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Tourism Promotes Local Sustainable Development
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Tourism Promotes Local Sustainable Development

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Tourism, Culture, and Heritage".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 October 2026 | Viewed by 1410

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Marko Kukanja

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Tourism Studies-TURISTICA, University of Primorska, Portorož, Slovenia
Interests: tourism entrepreneurship; quality and service management; food & beverage management; hospitality and hotel management; sustainable development in tourism

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Tourism has long been recognised as a powerful driver of local economic growth, cultural exchange, and community well-being. At the same time, it faces growing challenges linked to sustainability, climate change, and rapid societal transformations. Ongoing digitalisation and the growing role of artificial intelligence (AI) are further transforming tourism operations, service quality, and destination management, creating both opportunities and risks for sustainable local development. These changes also highlight the need to adapt or even transform traditional business models in order to ensure long-term resilience, competitiveness, and sustainability. Ensuring that tourism contributes positively to local communities, therefore, requires innovative approaches that integrate economic viability, social responsibility, cultural heritage preservation, and environmental stewardship.

This Special Issue aims to advance knowledge on how tourism can foster local sustainable development in a rapidly changing world. We invite contributions that explore theoretical, methodological, and practical perspectives, addressing how tourism interacts with social, economic, technological, and environmental dimensions of sustainability. This Special Issue seeks to provide both scholarly insights and practical recommendations for advancing sustainable and responsible tourism.

We welcome original research articles and reviews using qualitative, quantitative, or mixed-method approaches. Comparative, interdisciplinary, and practice-oriented studies are particularly encouraged.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

  • Tourism entrepreneurship and local development.
  • Sustainable practices in hospitality and F&B Management.
  • Governance, policy, and community engagement in tourism.
  • Cultural heritage and sustainable destination management.
  • Environmental impacts and innovations for sustainability.
  • The role of digital transformation and AI in shaping sustainable tourism development.

We look forward to receiving your valuable contributions.

Dr. Marko Kukanja
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • sustainable tourism
  • local development
  • tourism entrepreneurship
  • destination management
  • hospitality, gastronomy, and food & beverage management
  • business model innovation
  • digital transformation and artificial intelligence (AI)

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 1591 KB  
Article
Performance Evaluation of Lhasa Winter Tourism Policy Based on Institutional Change Theory
by Xuan Zhou, Weican Tang and Haitao Zhang
Sustainability 2026, 18(10), 4979; https://doi.org/10.3390/su18104979 - 15 May 2026
Viewed by 161
Abstract
Most existing studies on winter tourism focus on destination development and resource evaluation, while systematic exploration of policy performance assessment remains insufficient. From the perspective of new institutional economics, this study innovatively introduces institutional change theory into the field of winter tourism policy [...] Read more.
Most existing studies on winter tourism focus on destination development and resource evaluation, while systematic exploration of policy performance assessment remains insufficient. From the perspective of new institutional economics, this study innovatively introduces institutional change theory into the field of winter tourism policy evaluation. It deconstructs the three-dimensional evolution of policies—covering “design, implementation, and outcome”—and incorporates satisfaction feedback from four stakeholders: the government, tourism enterprises, local residents, and tourists. This establishes a systematic “three-dimensional, four-stakeholder” evaluation framework. To address the difficulty in obtaining policy performance data and improve the scientific rigor of empirical research, a combined subjective and objective weighting measurement system is adopted, integrating three core research instruments: the Delphi method is used to screen and confirm evaluation indicators and their connotations to ensure the rationality and pertinence of the evaluation system; the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is applied to determine the weight of each evaluation indicator, realizing scientific and quantitative weighting of subjective and objective indicators; and questionnaire surveys are conducted to collect first-hand data on the satisfaction of the four stakeholder groups, providing empirical support for subsequent performance evaluation. This study surveyed 7 government staff, 15 tourism enterprise practitioners, 90 local residents, and 90 tourists, yielding 202 valid samples after screening. The results indicate that Lhasa’s “Winter Tour in Tibet” policy series achieved an overall effectiveness rating of B. Key deficiencies identified include insufficient public participation, low policy awareness, and weak ecological benefits. Consequently, it proposes localized optimization paths, such as “ecological winter tourism” and “targeted publicity”. This study establishes a theoretical framework for winter tourism policy evaluation, improves the methodological system for tourism policy research in special regions, provides a practical reference for the formulation and optimization of winter tourism policies in high-altitude ethnic areas, and expands the geographical coverage and theoretical boundaries of winter tourism policy research. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Tourism Promotes Local Sustainable Development)
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28 pages, 751 KB  
Article
Corporate Social Responsibility Practices, Managerial Attitudes Toward Artificial Intelligence, and AI Adoption in Micro and Small Restaurant SMEs
by Marko Kukanja and Tanja Planinc
Sustainability 2026, 18(6), 3030; https://doi.org/10.3390/su18063030 - 19 Mar 2026
Viewed by 637
Abstract
In hospitality SMEs, digital transformation is increasingly linked to sustainability goals. However, evidence on how corporate social responsibility (CSR) relates to the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) in owner-managed firms remains limited. This study examines CSR practices, managerial attitudes toward AI, and AI [...] Read more.
In hospitality SMEs, digital transformation is increasingly linked to sustainability goals. However, evidence on how corporate social responsibility (CSR) relates to the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) in owner-managed firms remains limited. This study examines CSR practices, managerial attitudes toward AI, and AI adoption in micro and small restaurant SMEs in a small European Union (EU) economy. Using survey data from 157 Slovenian restaurant SMEs and structural equation modelling, CSR is conceptualised as an enacted, practice-based orientation. At the same time, managerial attitudes toward AI are modelled as the key mechanism preceding adoption. Results reveal an asymmetric relationship between CSR and AI. Employee-related CSR practices, which are mainly institutionalised, do not significantly influence managerial AI attitudes. In contrast, environmental CSR practices are negatively associated with AI attitudes, indicating more cautious evaluations among environmentally responsible managers. Managerial attitudes toward AI are positively and significantly associated with AI adoption, confirming their central role in adoption decisions. Financial performance, measured by objective revenue data, does not emerge as a direct outcome of AI adoption but rather operates as a contextual condition shaping how CSR practices relate to managerial attitudes and how those attitudes translate into adoption decisions. Overall, the findings indicate that CSR does not uniformly translate into managerial attitudes toward AI and subsequent AI adoption in restaurant SMEs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Tourism Promotes Local Sustainable Development)
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