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Emerging Practices in Sustainable Tourism

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 1 October 2026 | Viewed by 2823

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
School of Resort & Hospitality Management, Lutgert College of Business, Florida Gulf Coast University, Fort Myers, FL 33965, USA
Interests: tourism development; social responsibility; consumer behavior
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
Coles College of Business, Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw, GA, USA
Interests: financial management and control; accounting; auditing; feasibility analysis; asset management; entrepreneurial ecosystems; operations management
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
Tourism, Hospitality and Event Management, Plymouth Business School, University of Plymouth, Fitzroy Building, Drake Circus, Plymouth PL4 8AA, UK
Interests: financial management; accounting controls; ecotourism; sustainable tourism development

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Within the tourism sector, it is a proven fact that sustainability practices are no longer considered a fleeting notion; instead, the pursuit sustainable tourism experiences has become a growing trend, as typified by tourists’ pursuit of environmental discovery, immersion in ecological encounters, and an upswell in psychological and physical well-being tourism, as expressed by residents and non-residents alike. Within this framework, editors are seeking emerging research on the topics outlined below.

This Special Issue provides a platform for scholars to share their emerging work pertaining to the growing body of knowledge concerning sustainable tourism. Potential topics include ecotourism, environmental citizenship, responsible community engagement, regenerative tourism, responsible tourism development by private and government entities, socio-environmental renewal, stakeholder justice, and sustainable policy practices. Therefore, in this Special Issue, we encourage researchers to submit quantitative, qualitative, or mixed-method approaches in the form of research articles or case studies, with a focus on emerging theories and practices concerning sustainable tourism development at micro or macro levels.

Prof. Dr. Randall Upchurch
Dr. Leonard Jackson
Dr. Danqing Liu
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 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 development
  • environmental tourism
  • environmental citizenship
  • community development
  • stakeholder engagement

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

21 pages, 371 KB  
Article
Board Sustainability Governance and Environmental Citizenship in Global Hospitality Firms: Associations with Environmental Performance and Firm Value
by Leonard A. Jackson, Kendra F. Jackson, Randall Upchurch, Danqing Liu, Michail Toanoglou and Shelby Renee Meek
Sustainability 2026, 18(8), 4121; https://doi.org/10.3390/su18084121 - 21 Apr 2026
Viewed by 451
Abstract
Hospitality and tourism firms are central actors in sustainable tourism transitions because their operations are resource intensive and highly visible to consumers and local communities. This study examines whether board-level governance mechanisms—board independence, gender diversity, a sustainability committee, CEO duality, and board size—are [...] Read more.
Hospitality and tourism firms are central actors in sustainable tourism transitions because their operations are resource intensive and highly visible to consumers and local communities. This study examines whether board-level governance mechanisms—board independence, gender diversity, a sustainability committee, CEO duality, and board size—are associated with environmental performance, and whether environmental performance is related to firm value in global hospitality firms. Using a panel of 10 large publicly traded hospitality companies across North America, Europe, and Asia from 2013–2022 (100 firm-year observations) and fixed-effects estimation, we find positive associations between board independence, board gender diversity, and the presence of a sustainability committee and environmental performance, while CEO duality is negatively associated. Environmental performance is positively associated with firm value (Tobin’s Q) after controlling for profitability and firm size. Because the sample is intentionally bounded to large listed firms and the Refinitiv Environmental Pillar Score is disclosure based, the results should be interpreted as sector-specific associative evidence rather than as definitive causal estimates of operational environmental outcomes. To support longitudinal research on emerging practices in sustainable tourism, we also document a public-source protocol that enables researchers to extend the panel beyond 2022, broaden firm coverage, and incorporate direct environmental indicators over time. The findings highlight board sustainability governance as a potentially important private-sector practice for strengthening environmental citizenship in hospitality, while also clarifying the measurement and generalizability limits of the present design. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Emerging Practices in Sustainable Tourism)
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21 pages, 1325 KB  
Article
Communicating Sustainability in Hospitality: A Multi-Layer Analysis of Transparency, Green Claims, and Corporate Value Construction
by Ioana-Simona Ivasciuc and Ana Ispas
Sustainability 2026, 18(1), 172; https://doi.org/10.3390/su18010172 - 23 Dec 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1472
Abstract
This study examines how major global hotel groups construct sustainability through corporate communication, assessing both the thematic content and the internal coherence of their Environmental-Social-Governance (ESG) narratives. The research question is How do international hotel corporations construct sustainability through their corporate communication and [...] Read more.
This study examines how major global hotel groups construct sustainability through corporate communication, assessing both the thematic content and the internal coherence of their Environmental-Social-Governance (ESG) narratives. The research question is How do international hotel corporations construct sustainability through their corporate communication and ESG reporting? The research applies qualitative content analysis of sustainability reports from ten international hotel corporations and a four-layer discursive coherence model (performance, operational, narrative, strategic), the study analyses 888 coded quotations and 205 sustainability-theme occurrences in ATLAS.ti version 25, a qualitative data-analysis software. Results show that while measurable, performance-based disclosures dominate—such as digital food-waste monitoring, emissions-intensity reductions, and responsible sourcing—symbolic language remains strategically deployed to reinforce identity, purpose, and legitimacy. Across the sector, sustainability discourse converges around four recurring pillars: environmental performance leadership, community resilience, responsible business governance, and inclusive economic empowerment. The study advances theoretical work on sustainability communication by conceptualizing discursive coherence as an indicator of organizational authenticity and offers actionable insights for enhancing credibility and stakeholder trust in corporate ESG reporting. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Emerging Practices in Sustainable Tourism)
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