural, cultural, and gastronomic assets of Bingöl Province. The study includes structured questions, photo-based applications, word cloud analysis, and an interactive puzzle technique (word search puzzle) to measure participants’ levels of recognition and awareness of touristic values. The data were collected through face-to-face structured interviews conducted with 25 participants. The findings reveal that while participants exhibited high levels of awareness regarding well-known values such as the Floating Islands, Natural Monument, Haserek Ski Center, Bingöl Honey, Kös Thermal Springs, and the 33 Martyrs’ Monument, their awareness was comparatively limited for lesser known or newly registered values. The correct identification rates of the photographs indicate which local assets are more familiar to the public and which require further promotion efforts. The puzzle technique used within the study enabled participants to learn about touristic and cultural assets in a more effective, interactive, and engaging manner, thereby enhancing their visual and cognitive awareness. Overall, the use of visual materials and interactive methods in the promotion of Bingöl’s touristic and cultural assets is expected to increase public awareness and contribute to the preservation of local cultural heritage. This approach also provides valuable insights for the development of regional tourism strategies and sustainable tourism planning. Full article

Educational tourism in protected natural areas (PNAs) has established itself as a valuable strategy for promoting sustainability by integrating learning experiences with conservation and territorial development objectives. However, the international literature still offers limited evidence on the conditions that facilitate its implementation in non-formal contexts, particularly regarding the availability, consistency, and quality of interpretive infrastructure for public use that supports educational processes. This study addresses this gap through an assessment aimed at examining the relationship between educational tourism and landscape characteristics, as well as identifying which PNAs are most suitable for the development of educational tourism initiatives. The province of Ciudad Real (Castilla-La Mancha, Spain) is used as a case study, as it presents the highest regional concentration of PNAs and a remarkable diversity of landscapes. Using a standardised field form, 35 PNAs were inventoried and evaluated according to three key dimensions: interpretive provision, accessibility, and informational materials, including the incorporation of landscape content as a pedagogical resource. The variables used were subjected to a critical comparative analysis for the characterisation and categorical organisation of the spaces studied. The results reveal marked territorial heterogeneity in terms of facility availability, state of conservation, and effective integration into the interpretive offering, with comprehensive approaches remaining scarce. Only a limited number of sites adequately combine these dimensions, establishing themselves as enclaves with high tourism and educational potential. Overall, the findings highlight the importance of developing coherent infrastructure and considering the landscape as a key interpretive element in educational tourism in PNAs. Full article

Online guided tours have become an essential form of non-contact tourism, yet the experiential attributes shaping participants’ digital tour experiences remain underexplored. This study aims to identify the core experiential dimensions of online guided tours by analyzing user-generated review data and interpreting the findings through the experience economy framework. A dataset of 1506 participant reviews was collected from major online guided tour platforms and analyzed using text mining techniques, including TF-IDF and Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA). The results reveal the following seven experiential attributes: entertainment, education, esthetics, escapism, presence, interactivity, and digital environment. These findings indicate that online guided tours extend beyond traditional 4E experience dimensions, incorporating digitally mediated elements such as real-time communication and platform-driven immersion. The proposed “4E + 3D Model” captures the hybrid nature of digital tourism experiences, combining classic experiential factors with technology-enabled components. This study contributes to tourism experience research by empirically validating an expanded experiential structure suitable for digital contexts. It also demonstrates the value of user-generated review analysis for deriving authentic experiential insights. The results provide practical implications for enhancing online guided tour design, emphasizing real-time interactivity, digital esthetics, and system stability to improve participant experiences in virtual tourism settings. Full article

Hydrotherapy tourism is a significant and long-standing area of interest, with countries worldwide employing innovative strategies to attract tourists. It not only offers desirable benefits but also plays a role in the development of tourist destinations. This research aims to identify critical success factors for tourist attraction in a prominent destination in northwest Iran, particularly in Ardabil Province (Sareyn county). It utilizes a mixed-method approach, employing the Partially Mixed Sequential Dominant Status Design methodology across three phases: qualitative, qualitative, and quantitative. The study employs sequential methods including scoping review, Delphi, and surveys to achieve its objectives. Data collection involved utilizing reputable scientific databases in the initial phase. Subsequently, 15 experts underwent purposeful selection for interviews and three rounds of Delphi surveys in the second phase. In the third phase, data collection was conducted through a questionnaire tool. Initially, approximately 141 relevant studies were identified, narrowed down to 11 primary ones using the scoping review checklist. Then, experts utilized the qualitative Delphi method to confirm and extract effective indices, resulting in 6 components and 50 indices. Finally, 61 experts provided feedback on confirming or rejecting these components and indices in the quantitative survey phase. The quantitative survey highlighted key factors influencing hydrotherapy tourism in Sareyn, such as supportive services, community backing, and smart destination management. Prioritizing healthcare, safety, reputation enhancement, and digital initiatives, like modern infrastructure, specialized apps, and social media engagement, is essential. These elements significantly impact tourist satisfaction and engagement, shaping Sareyn County’s hydrotherapy tourism. Strengthening these factors can boost its appeal, economic contribution, and status as a leading tourist destination in Ardabil Province and beyond. Full article

Tourism and destination healthcare systems are increasingly interdependent, yet this relationship remains weakly conceptualised within tourism and hospitality research. Expanding travel flows introduce transient populations, seasonal demand volatility, and distinctive risk profiles that reshape local healthcare demand, while healthcare capacity and governance have become critical enabling conditions for destination resilience and competitiveness. This conceptual paper synthesises contemporary research and practice-based evidence to develop an integrated framework explaining how tourism development and healthcare systems co-evolve. Using a narrative review and conceptual synthesis approach, the framework is informed by two contrasting destination contexts: Phuket, Thailand, a high-volume international and medical tourism hub, and Australia’s Northern Territory, a low-density remote tourism region reliant on aeromedical retrieval and public health services. The proposed framework identifies three interlinked pillars—tourism pressure pathways, health system response capacities, and opportunity leverage mechanisms—positioning healthcare systems as core tourism infrastructure and health system resilience as a central dimension of sustainable destination governance. The framework offers a transferable analytical tool to support tourism planning, health policy integration, and cross-sectoral governance across diverse destination settings. Full article

Cultural festivals have long been anchored in co-located, resource-intensive events, which increasingly raises questions about who can participate, at what environmental cost and with what consequences for cultural integrity in destinations facing overtourism. This paper examines how metaverse-based, metaverse-adjacent and hybrid festival configurations may reconfigure festival tourism by reshaping accessibility, cultural engagement and environmental performance, and considers the implications for governance and policy. Drawing on a narrative literature review of academic and institutional sources published mainly between 2010 and 2025, it synthesises work on digital transformation, virtual and hybrid events, accessible tourism, digital inequality, overtourism and sustainable festival management. The paper offers a structured, critically informed synthesis and a set of propositions intended to guide future empirical and theoretical research on metaverse applications in tourism and hospitality. The review suggests that “metaverse-based” festivals can ease geographical, financial and some physical constraints for some groups, widen participation for underserved groups and support new forms of cultural preservation and co-creation, while also risking deeper digital inequalities and renewed concerns about cultural commodification, data governance and authenticity. Environmentally, virtual participation may reduce travel-related emissions and local crowding when it substitutes for physical attendance, while shifting impacts towards energy-intensive digital infrastructures and device lifecycles. Full article

Traveling to sites appearing in anime works, commonly known as anime pilgrimages, has become prominent over the past two decades. Previous studies have shown that anime pilgrims exhibit strong destination loyalty, including positive word-of-mouth and site-enhancement activities. However, few studies have identified the causal mechanisms between destination loyalty of anime pilgrims and their antecedents. Based on the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) hypothesis, this study developed a hypothetical model to determine how place attachment mediates the causal link between visual media-induced destination attractiveness and destination loyalty in anime pilgrimage. Using online survey data from anime pilgrims in Japan (n = 365), this study analyzed the proposed model through structural equation modeling (SEM) and identified two main findings. First, place attachment as a second-order factor consists of two dimensions: place personal attachment and place social bonding. Second, place attachment has a significant mediating role in the relationship between destination attractiveness and anime pilgrims’ loyalty. This study offers theoretical and managerial contributions for advancing tourism research and destination marketing in the context of visual media-induced tourism. Full article

This study examines multi-celebrity deployment as a destination branding practice, using Seoul as an empirical case. The analysis draws on 172 official tourism promotional videos released by the Seoul Tourism Organization between 2011 and 2025, featuring 67 identifiable celebrities and 438 destination references. A qualitative content analysis examines how celebrity endorsement is organized as a branding mechanism, focusing on who appears, what is represented, and how representations are communicated across media formats over time. The findings show that Seoul’s tourism promotion operates through a structured multi-celebrity branding system in which multiple endorsers are coordinated across campaigns and periods. Endorser selection is anchored in Hallyu-affiliated celebrities who function as primary carriers of destination meaning, while emerging, non-Hallyu, and heritage-linked figures occupy complementary roles that broaden representational scope and reduce reliance on individual figures. Celebrity endorsement continues to emphasize major and symbolically dense attractions, while also extending visibility to everyday neighborhoods and locally oriented urban landscapes. Long-term ambassador-led campaigns coexist with travel vlogs and other creative video formats, enabling variation in narrative tone and experiential framing. Theoretically, the study extends celebrity endorsement research by conceptualizing multi-celebrity deployment as a coordinated branding system. Practically, the findings show how destination marketing organizations can mobilize a broad pool of celebrity resources to structure endorsement portfolios over time. Coordinated use of celebrities with different levels of familiarity supports wider spatial representation, enables ongoing narrative renewal, and maintains promotional continuity across changing media environments. This configuration is most applicable to destinations with strong cultural visibility and an established celebrity ecosystem, and may be less transferable to destinations with limited access to influential figures. Full article

This article examines the everyday dynamics of informal activities in touristified urban environments through a qualitative case study of Porto, Portugal. Drawing on an urban ethnography combining observation and semi-structured interviews, we analyse how individuals providing tourism-related services perceive their role within informality, how they articulate their agency, and how their practices contribute to the everyday production of the tourist experience. The study shows that engagement in informal tourism work is structured by intersecting legal, economic and institutional constraints that channel professional trajectories into unregulated or semi-recognised forms of labor. Individuals display significant agency through adaptive strategies, craft-based skills and relational networks that enable them to navigate surveillance, seasonality and spatial exclusion. We argue that these practices operate as a form of urban tourism scaffolding, to conceptualise informal tourism practices as a contingent support structure that sustains tourist experiences beyond formal planning and infrastructure. Although situated in precarity and vulnerability, these practices produce structural effects on the urban tourism offer by filling gaps, organizing encounters and animating public space. By conceptualising informal tourism work as a processual and relational support structure rather than as marginal spontaneity or residual activity, the article highlights the need to reconsider informal labour as a constitutive dimension of tourist cities. Full article

This study examines how community-based tourism (CBT) supports sustainable livelihoods by clarifying the mediating roles of community participation and tourism-related employment. Drawing on the Sustainable Livelihood Framework, Community Participation Theory, and the community development and empowerment approach, survey data were collected from 320 CBT-involved residents in three Vietnamese CBT settings (Ba Vì–Hà Nội, Lào Cai, and Lâm Đồng) during April–June 2025. Using PLS-SEM with bootstrapping and IPMA, the findings show that community participation and tourism-related employment are pivotal pathways through which livelihood assets translate into sustainable livelihood outcomes. Indigenous cultural values and policy commitment enhance livelihoods mainly by stimulating employment generation, whereas community awareness, human resource capacity, and access to financial capital operate primarily by strengthening community participation. IPMA indicates that participation and employment represent the most actionable leverage points for interventions. This study’s novelty lies in providing a mechanism-based explanation of CBT’s livelihood effects and converting SEM evidence into practical prioritization. Policy and managerial implications emphasize strengthening inclusive participation mechanisms, expanding and upgrading local employment (skills development, job stability, and market linkages), and reinforcing enabling institutional support that safeguards indigenous cultural values while improving household livelihood resilience in CBT contexts. Full article

Mobile technologies are rapidly growing and shaping the tourism industry. Nonetheless, remote locations have specific characteristics that could restrain the deployment and use of technologies and jeopardize the sense of safety, affecting tourism experiences. There is a lack of empirical research that studies the importance of mobile technologies and security networks in remote destinations. A survey based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) was conducted on 738 tourists during their stay in the Autonomous Region of the Azores, a nine-island Portuguese archipelago, to analyze the importance and impact of mobile technologies and security services. Since tourists have a high intensity of smartphone usage during their stay (86% use mobile internet and almost 50% use smartphones once per hour), mobile communication services and technologies need to be in place. Internet access and Wi-Fi are highly important for tourists for browsing and messaging, especially in urban areas, but also in rural and maritime areas. The availability of emergency and security networks is critical for destination selection and to engage in tourism activities. This paper contributes to the study of mobile tourism in remote destinations, with inputs regarding tourists’ behavior, and has implications for governance and industry stakeholders regarding destination management and the creation of meaningful and sustainable experiences with a high value for digital and smart tourists in the post-pandemic era. Full article

The hotel sector is widely perceived as offering poor working conditions, contributing to persistent labor shortages within the industry. Transforming management practices in line with humanistic management principles has been suggested as one way to address these challenges. However, limited research has examined how hotel employees themselves perceive humanistic management relative to more traditional managerial practices and other approaches used to attract and motivate staff. This scoping study addresses this gap by surveying hotel employees in Austria, a tourism-intensive economy, to assess the perceived value of humanistic management practices. The findings show that although adopting humanistic management alone cannot fully resolve issues related to employee attraction and retention, it nonetheless has a significant positive effect on employees’ perceptions of employer attractiveness. Several humanistic practices valued by employees can be implemented without substantial increases in operational costs. These results suggest that hotel managers, even in data-driven decision environments, should integrate humanistic management practices while maintaining competitive remuneration. For policymakers in tourism-dependent destinations, the findings highlight the need to strengthen regulations that encourage more humanistic working conditions in hotels, thereby improving the overall quality of employment and enhancing the sector’s long-term attractiveness. Full article

Background: Influencer marketing has become one of the most effective strategies in digital communication due to its capacity to generate trust, credibility and endorsement within segmented online communities. Within the tourism sector, travel influencers have been progressively integrated as key agents in destination and brand promotion, contributing to both the construction of tourism-related perceptions and travel decision-making. This study aims to analyse how travel influencers communicate and promote tourist destinations, focusing on their profiles, content formats, commercial transparency and audience engagement. Methods: The research is based on a quantitative content analysis of publications by leading Spanish travel influencers identified through the Forbes Best Content Creators 2025 ranking. The observation period covered March to July 2025. Analysis was structured around four analytical blocks comprising 17 variables related to influencer profile, format and content, commercial transparency and ethics, and interaction. Results: The results reveal consistent behavioural patterns associated with gender, destination type and narrative style. Male influencers are more frequently linked to adventure-oriented storytelling and natural landscapes, whereas female influencers tend to emphasise urban and cultural experiences. Short-form video emerges as the dominant format, generating higher interaction levels, while engagement proves to be a more informative indicator of effectiveness than follower count. Conclusions: The findings underscore the importance of prioritising specialisation, narrative coherence, authenticity and transparency when integrating influencers into their communication strategies. Full article

This study examines how travelers alleviate anxiety during trips through real-time self-disclosure on social media. Based on the Transactional Theory of Stress and Coping and Social Penetration Theory, this study explores a process model in which travel anxiety triggers self-disclosure, which subsequently strengthens perceived social connectedness and psychological comfort. Survey data from 240 Korean travelers who shared content during their trip were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), which is suitable to this research in terms of estimating complex, theory-building models with multiple latent constructs. Results show that psychological comfort predicts travel satisfaction and fully mediates the effect of social connectedness on satisfaction. By reframing social media use as a real-time coping mechanism rather than post-experience sharing, and positioning psychological comfort as a distinct low-arousal emotional mediator, this study extends tourism research on on-site digital coping and tourist experience management. Full article

Cultural heritage is central to tourism competitiveness, yet its role as a competitive asset remains unclear in many heritage-rich destinations. This paper uses the Travel and Tourism Development Index (TTDI) as a proxy framework to examine cultural resource intensity and indicators associated with event-related activation capacity in relation to tourism performance across EU member states. Through cluster analysis, we identify cultural resource profiles, and via regression-based normalization, we evaluate tourism performance while controlling for population size and cultural intensity. Within the TTDI, cultural activation is captured indirectly through indicators which capture the intensity and structural capacity of cultural assets relevant for tourism performance, treating events as channels that transform cultural endowments into measurable tourism outcomes. This method allows the identification of systematic patterns of relative over- and under-performance. The findings reveal a competitiveness paradox: destinations with abundant cultural assets lead in absolute tourism volumes, but those with more modest cultural stocks often exceed expectations once scale is considered. Some destinations with fewer yet more effectively used cultural resources perform above expectations, suggesting that observed competitiveness is more closely associated with the effective activation of cultural assets than on sheer cultural richness. The paper also shows that regression-based normalization is methodologically valuable for exposing structural competitiveness differences that per capita indicators can obscure. Full article