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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2024) | Viewed by 25274

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Kostas Alexandris

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Guest Editor

Dept of PE and Sport Science, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece
Interests: consumer behavior in sport, leisure and tourism; sustainable events
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Olga Polyakova

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Guest Editor

Department of Service Sector Management, Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, UK
Interests: consumer behavior; leisure; sport management; sustainable events
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Adele Doran

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Guest Editor

Department of Service Sector Management, Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, UK
Interests: adventure tourism; adventure recreation; consumer behaviour; equality, diversity and inclusivity; well-being; decent work

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Despite the huge economic benefits of tourism, recently, there have been concerns about the negative impact of tourism development related mainly to environmental pollution, excessive energy consumption, and wasting physical resources. There have also been concerns about the negative influence of tourism on the quality of life of host communities, due to over-tourism (Streimikiene et al., 2020).

As a result, sustainable tourism development has become a key topic from a theoretical and applied point of view (Yang et al., 2023).

According to the World Tourism Organisation, Sustainable Tourism refers to "tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment and host communities” (https://www.unwto.org/sustainable-development). The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) recognize the importance and complexity of sustainable tourism in ending poverty, saving our planet, and creating a prosperous world for all. This Special Issue aims to attract papers that discuss theoretical developments, trends, principles, and good practices in the area of sustainable tourism and especially regarding SDGs. Indicative topics will include:

Environmental resources and tourism development;
Socio-economic benefits of sustainable tourism;
Sustainable tourism and socio-cultural authenticity;
Sources of well-being;
Sustainable tourism as a strategy for competitive advantage;
Sustainable development of tourism destinations;
Socio-demographic trends and sustainable tourism;
Innovation/technology and sustainable tourism development;
Alternative forms of tourism and sustainability;
Consumer behavior and sustainable tourism;
Decent work in tourism;
Reduced inequalities through tourism;
Climate change and sustainable tourism;
Accessible tourism;
Sustainable events.

It is expected that submitted papers will cover recent theoretical and applied developments in sustainable tourism, considering the SDGs and advancing academic knowledge.

Prof. Dr. Kostas Alexandris
Dr. Olga Polyakova
Dr. Adele Doran
Guest Editors

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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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
sustainable development goals
niche tourism
sustainable destinations
sustainable events

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Published Papers (8 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 1273 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Modeling Tourism Demand in Turkey (2008–2024): Time-Series Approaches for Sustainable Growth

by Günal Bilek

Sustainability 2025, 17(4), 1396; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17041396 - 8 Feb 2025

Viewed by 1392

Abstract

Tourism is a critical sector for economic growth and cultural exchange, particularly for destinations like Turkey, which consistently attracts millions of visitors annually. This study investigates the dynamics of tourism demand in Turkey between 2008 and 2024, with a focus on seasonality, long-term trends, and predictive modeling accuracy. Time-series data were analyzed, and the impacts of economic indicators and digital search trends were evaluated using SARIMA and SARIMAX models. The results demonstrate that the SARIMA models outperformed the SARIMAX models, highlighting the dominance of intrinsic seasonal patterns over external regressors, such as exchange rates and inflation. The findings emphasize that geographic proximity and cultural similarities drive consistent tourist flows, while behavioral data like Google Trends provide supplementary insights into demand shifts. However, economic variables showed limited short-term predictive power. These results underscore the importance of prioritizing time-series structures in forecasting frameworks while complementing them with behavioral indicators for enhanced accuracy. This study contributes to the literature by addressing a critical gap in understanding how various factors influence tourism demand in Turkey and offers practical implications for policymakers and tourism planners to optimize strategic planning and resource allocation, ensuring sustainable tourism growth. Future research should explore hybrid models that incorporate sentiment-driven data and cultural factors for more robust forecasting. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Tourism and Sustainable Development Goals)

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17 pages, 1493 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Development of E-Tourism to Achieve Excellence and Sustainable Development in Tourism: Ha’il Region Case Study

by Younès Bahou, Rabab Triki, Mohamed Hédi Maâloul and Kais Tissaoui

Sustainability 2024, 16(20), 8872; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16208872 - 13 Oct 2024

Viewed by 2951

Abstract

E-tourism is one of the most important levers for social and economic development. The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has declared 2017 the year of sustainable tourism for development. When relying on sophisticated communication technologies. Certainly, these innovations in the field of this analysis aim to determine the main factors of e-tourism achieving excellence in tourism in the Ha’il region. Tourism has disrupted this sector with new and different dimensions of tourism development. This has led various regions and countries to accelerate the search for the tools necessary to achieve excellence and sustainable development in tourism. This research aims to study the development factors of e-tourism to achieve excellence and sustainable development in the tourism of the Ha’il region. Therefore, the gap in this research is represented by the lack of a comprehensive analysis of the interaction between e-tourism development factors and factors that promote tourism excellence in the Ha’il region to achieve sustainable development. For this reason, we applied two analyses: in the first one, we used a statistical analysis based on the survey sent to 500 employees from tourism companies. This analysis aimed to determine the main factors that influence e-tourism to achieve excellence in tourism in the Ha’il region. The results of the statistical analysis gave us the following elements: There are only four main factors that allow authorities to achieve excellence in tourism in the Ha’il region, namely Supporting Technology (ST), Competition Pressure (CP), Human Resource Skills (HRS), and Socio-Cultural (SC) factors. Then, we proceed with a second analysis to determine the main factors of excellence in tourism that drive the achievement of sustainable development in tourism in the Ha’il region. For this reason, we applied an artificial intelligence method based on the unsupervised machine learning technique. The results obtained from the machine learning technique show that five factors determine the excellence in tourism and reveal the sustainable development of Ha’il’s tourism. These factors are ST, CP, Financial Performance (FP), HRS, and Government Commitment (GC). Consequently, we consider that all the factors found in both analyses are important to realise excellence in tourism and sustainable development in tourism. However, to achieve sustainable development in tourism in Ha’il, Saudi authorities must develop the three common factors found in the two analyses, namely ST, CP, and HRS. Therefore, this study is expected to help introduce ways of excellence in e-tourism by marketing it using artificial intelligence, enabling the development of the tourism sector in an enormous area. It will also contribute significantly to the formulation of plans, policies, and strategies that will largely ensure the development of Ha’il’s tourism sector. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Tourism and Sustainable Development Goals)

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23 pages, 305 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Classification of Hotels in the Context of Sustainable Development Factors: A Case Study of Public Policy in the European Union and Poland

by Ewa Wszendybył-Skulska and Aleksander Panasiuk

Sustainability 2024, 16(19), 8485; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16198485 - 29 Sep 2024

Viewed by 1979

Abstract

With the growing awareness among entrepreneurs and consumers within the tourism industry regarding the field of sustainable development, it seems necessary to base hotel classification systems on an integrated approach to management quality, including the fulfillment of ecological and environmental criteria. However, this topic has yet to be recognized in the literature, especially concerning the European market. Therefore, this article aims to fill this research gap and indicate how environmental standards have been implemented in the European system of hotel classification—Hotelstars Union (HSU)—and that in force in Poland. With regard to these systems, the differences in the classification criteria taken into account by the certifying organizations in the European Union (EU) and the administrative hotel categorization system in Poland are pointed out. Particular emphasis is placed on the criteria related to environmental management in the hotel industry. The criteria related to environmental management were identified through an analysis of the criteria of eight environmental management systems that are applicable to the contemporary hotel industry. The results of this research prove that, even though the HSU system takes the principles of sustainable development into account to a much greater extent than the Polish system, its primary weakness is that most of its criteria related to the environment are optional. In addition, the optional criteria have higher weights than the obligatory ones. In turn, the Polish classification system makes very little reference to environmental standards. Moreover, it is not detailed, and the assessment criteria are not up to date. Therefore, it is recommended that a greater number of environmental criteria be included in the next update of the HSU system, which should be obligatory for hotels to meet. In addition, the sustainability criteria included in the HSU system should be adapted to the policy system aimed at the hotel industry in Poland and other EU countries. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Tourism and Sustainable Development Goals)

15 pages, 3211 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Utilizing Topic Modeling to Identify Sustainability Trends in the Golf Industry

by Seung A Shin and Hyeon Jo

Sustainability 2024, 16(15), 6507; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16156507 - 30 Jul 2024

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2204

Abstract

The environmental impact of the golf industry has garnered increasing attention, emphasizing the need for sustainable practices in golf course management. This study aims to develop strategic frameworks that enable the golf industry to address global environmental challenges and integrate eco-friendly principles. Utilizing topic modeling, the research examines key areas such as pesticide use, waste management, and energy consumption within golf courses, and explores strategies for achieving carbon neutrality and developing sustainable golf wear and branding. The findings reveal specific management practices that significantly reduce environmental harm, including integrated pest management, waste reduction techniques, and the adoption of renewable energy sources. Case studies of leading golf clubs demonstrate successful implementation of carbon neutrality strategies. Furthermore, the research highlights the potential of eco-friendly golf wear to enhance brand credibility and meet consumer demands. These insights hold valuable implications for golf course managers, club operators, policymakers, and golfers, promoting a comprehensive approach to sustainability in the golf industry. The study’s contributions extend beyond the immediate environmental challenges, offering a framework for long-term sustainability and competitive advantage. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Tourism and Sustainable Development Goals)

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26 pages, 6008 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Sustainable Development Concept of Heritage Kampung Tourism Using Novel Prioritization Approach

by Ibnu Sasongko, Ardiyanto Maksimilianus Gai and Vidya Trisandini Azzizi

Sustainability 2024, 16(7), 2934; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16072934 - 1 Apr 2024

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2716

Abstract

Rapid urban development in Southeast Asia is often the main cause of urban kampung formation, a cluster of sporadic and informal settlements. Kampungs possess the capacity to serve to build the local economy and provide culture conservation through heritage tourism. To promote sustainable development in heritage kampung tourism, it is imperative to propose directives that optimize its heritage qualities without compromising both the economic and environmental aspects of sustainability. This study aims to develop a comprehensive sustainable development framework on a local scale by implementing a novel prioritization approach. Descriptive statistical analysis, Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), and Fuzzy AHP (FAHP) provide the researchers with a holistic understanding regarding heritage tourism sustainability by considering various stakeholders’ perspectives. Novel prioritization is presented using radar diagrams to understand how each variable, representing environmental, social, and economic criteria, has perceived importance according to experts and tourists. The analysis highlights the kampung Kayutangan’s sustainability while acknowledging variations in element importance, necessitating the alignment of development directives. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Tourism and Sustainable Development Goals)

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18 pages, 508 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Total Quality Management in Sport Tourism and the Hospitality Industry: The Case of Greek Luxury Resorts with Sport and Recreation Facilities and Services

by Alkistis Papaioannou, Konstantinos Koronios, Lazaros Ntasis, Georgia Yfantidou, Panagiota Balaska and Eleni Spyridopoulou

Sustainability 2024, 16(5), 1894; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16051894 - 26 Feb 2024

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 6702

Abstract

Total quality management (TQM) refers to a way of management wherein senior management is committed to guiding employees in continuous improvement in all processes, services and products, with the ultimate goal of satisfying customer requirements and expectations. The purpose of the present study was to examine the impact of leadership, organization culture (OC), customer-oriented strategy (COS) and human resource empowerment (HRE) on innovation, as well as the effect of innovation on TQM for sustainable development in Greek luxury resorts with sport and recreation facilities and services. A quantitative 5-point Likert scale method was utilized for the purpose of this study, and an online questionnaire survey was adopted for the data collection. To evaluate the resilience of our model, we conducted structural equation modeling using SPSS and AMOS software. Varimax rotation with Kaiser normalization was utilized to enhance the robustness of the analysis. A total of 895 questionnaires were successfully gathered from 454 luxury resorts. This study validated that leadership, OC, COS and HRE positively impact the luxury resorts’ innovation and thus support that innovation had a significant impact on TQM, which in turn leads to their sustainability and effectiveness and is supported by the resource-based view (RBV). Furthermore, this study is the first within the Greek hotel industry that jointly estimates the influence of leadership, OC, COS and HRE on innovation and its concurrent effect on TQM for sustainable development, which has not been methodologically considered before and provides useful policy implications for managers within the hotel industry. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Tourism and Sustainable Development Goals)

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20 pages, 2120 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Interrelationships among Tourism, Economic, and Environmental Time Series—The Case of Slovenia

by Sergej Gricar, Violeta Šugar and Jasmina Starc

Sustainability 2023, 15(19), 14488; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151914488 - 4 Oct 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2500

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between CO₂ emissions and economic factors in the hospitality industry, covering the period from January 2000 to December 2021. The research findings reveal an association between prices, fiscal and monetary factors, and wages in the hospitality industry. CO₂ emissions contribute to environmental degradation and are among the external variables. To test the validity of their hypotheses, the researchers employ the principal components analysis method, using two main components and new regressors to explain most of the variances in a sample of 18 variables. The study employs monthly time series data to explore the links between the variables in the hospitality industry. The study results reveal a connection between shocks during the analysed period and increased CO₂ emissions. The period under review includes Slovenia’s European accession in 2004, adoption of the Euro in 2007, the financial crises in 2008/2009, economic expansion in the previous decade, and, most recently, the COVID-19 pandemic and the beginning of energy distortions. The study’s primary application involves processing 264 monthly observations, which provide an essential time series vector. The discussion section delves into the country’s sustainable tourism development concept, aligning with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Key Action 12. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Tourism and Sustainable Development Goals)

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15 pages, 994 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Golf Club Management Challenges towards Sustainability: Opportunities and Innovations during and after the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Perspective

by Ricardo Macías, José Bonal, Jairo León-Quismondo, Iyán Iván-Baragaño, Javier del Arco, Pablo Burillo and Álvaro Fernández-Luna

Sustainability 2023, 15(18), 13657; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151813657 - 13 Sep 2023

Viewed by 2832

Abstract

Golf is among the top five sports practiced in Spain because sport tourism is one of their main lines of income. During the COVID-19 pandemic, all golf clubs had to shut down and thus enter a situation of economic uncertainty. The main objective of this study was to assess the sport management challenges that general managers of golf clubs have had to face before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic, and how they dealt with these issues. In this qualitative case study, management challenges and strategies were explored by subjecting five golf club managers with at least 5 years of experience to semi-structured interviews. Managers described that they went from a pre-pandemic situation of economic growth to having to deal with different challenges such as a lack of tourism, increased costs, and a need to install new safety and maintenance protocols. All participants highlighted the importance of constant communication with and transparency among stakeholders (clubs, government bodies, federations) during and after the lockdown period. Management during the pandemic expedited the digitization of golf clubs, and this was considered one of the main upsides of this period. Exploring the strategies used could help managers of this and other sports facilities to design sustainable management protocols to deal with possible future health or economic crises. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Tourism and Sustainable Development Goals)

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