Sustainable Tourism Development and Innovation: Recent Advances and Challenges

Dear Colleagues,

Tourism and traveling have become a necessity today, having a profound impact on the society. Tourism contributes to the social and economic well-being of tourist destinations but also creates problems as the nature wasting, excessive energy consumption and climatic change. Tourist destinations may suffer from high tourist flows and the life quality of the local people may be affected. The negative effects may be exacerbated in times of crisis and disaster. The recent crisis of COVID 19 pandemic had an upside effect, touching negatively communities who rely on tourism for survival, forced many travel companies to closure and a positive environment impact.

Sustainability in tourism is a central issue for the tourism planning and development; and even though it has been adopted on the strategic level, it is poorly implemented.  Sustainable development of tourism is a multifaceted and dynamic process that is constantly experiencing new challenges as there are advances of innovation. Innovation in tourism can take many forms from incremental changes that enhance provision and simplifying processes, to more revolutionary like ordering apps in restaurants, use of phone-as-key-cards, mobile booking and self-check-in, electronic luggage tags, bring your own device and wearable devices. Service and product development and innovation create additional value for customers and sustainable growth for entrepreneurs.

The aim of this Special Issue is to provide a forum to discuss and identify new trends and developments to the economy, society and environment that influence sustainable tourism; and to disseminate the latest research findings on recent advances and challenges. Complex multi-disciplinary research papers exploring major holistic issues and opportunities for sustainable tourism are also welcomed.

In this framework, Special Issue topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• The Role of technology in sustainable tourism.
• Smart tourism
• Wearables
• Service innovations
• Travel sustainability as a lifestyle
• Impact of COVID-19 on sustainable tourism development
• Marketing for sustainable tourism development
• Impact of sustainable tourism on environment
• Impact of sustainable tourism on economy
• Impact of sustainable tourism on economy
• Uncontrolled development and overtourism
• Sustainable construction and architecture in tourism
• Internet of Things for sustainable tourism development
• Governance, planning, and ethical consumption
• Green tourism
• Experiential tourism
• Circular economy and sustainable resource management

Prof. Dr. Vasiliki Vrana
Guest Editor

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