Sustainable Tourism—Achieving Equality in Tourism and Leisure Research

Dear Colleagues,

Sustainable tourism has developed rapidly during the last two decades, providing opportunities for exploration and discussion among the scholarly community (Butler, 1999; Budeanu et al., 2016; Branstrator et al., 2023; Hardy et al., 2010; Lu and Nepal, 2009). The concept of sustainable tourism equates the development of tourism with the protection of the environment (Hunter, 2009). However, it could be more cohesive, and the current research is disjointed and often misdirected (Liu, 2010). In particular, it is challenging to link the commercial (economic) interests of industry with social and environmental values based on sustainability principles (Postma et al., 2017).

As an important core concept of sustainable tourism, equity can be discussed in regard to the sustainable development of the environment, social economy, and culture and from the perspective of sustainable tourism management. These aspects can be subdivided into tourism demand patterns, stakeholders, intelligent tourism, local economic benefits, social well-being and impacts, cultural asset preservation, natural resource management, and other issues. In summary, for this Special Issue, we seek original and empirical research articles aiming to explore the equity of sustainable tourism and leisure under the thematic umbrella of sustainable tourism. The topics of interest for this Special Issue include, but are not limited to, the following：

1. Forms of travel demand: slow tourism, self-help tourism, female tourism, special ethnic group tourism, special theme tourism, etc.
2. Sustainable tourism management: natural resource management, tourism industry development, tourism destination management, etc.
3. Sustainable development of social economy: development of tourism economy, reducing the negative impact of tourism, improving resident well-being, responsible tourism consumption, etc.
4. The role of tourism in promoting social and cultural progress: cultural authenticity of tourist destinations, the value of tourism resources, cultural tourism experience and attachment, etc.
5. Well-being of stakeholders: tourism values and co-creation behavior, memorable tourism experiences, tourism emotional connections, etc.
6. The measurement of sustainability and forms of sustainable development: organic agricultural tourism, low-carbon tourism, intelligent tourism, etc.
7. Other related issues.

Dr. Ching-Cheng Shen
Dr. Tzuhui Angie Tseng
Dr. Chun-Nan Lin
Guest Editors

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• sustainable tourism
• intergenerational equity
• leisure
• sustainable development
• cultural tourism
• tourism resource management
• intelligent tourism