Editor’s Choice Articles

By linking the technology–organization–environment (TOE) framework with dynamic capabilities, this research investigates the various organizational enablers for Industry 4.0 technology (I4T) adoption in the hotel industry, and the relationship between I4T and overall hotel performance during the supply chain disturbances. The proposed model was tested using data collected from hotel executives in Hong Kong and Shenzhen, China. Results revealed that perceived benefits, technology readiness, and supply chain partner pressure were significant predictors for I4T adoption by hotels. The direct positive relationship between I4T and overall hotel performance during disruptions was not found. This relationship was mediated by the hotel’s supply chain resilience (SCR) capability, highlighting the importance of I4T and SCR for improving performance during disruptions. This study provides both theoretical insights and practical implications regarding the adoption of I4T in the hospitality sector. Full article

This study aims to explore and evaluate the factors influencing Gen Z’s intention to choose green tourism destinations in Hanoi, Vietnam. The paper proposes a comprehensive analytical framework by integrating the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) model and the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). A mixed-method approach was employed, in which quantitative data were collected from 269 Gen Z respondents in Hanoi and analyzed using the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) technique through SmartPLS. The findings reveal that external environmental stimuli, including green destination image (GDI) and social media influence (SMI), positively affect individuals’ internal psychological states, namely environmental awareness (EA), attitude toward green tourism (ATT), and subjective norms (SM). These psychological states, in turn, exert positive effects and strongly promote Gen Z’s intention to choose green tourism destinations in Hanoi. This study not only contributes to filling the theoretical gap in sustainable tourism consumption behavior in the digital era but also provides practical managerial implications for policymakers and tourism businesses in developing communication strategies and tourism products that align with the preferences and expectations of younger generations. Full article

Virtual reality (VR) is transforming heritage tourism, yet understanding how specific technological attributes drive on-site visitation remains critical for destination marketers and policymakers. Grounded in the Stimulus–Organism–Response (SOR) model, this study investigates how VR vividness and interactivity (stimuli) influence perceived usefulness, immersion, ease of use, enjoyment, and certainty (organisms), ultimately shaping users’ on-site visitation intentions and behavioral involvement (responses) regarding Macao’s cultural heritage sites. Analyzing data from 230 users recruited via snowball sampling, the results indicate that the Ruins of St. Paul’s VR experience was the most popular (n = 113), followed by the Macao Museum (n = 95) and the Guia Fortress (n = 75). Structural equation modeling demonstrates that VR vividness and interactivity significantly influence user perceptions, which in turn impact on-site visitation intentions and behavioral involvement, with the sole exception of perceived enjoyment. These findings suggest that the “sense of presence” generated by VR significantly shapes on-site visitation intentions through internal cognitive (perceived usefulness, certainty) and combined cognitive–emotional (perceived immersion) organismic states. Conversely, perceived enjoyment has an insignificant effect on responses, while perceived ease of use, surprisingly, exerts a significant negative impact. The research offers actionable insights for developing immersive digital tools that bridge virtual engagement with tangible cultural heritage tourism in Macao. Full article

Culinary tourism is increasingly conceptualized as a strategic domain of destination competitiveness, in which gastronomic experiences serve as mechanisms for cultural representation and localized value creation. However, existing research remains fragmented in explaining how multidimensional culinary motivations translate into specific consumption behaviors, particularly in emerging destinations. Addressing this gap, this study develops and tests a motivation–behavior linkage framework grounded in push–pull motivation theory, conceptualizing culinary motivations as heterogeneous drivers with differential effects on intention to purchase local food. A sequential mixed-methods design was employed, beginning with an initial qualitative phase to refine measurement constructs, followed by a quantitative survey of 396 domestic tourists with prior culinary experience in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta. Data were analyzed using reliability assessment, exploratory factor analysis, and multiple regression modeling. The findings reveal a differentiated structure of influence: cultural experience, sensory appeal, and health concerns significantly enhance purchase intention, with cultural experience and sensory appeal emerging as the most influential predictors. In contrast, interpersonal and prestige motivations are non-significant, indicating that experiential and functional values outweigh social-symbolic drivers in this context. The study contributes by advancing push–pull theory through a behavior-specific, mechanism-based linkage; identifying context-dependent boundary conditions in an emerging destination; and refining culinary motivation by distinguishing experiential–functional from social-symbolic drivers. These insights inform more targeted strategies for promoting local food consumption and sustainable culinary tourism development. Full article

This study examines the perceived usefulness, perceived benefits, and acceptance of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in tourism, with a specific focus on Generation Z. Drawing on established technology acceptance frameworks, the research investigates how key perceptual factors influence the adoption of AI in travel planning and tourism services. The empirical analysis is based on a questionnaire survey conducted among 531 university students from Slovakia. The study employs factor analysis, correlation analysis, regression modeling, and non-parametric tests to explore relationships between perceived usefulness, perceived benefits, acceptance, trust, and experience with AI technologies. The results reveal strong and statistically significant relationships among all three core constructs. However, regression analysis indicates that perceived usefulness does not directly influence acceptance when perceived benefits are included, suggesting a mediating effect. Perceived benefits emerge as the strongest predictor of acceptance, emphasizing the importance of experiential value, such as efficiency, personalization, and improved decision-making. Trust in AI-generated travel information and perceptions of AI’s contribution to quality of life significantly influence all constructs. Additionally, prior experience with AI tools positively affects user attitudes. The findings suggest that AI adoption can enhance tourism competitiveness and support tourism development, provided that trust, information quality, and human–technology balance are effectively managed. Full article

When a community is thrust into the spotlight due to a tragic event or has a reputation given to it by folklore, it joins the pantheon of dark tourism destinations. Tourists will visit these infamous places regardless of how residents and the local government feel about visitors coming to explore their local tragedy, especially when the community is still rebuilding or grieving. Local governments must decide how they will handle this interest in their community, while protecting and providing service to their residents. This study investigates the frequency of dark tourism being integrated into long-range urban planning document to manage, or possibly enhance, dark tourism in their community. Full article

Theme park tourism has become a trend and brings huge profits; however, how Fantawild, a representative theme park in China, can attract tourists to return remains to be explored. Given the substantial economic value of repeat visitors for theme parks, this study focuses on revisit intention rather than general tourist behavior. Drawing on the Stimulus–Organism–Response (S-O-R) framework as the theoretical foundation, this study examines how narrative-based experiences influence visitors’ revisit intention to Fantawild as a theme park tourism destination. Data were collected from 573 visitors to Fantawild in China and analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results show that storytelling does not directly influence revisit intention but instead operates through emotional resonance and satisfaction, indicating a fully mediated mechanism. Emotional resonance also indirectly affects revisit intention through satisfaction. In addition, marketing activities, fond travel memories, and IP appeal significantly enhance emotional and evaluative responses, which in turn drive revisit intention. These findings provide a clearer understanding of the affective and cognitive mechanisms underlying narrative immersion and offer practical implications for improving visitor engagement, repeat visitation, and retention in theme park tourism. Full article

Tourism is highly exposed to external shocks such as pandemics, geopolitical instability, and security-related disruptions, which particularly affect small and rural enterprises. Although digital tools are frequently discussed as mechanisms supporting tourism competitiveness under conditions of tourism disruption, consumer-centred evidence remains limited. This study examines how consumers in Latvia evaluate digital tools and which factors they associate with rural tourism competitiveness and improvement priorities. The study is guided by a conceptual framework in which digital tools function as intermediary mechanisms linking conditions of tourism disruption to rural tourism competitiveness through consumer perceptions of accessibility, convenience, and trust. A mixed-methods CATI survey (N = 1004) was conducted in February–April 2025, combining statistical analysis of closed-ended responses with thematic analysis of consumer-defined competitiveness and improvement priorities derived from open-ended questions. The results show that age is the main factor differentiating evaluations of digital tools, while regional and settlement-type differences remain weak. Online booking and digital payments are valued across all age groups, whereas tools such as virtual tours show stronger age-related variation. When discussing competitiveness, respondents most frequently refer to institutional conditions, promotion, pricing, and digital tools as key competitiveness dimensions. However, when identifying improvements, priorities shift toward diversification of tourism offers and physical accessibility. Digital tools remain important and are primarily associated with practical functions such as booking, payments, information access, and online visibility that make rural tourism offers easier to find and use. The findings highlight the growing role of digital accessibility and information transparency as foundational conditions for rural tourism competitiveness under conditions of tourism disruption and uncertainty. Full article

While the adoption of e-ticketing has been studied in various disciplines, few studies have examined tourists’ intention to adopt e-ticketing for visiting small island and valley tourism sites. This study extends the Technology Acceptance Model and the Theory of Planned Behavior by incorporating security and privacy concerns, price fairness, electronic word-of-mouth, destination management effectiveness, government incentives, and environmental concern to examine the antecedents of tourists’ behavioral intention to adopt e-ticketing. Data were collected from 375 purposively sampled on-street respondents in Sajek Valley and Saint Martin’s Island, Bangladesh. The data were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling. The findings show that perceived usefulness, price fairness, subjective norms, perceived ease of use, environmental concern, and destination management effectiveness affect tourists’ attitudes toward e-ticketing adoption. However, security and privacy concerns have a negative but statistically insignificant influence on attitudes. Attitude is a significant determinant of behavioral intention, and government incentives moderate the relationship between attitude and behavioral intention. The study offers implications for policymakers, online marketers, and destination managers. Full article

This study investigates how YouTube food travel vloggers semiotically construct destination images and potentially function as informal culinary ambassadors through gastrodiplomacy mechanisms, using Uzbekistan as a case study of emerging tourism markets. Although digital content creators are increasingly recognised as shaping tourism flows, a systematic understanding of the multimodal semiotic mechanisms through which food travel vlogs construct destination meanings remains limited. Using multimodal discourse analysis, this study examines six YouTube food travel videos on Uzbekistan (over 28 million combined views) from two prominent creators. The analysis integrates Kress and van Leeuwen’s visual grammar, Halliday’s systemic functional linguistics, van Leeuwen’s sound semiotics, and Norris’s multimodal interaction analysis to code a 60-segment corpus. Comparative analysis reveals 25 notable differences in semiotic features between the two creators, identifying two distinct semiotic profiles. Vlogger 1 primarily follows a parasocial intimacy model marked by direct gaze (89.2%), frequent second-person address (78.4%), and comparatively minimal editing. In contrast, Vlogger 2 adopts a cinematic documentary model characterised by first-person narration (56.5%), constructed visuals (60.9%), and gastronomic heritage narratives (34.8%). Despite these divergences, shared conventions centred on food composition, upbeat music, positive evaluation, and sharing gestures indicate a stable semiotic grammar of food travel vlogging. Analysis further reveals that orientalist dynamics and resistance to orientalism coexist within the same representational practice phenomenon termed ‘layered orientalism’, with distinct implications for how emerging destinations are mediated to international audiences. These findings suggest that digital content creators may employ distinct semiotic strategies that could function as informal culinary ambassadors through gastrodiplomacy mechanisms, potentially constructing destination awareness and cultural meaning for international audiences. This study contributes to theory on multimodal destination image construction and offers implications for how emerging tourism destinations might leverage multi-creator strategies to build culturally grounded destination brands. Full article

This study examines the nonlinear, threshold-dependent relationship between financial leverage and firm performance in publicly traded tourism firms in Turkey, and investigates how this relationship has evolved under post-COVID-19 multi-shock conditions. The main aim of the research is to identify the thresholds at which borrowing becomes a source of financial vulnerability and to analyse how this process deepens under macroeconomic shocks. For this purpose, quarterly panel data covering the period from Q1 2012 to Q1 2025 for 22 tourism firms listed on Borsa Istanbul were used. Firm performance was measured through accounting-based indicators Return on Asset(ROA) and Return on Equity(ROE), and a market-based indicator (stock returns). In the empirical analysis, both the random-effects panel regression model and the endogenous-threshold panel regression methods were applied. The findings indicate that the relationship between financial leverage and performance is nonlinear, and a significant regime change occurs when the leverage ratio exceeds approximately 60–70%. In the post-COVID-19 period, both accounting-based and market-based performance indicators under high-leverage regimes became more sensitive to financial vulnerability. Additionally, the effects of the real effective exchange rate and the service sector price index on firm performance have strengthened in the post-crisis period. The study reveals that financial fragility in the tourism sector is a structural feature sensitive to thresholds and crisis regimes rather than temporary shocks. In this regard, the research highlights the limits of debt-based growth strategies and contributes to early warning mechanisms for policymakers, investors, and firm managers. Full article

Sustainable Community-Based Tourism (SCBT) has been predominantly assessed from residents’ perspectives, leaving unexplored how tourists perceive and validate community sustainability. This study analyzes the influence of three SCBT dimensions, authenticity and community empowerment, integral sustainability, and ethical co-design, on tourist experience. Using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM), we analyzed 341 responses from Mexican tourists with experience in indigenous community destinations in Oaxaca. Results show that integral sustainability is the strongest predictor of tourist experience, followed by ethical co-design. Notably, authenticity and community empowerment exhibit a significant inverse relationship, suggesting tensions between genuine local governance and visitor expectations. These findings position tourists as external validators of SCBT and challenge the linear authenticity–experience relationship assumed in classic literature, highlighting the need for heritage interpretation strategies that mediate this interaction. The study provides evidence from underrepresented Latin American indigenous contexts, addressing theoretical and geographical gaps in sustainable tourism research. Full article

Despite growing attention to social sustainability in tourism, employment relations remain predominantly studied at the firm level, overlooking the broader systemic contexts that shape how workforces function. This paper argues that Sustainable Human Resource Management (SHRM) in tourism cannot be fully understood without examining what workers expect from employment before they enter it, and how those expectations are formed. Drawing on Social Exchange Theory (SET) and revisiting the longstanding vocational–liberal debate in hospitality and tourism education, the paper reframes education as a formative mechanism shaping social exchange expectations prior to labour market entry. An integrative framework is developed, bringing together four literature streams—tourism labour markets and employment precarity, hospitality and tourism education, SET, and destination governance—to connect educational orientations, SHRM practices, and destination-level governance structures. Education conditions how workers read and respond to HR practices, while governance arrangements determine whether the relational foundations of employment are sustained or eroded across destination labour markets. Workforce sustainability thus emerges from coordinated social exchange relations embedded across tourism destination systems rather than from isolated HR initiatives. The framework’s main contribution lies in repositioning education as a relational mechanism central to SHRM theory, framing workforce sustainability as a system-level outcome, and offering practical directions for destination governance bodies, policymakers, and curriculum designers seeking to strengthen the institutional foundations of sustainable tourism employment. Full article

This study developed internally consistent scenarios for tourism village development to strengthen destination competitiveness and support the local economy. Using an exploratory–constructive design and the Cross-Impact Balance method, the study structured the relationships among development elements, competitiveness, and local economic development into 13 descriptors with 52 states. Expert judgment was used to construct a cross-impact matrix, and ScenarioWizard identified 18 consistent scenarios and their Total Impact Scores. Four scenarios showed positive consistency scores, with one high-road scenario emerging as the most consistent pathway toward very high competitiveness and a stronger role for tourism villages in the local economy. This scenario was characterized by a clear value proposition, full integration of local MSMEs and products, diversified revenue sources, equitable benefit distribution, strong managerial and digital capacity, transparent governance, multi-stakeholder partnerships, strategic use of public funds, and a structured digital marketing and booking system. These findings suggest that policy efforts should prioritize coordinated improvements in value proposition, MSME integration, revenue diversification, governance, partnerships, and digital management to move tourism villages toward the high-road scenario. Full article

This research examines the impact of Entrepreneurial Orientation and Market Orientation on Dynamic Capabilities and investigates how these capabilities influence Firm Performance in the wine tourism industry. Drawing on the Dynamic Capabilities View, the research addresses a gap in the literature by clarifying the relationships between strategic orientations (Entrepreneurial and Market) and performance outcomes in a rapidly evolving tourism context. Data were collected through a structured questionnaire administered to 171 entrepreneurs operating visitable wineries, using a five-point Likert scale. Structural Equation Modeling was employed to test the proposed relationships. The results indicate that both Entrepreneurial Orientation and Market Orientation significantly contribute to the development of Dynamic Capabilities, which in turn positively affect Firm Performance. The findings confirm the mediating role of Dynamic Capabilities in the relationship between strategic orientations and performance, offering new theoretical insights into how entrepreneurial and market-oriented behaviors translate into improved organizational outcomes. From a practical perspective, the research provides implications for wine tourism firms seeking to enhance innovation, adaptability, and market responsiveness, thereby strengthening long-term competitiveness in an increasingly dynamic and competitive environment. Full article

Tourism’s digital transformation has reshaped how travelers search for and evaluate destinations. However, relatively little empirical work has examined how user engagement translates into booking intent, especially under the emergent discovery channels mediated by artificial intelligence (AI). This study tests an engagement-driven referral framework using longitudinal behavioral data from a Mediterranean destination portal (April 2022–January 2026; 1.6 million sessions). Engagement depth, measured as average session time, significantly predicts booking intent click rate. Mobile drives 83% of sessions, but desktop users convert at nearly twice the rate (5.69% vs. 3.37%). High traffic, as it turns out, does not equal high commercial intent. Lower-volume international markets routinely outperform the dominant domestic market. The most striking result concerns AI referrals. Traffic arriving from AI assistants converts at 8.26%, more than double the organic search rate of 3.88%, despite shorter sessions, a pattern consistent with compressed decision-making under generative AI. These findings, grounded in real travel portal data, extend engagement theory beyond transactional settings and shed early light on how referrals from AI assistants like ChatGPT or Gemini differ behaviorally from organic search, with practical implications for portal managers, destination marketing organizations (DMOs), and sustainable demand management. Full article

This study investigates how AI-driven personalization shapes traveler satisfaction in a post-adoption tourism context, with particular attention to the mechanisms and boundary conditions through which personalization is associated with experiential outcomes. Using an integrated post-adoption framework, the study conceptualizes AI-driven personalization as an experiential input influencing satisfaction through trust formation, perceived value, and individual readiness to engage with technology. Survey data were collected from 347 tourists with direct experience of AI-enabled tourism services in Kosovo. The relationships were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The results show that AI-driven personalization is positively associated with traveler satisfaction. It enhances trust in AI-powered systems, and trust is positively associated with perceived value. Perceived value mediates the relationship between trust in AI-powered systems and traveler satisfaction, highlighting value appraisal as a central post-adoption mechanism. AI-driven personalization is also indirectly associated with traveler satisfaction through a sequential mechanism, in which trust precedes perceived value in the experiential evaluation process. Technology readiness moderates the relationship between perceived value and traveler satisfaction, indicating heterogeneous experiential responses to AI-enabled tourism services. The study contributes to tourism and hospitality research by demonstrating a sequential relational–evaluative mechanism through which AI-driven personalization is associated with traveler satisfaction, shifting the focus from adoption-based explanations toward post-adoption experiential pathways. It further clarifies the role of trust as a relational mechanism preceding value formation and identifies technology readiness as a boundary condition shaping satisfaction outcomes in an emerging destination context. The findings also offer practical guidance for designing AI-enabled services that strengthen trust, enhance value perceptions, and align personalization strategies with varying levels of traveler technology readiness. Full article

This study employs a reflexive autoethnography, guided by flow and place attachment theory, to examine how gaming experiences influence attachments to virtual environments and inspire real-world travel intentions. Data comprise reflexive journal notes written over a 10-month period after playing multiple video games and analysed using reflexive thematic analysis following a hybrid deductive–inductive approach. The analysis identified eight themes across three dimensions: temporal immersion, escapism, narrative immersion, and self-expression under flow; emotional, cognitive, and behavioural attachment under place attachment; and place-induced travel intention as the behavioural outcome. The findings establish flow as a critical antecedent to the development of place attachment within virtual environments. Consistent with emerging scholarship, the study confirms that attachment formation does not require physically tangible places; rather, it can emerge through digitally mediated presence and interaction, indicating that virtual environments are capable of eliciting place attachment. More significantly, it demonstrates that these virtual attachments can fluidly extend toward real places depicted in games, revealing a cross-environmental continuity in attachment processes. The integrated framework thus contributes a novel theoretical proposal linking flow, virtual and real place attachment, and tourism behaviour, an area that remains conceptually fragmented and empirically underdeveloped. Full article

This study examines the determinants of tourism resilience and recovery following global crises using a comparative cross-country approach. A composite Tourism Resilience Index (TRI) is constructed based on post-crisis recovery in tourism employment, tourism GDP and international arrivals, and its determinants are analyzed through descriptive, correlational and exploratory multivariate regression analysis. The results reveal significant heterogeneity in resilience trajectories across countries, indicating that income level alone does not explain recovery patterns. Institutional and structural factors, including the degree of economic liberalization and market composition, play a critical role in shaping post-crisis tourism performance. These findings contribute to the literature on tourism resilience by providing empirical evidence with policy implications for improving adaptive capacity in tourism-dependent economies. Furthermore, the results highlight the multidimensional nature of tourism resilience and provide evidence-based insights for the design of differentiated policy strategies aimed at strengthening the sector’s capacity to withstand future global crises. Full article

Understanding and managing tourism event experiences requires insight into how emotions unfold across space. Drawing on constructed emotion theory, this study advanced both theoretical and methodological knowledge by comparing three spatial emotion mapping approaches. Namely, we applied experience reconstruction maps, emotion physiology maps, and emotion effectiveness maps to visitor experiences of two events at nature-based fort settings in the Netherlands. Using intercept sampling (N = 98), we combined questionnaires with GPS tracking and skin conductance measurement to collect location-resolved emotional data. The resulting maps revealed markedly different spatial emotion patterns, reflecting distinct emotional components: physiological arousal and recalled or reconstructed emotional arousal and valence. Studies which map emotions have usually not accounted for within-individual autocorrelation. Our multilevel statistical models, in contrast, did account for this. The difference in emotion ranking of AOI raised questions about the validity of previous emotion mapping efforts. We extended constructed emotion theory to spatial analysis, demonstrated the limits of current mapping methods, and argued in favor of controlling for autocorrelation for robust spatial emotion research. Our findings can provide methodological guidance for researchers and event managers, and can lay the groundwork for future innovations that integrate physiological, self-reported, and spatial data for sustainable tourism event management. Full article

Wellness tourism represents a significant growth sector within the global tourism industry; however, empirical research examining development determinants in resource-constrained, emerging African destinations remains limited. This study investigates the structural relationships among infrastructure development, community involvement, marketing and promotion, and visitor expectations/service quality in advancing wellness tourism at Allelobad Hot Spring in Ethiopia’s Afar Region. Using a quantitative methodology, structured questionnaires were administered to 210 respondents (visitors, local community members, and tourism stakeholders), resulting in 186 valid responses. Data were analyzed through Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). Results demonstrate that all four determinants exert statistically significant positive effects on wellness tourism development (p < 0.001), with visitor expectations and service quality emerging as the strongest predictor (β = 0.35), followed by infrastructure development (β = 0.32), marketing and promotion (β = 0.30), and community involvement (β = 0.27). The structural model explains 68% of the variance in wellness tourism development, indicating substantial explanatory power. These findings underscore that sustainable wellness tourism growth in emerging destinations necessitates integrated, multidimensional strategies that simultaneously address physical infrastructure, stakeholder engagement, strategic positioning, and experiential excellence, rather than isolated sector-specific interventions. Full article

Carnival, as an expression of intangible cultural heritage, plays a significant role in shaping collective identity and tourism dynamics across diverse regions. In Spain, the antruejos of León constitute one of the most distinctive manifestations of traditional carnival, characterized by ancestral masquerades, archetypal characters, and rituals of symbolic inversion. This article examines the relationship between tourism and the safeguarding of antruejos. It situates these celebrations within the framework of Cultural Heritage Assets (Bienes de Interés Cultural, BIC) and analyses their impact on the revaluation and reinterpretation of festive heritage. Drawing on an anthropological approach and ethnographic fieldwork conducted in several localities of León, the study analyses how tourism shapes the continuity, transformation, and commodification of these carnivals, as well as the tensions between authenticity, revitalization, and spectacularization. The study provides a critical assessment of the role of antruejos in cultural tourism and of their contribution to the long-term sustainability of intangible heritage. Full article

Experiential and transformative travel are increasingly central in tourism scholarship and “life-changing” marketing, yet the proliferation of these labels has produced conceptual drift and persistent accountability gaps. This paper presents a narrated critical integrative review that distinguishes experiential travel from transformative travel and synthesizes how value, meaning-making, impact and methods are theorized across stakeholders and time. Searches of Scopus and the Web of Science Core Collection, supplemented by citation chasing, yielded 1284 records; screening produced 168 tourism-focused and 103 foundational sources (271 total). Iterative coding indicates that experiential research commonly foregrounds experience design and short-horizon valuation, whereas transformative research emphasizes change-over-time yet often relies on tourist self-narratives. Across both streams, valuation expands from transactional utility to affective, existential and ethical registers but remains frequently tourist-centred; meaning-making is patterned by narrative scripts and platform mediation; and impacts are distributed and ambivalent across tourists, hosts/communities, environments and institutions. Methodologically, claims about durability and justice are often unsupported by designs that assess persistence, comparison and distribution. This state-of-the-art review paper contributes working definitions and boundary conditions, an integrative framework linking antecedents, encounter mechanisms, valuation and multi-stakeholder impacts, and a method-specified research agenda with minimum reporting standards to support accountable research and practice. Full article

This study aims to examine how e-servicescape dimensions, demographic characteristics and user experience influence consumer perception of Peer-to-Peer (P2P) online platforms. The literature review is focused on servicescape, e-servicescape, and peer-to-peer (P2P) platforms in the hospitality sector. A relevant research model and hypothesis were established. For the empirical study, a questionnaire was developed and conducted on 135 users of P2P online platforms in the hospitality sector. Reliability analysis and hypothesis tests were identified through SPSSv31. Study results and implications were discussed and suggested. The results showed that all six subdimensions such as aesthetics, social presence, perceived personalization, perceived trust and safety, perceived interactivity and superior functionality, overall, create a positive perception in P2P users. While demographic characteristics showed no significant impact on consumer perception of the six e-servicescape dimensions, the user experience (frequency of use) confirmed that individuals that more frequently use P2P online platforms have a more positive perception of the e-servicescape. This study identified the importance of the dimensions of e-servicescape in P2P platforms in the hospitality sector and how they influence consumers’ perceptions, addressing a research gap caused by the limited empirical evidence on the role of demographic characteristics in the e-servicescape within hospitality in the sharing economy. Full article

Online guided tours have become an essential form of non-contact tourism, yet the experiential attributes shaping participants’ digital tour experiences remain underexplored. This study aims to identify the core experiential dimensions of online guided tours by analyzing user-generated review data and interpreting the findings through the experience economy framework. A dataset of 1506 participant reviews was collected from major online guided tour platforms and analyzed using text mining techniques, including TF-IDF and Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA). The results reveal the following seven experiential attributes: entertainment, education, esthetics, escapism, presence, interactivity, and digital environment. These findings indicate that online guided tours extend beyond traditional 4E experience dimensions, incorporating digitally mediated elements such as real-time communication and platform-driven immersion. The proposed “4E + 3D Model” captures the hybrid nature of digital tourism experiences, combining classic experiential factors with technology-enabled components. This study contributes to tourism experience research by empirically validating an expanded experiential structure suitable for digital contexts. It also demonstrates the value of user-generated review analysis for deriving authentic experiential insights. The results provide practical implications for enhancing online guided tour design, emphasizing real-time interactivity, digital esthetics, and system stability to improve participant experiences in virtual tourism settings. Full article

This study examines how community-based tourism (CBT) supports sustainable livelihoods by clarifying the mediating roles of community participation and tourism-related employment. Drawing on the Sustainable Livelihood Framework, Community Participation Theory, and the community development and empowerment approach, survey data were collected from 320 CBT-involved residents in three Vietnamese CBT settings (Ba Vì–Hà Nội, Lào Cai, and Lâm Đồng) during April–June 2025. Using PLS-SEM with bootstrapping and IPMA, the findings show that community participation and tourism-related employment are pivotal pathways through which livelihood assets translate into sustainable livelihood outcomes. Indigenous cultural values and policy commitment enhance livelihoods mainly by stimulating employment generation, whereas community awareness, human resource capacity, and access to financial capital operate primarily by strengthening community participation. IPMA indicates that participation and employment represent the most actionable leverage points for interventions. This study’s novelty lies in providing a mechanism-based explanation of CBT’s livelihood effects and converting SEM evidence into practical prioritization. Policy and managerial implications emphasize strengthening inclusive participation mechanisms, expanding and upgrading local employment (skills development, job stability, and market linkages), and reinforcing enabling institutional support that safeguards indigenous cultural values while improving household livelihood resilience in CBT contexts. Full article

The hotel sector is widely perceived as offering poor working conditions, contributing to persistent labor shortages within the industry. Transforming management practices in line with humanistic management principles has been suggested as one way to address these challenges. However, limited research has examined how hotel employees themselves perceive humanistic management relative to more traditional managerial practices and other approaches used to attract and motivate staff. This scoping study addresses this gap by surveying hotel employees in Austria, a tourism-intensive economy, to assess the perceived value of humanistic management practices. The findings show that although adopting humanistic management alone cannot fully resolve issues related to employee attraction and retention, it nonetheless has a significant positive effect on employees’ perceptions of employer attractiveness. Several humanistic practices valued by employees can be implemented without substantial increases in operational costs. These results suggest that hotel managers, even in data-driven decision environments, should integrate humanistic management practices while maintaining competitive remuneration. For policymakers in tourism-dependent destinations, the findings highlight the need to strengthen regulations that encourage more humanistic working conditions in hotels, thereby improving the overall quality of employment and enhancing the sector’s long-term attractiveness. Full article

Background: Influencer marketing has become one of the most effective strategies in digital communication due to its capacity to generate trust, credibility and endorsement within segmented online communities. Within the tourism sector, travel influencers have been progressively integrated as key agents in destination and brand promotion, contributing to both the construction of tourism-related perceptions and travel decision-making. This study aims to analyse how travel influencers communicate and promote tourist destinations, focusing on their profiles, content formats, commercial transparency and audience engagement. Methods: The research is based on a quantitative content analysis of publications by leading Spanish travel influencers identified through the Forbes Best Content Creators 2025 ranking. The observation period covered March to July 2025. Analysis was structured around four analytical blocks comprising 17 variables related to influencer profile, format and content, commercial transparency and ethics, and interaction. Results: The results reveal consistent behavioural patterns associated with gender, destination type and narrative style. Male influencers are more frequently linked to adventure-oriented storytelling and natural landscapes, whereas female influencers tend to emphasise urban and cultural experiences. Short-form video emerges as the dominant format, generating higher interaction levels, while engagement proves to be a more informative indicator of effectiveness than follower count. Conclusions: The findings underscore the importance of prioritising specialisation, narrative coherence, authenticity and transparency when integrating influencers into their communication strategies. Full article

This study examines how travelers alleviate anxiety during trips through real-time self-disclosure on social media. Based on the Transactional Theory of Stress and Coping and Social Penetration Theory, this study explores a process model in which travel anxiety triggers self-disclosure, which subsequently strengthens perceived social connectedness and psychological comfort. Survey data from 240 Korean travelers who shared content during their trip were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), which is suitable to this research in terms of estimating complex, theory-building models with multiple latent constructs. Results show that psychological comfort predicts travel satisfaction and fully mediates the effect of social connectedness on satisfaction. By reframing social media use as a real-time coping mechanism rather than post-experience sharing, and positioning psychological comfort as a distinct low-arousal emotional mediator, this study extends tourism research on on-site digital coping and tourist experience management. Full article

The Meetings, Incentives, Conventions, and Exhibitions (MICE) sector has become a strategic driver of regional economic development, yet secondary cities often lack the structural, governance, and experiential capacities required for competitive MICE positioning. This study proposes and empirically validates a triangulated analytical framework that integrates structural readiness, stakeholder governance capacity, and tourist perceptions to capture systemic misalignments in emerging MICE destinations, going beyond conventional applied readiness assessments. This study evaluates the preparedness of Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand, to develop as a sustainable MICE destination using a triangulated mixed-methods design comprising (1) a city readiness assessment based on TCEB’s eight criteria, (2) a survey of 400 tourists and MICE visitors, and (3) in-depth interviews with 20 key stakeholders. The weighted assessment indicated a moderate overall readiness score (3.48/5), with strengths in environmental management, safety, supporting activities, and accommodation. However, MICE venue capacity and city image remained notably weak. Tourists consistently perceived high readiness across most areas, whereas stakeholders highlighted major systemic issues, including fragmented governance, inconsistent MICE service quality, limited capacity for large events, and inadequate transportation integration. Triangulating these viewpoints reveals three analytically distinct preparation gaps—structural, policy implementation, and experience expectations—demonstrating a fundamental misalignment between experiential appeal and institutional capabilities. This study conceptualizes preparedness as a relational outcome impacted by infrastructure, governance procedures, and market perceptions, adding to the MICE destination and governance literature. The methodology can be used to examine comparable misalignments in other emerging or secondary MICE destinations. The findings guide governance-driven MICE city development plans for sustainability and competitiveness. Full article

The urgency of research into innovation and digital marketing is driven by growing competition within the tourism industry, which demands greater destination visibility (DV) and tourist engagement (TE). At the same time, Areia Branca Beach, a prominent destination in Timor-Leste, has not been managed optimally to support sustainable tourism. Furthermore, the utilisation of governance innovation and digital marketing—particularly the integration of content marketing (CM), immersive technology (IT), and digital data analytics (DDA)—remains limited and has yet to be substantiated by robust empirical evidence at the scale of a developing destination. This study aims to investigate the role of DDA in the causality between CM and IT in influencing DV and TE. A quantitative approach was employed, using moderated regression analysis (MRA) to test the empirical relationships between the variables. Primary data were collected through face-to-face field surveys of tourists who had visited Areia Branca Beach, located northeast of Dili, Timor-Leste, on at least two occasions. The study adopted simple random sampling (SRS) with a finite population correction (FPC). A total of 364 tourists were selected to assess their perceptions using a structured questionnaire. The study reveals four main findings. First, CM significantly affects DDA and DV. Second, IT influences DDA, but not TE. Third, DDA significantly affects both DV and TE. Fourth, DDA moderates the effect of CM on DV and the effect of IT on TE. The findings underscore that the collaborative governance concept, through governance and marketing innovations, is not yet optimal for shaping sustainable tourism. Finally, future academic and practical policy implications require more in-depth exploration to emphasise the enhancement of resource management capacity genuinely needed in the subjects studied, beyond governance and digital marketing innovations within the sustainable tourism framework. Full article

This study examines how Generation Z’s digital practices on TikTok and Instagram shape their music festival experiences, focusing on event perception, engagement, and the development of collective identity. The aim is to identify key factors connecting online and offline aspects of festival participation. The research adopts a quantitative approach based on an online survey of 248 respondents born between 1995 and 2010 from various regions of Serbia. Data were analyzed in SPSS 26.0 using Spearman correlation, quantile regression, and the Mann–Whitney test. Given the exploratory nature of the study, the findings should be interpreted accordingly. Findings show that frequent social media use has a positive but limited effect on how important these platforms are perceived for the festival experience. However, user-generated content created by attendees plays a more significant role in shaping engagement and attitudes than influencer content. Influencer credibility also influences how festivals are interpreted digitally. The interplay between online interaction and offline participation motivates content sharing and reinforces a sense of community. Overall, the study concludes that social media and digital narratives are central to Generation Z’s festival experience. Authentic, attendee-created content strongly contributes to collective identity, helping bridge digital and physical dimensions—insights valuable for festival organizers, influencers, and cultural tourism. Full article

Marine ecotourism and Small–Medium Enterprise (SME) digitalization are increasingly seen as key drivers for coastal community welfare, yet their combined impact, particularly through local economic empowerment, remains underexplored. This study aims to examine whether marine ecotourism (ME) and SME digitalization (SD) influence local community welfare (LCW), mediated by SME empowerment (SE), and moderated by government support (GS). A quantitative, cross-sectional survey was conducted with 312 marine tourism entrepreneurs in North Minahasa, Indonesia, and data were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling. The results show that ME and SD have a significant positive effect on SE and LCW. However, ME and SD were found to be insignificant on LCW. Crucially, SE fully mediates the relationship between both ME and SD on LCW, indicating that empowerment is the primary mechanism for welfare improvement. Furthermore, GS was found to significantly strengthen the positive relationship between SE and LCW. This study concludes that empowering local SMEs is the critical bridge for transforming ecotourism and digitalization into tangible community welfare, and this process is significantly amplified by a supportive institutional environment provided by the government. Full article

The present study employs cluster analysis to segment Bulgarian domestic tourists based on microdata from a nationally representative survey (n = 1003) of summer holidaymakers on the Black Sea coast destinations. The primary objective is to identify homogeneous groups of tourists with similar demographic and behavioural characteristics, thereby enabling the development of more targeted tourism policies and marketing strategies. The methodological framework includes both hierarchical and non-hierarchical (k-means) clustering, applied to standardized variables such as age, household size, satisfaction with various aspects of the tourist experience, and behavioural intentions. The analysis reveals four distinct tourist profiles, each characterized by specific patterns of evaluation and travel behaviour—retirement age loyalists, middle-aged sceptics, younger moderate enthusiasts and young high loyalists. The findings reveal the heterogeneity of the domestic tourism market in Bulgaria and provide a data-driven foundation for enhancing the effectiveness of tourism management and promotional efforts. Full article

Grounded in the Stimulus–Organism–Response (SOR) framework, this study examines how tourists’ in-trip use of ChatGPT shapes satisfaction during leisure travel. Survey data from 502 Indonesian travellers were analysed using PLS-SEM. Information diagnosticity, task efficiency, and perceived social support significantly strengthen travellers’ confidence in on-site choices, with social support emerging as the strongest predictor. Greater confidence elevates positive destination emotion, which in turn enhances tourist satisfaction, supporting a sequential cognition–affect mechanism. The study extends SOR to the during-trip stage by conceptualising ChatGPT as a real-time, dialogic stimulus that influences experience formation. Practically, destination and tourism firms can deploy ChatGPT at key on-site touchpoints and prioritise reassuring, effort-reducing guidance, supported by reliable local information and clear escalation to human assistance for higher-stakes needs. Full article

Participation in running events has expanded worldwide, consolidating itself as a form of active leisure and a driver of social and tourism engagement. Although runners’ motivations have been extensively studied, perceived inclusivity, understood as motivation derived from the event’s promotion of equitable participation across gender, age and functional ability, has rarely been examined as a distinct motivational dimension within structural models. This study analyses the motivational structure of participants in the Elche Half Marathon (Spain) and assesses the incremental contribution of inclusivity to traditional motivational frameworks. Based on a sample of 1053 valid responses, a two-stage psychometric and segmentation approach was applied. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses (EFA and CFA) were conducted to compare a four-factor model (sport-related hedonism, competition, socialization and digital socialization) with an extended five-factor model incorporating inclusivity. Subsequently, cluster analyses were performed using factor scores derived from each model. The results show that the inclusion of inclusivity improves model fit and increases explained variance, while also generating a more differentiated segmentation structure. The extended model revealed six motivational profiles, some of which displayed continuity with the classical solution, while others were reconfigured when inclusivity was introduced. Overall, the findings indicate that inclusivity functions as a complementary and context-dependent motivational dimension that refines the understanding of participation heterogeneity in running events. Rather than replacing traditional motives, inclusivity contributes incremental explanatory value and enhances the identification of motivational profiles, offering relevant insights for the design and management of mass-participation sporting events. Full article

To avoid tourism market failure caused by inappropriate development strategies, a study was conducted on the travel preferences of Generation Z, the future tourism market. The study found that tourism has shifted from comfortable, tranquil, and easily accessible areas to areas with unique views, extreme topography, proximity to nature, and instagrammable features. This shift reflects tourists’ responses and motivations. This study used a mixed-methods approach, involving 28 tourism managers and 147 Generation Z tourists. Quantitative methods, such as questionnaires, examined tourism motivations through push and pull factors, while in-depth interviews, a qualitative method, examined shifts in the tourism space. The results of this study demonstrate a shift away from the classical view that younger generations’ tourism behavior is predominantly hedonistic and consumptive toward an experience-oriented, nature-connected orientation, aligned with the concept of eco-experiential tourism. Rather than indicating a uniform or definitive shift in reflection, this tendency highlights the growing importance of experiential, cultural, and digital values in Generation Z’s travel preferences. Theoretically, the study contributes to refining existing perspectives by emphasizing the social, technological, and ecological dimensions shaping these preferences. In practice, the findings underscore the need for tourism policies that integrate nature conservation, digital innovation, and the strengthening of local culture to support sustainable destinations. Full article

The rapid integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and smart technologies is transforming hospitality operations, yet guest acceptance remains uneven, shaped by utilitarian, experiential, ethical, and cultural evaluations. This study develops and empirically tests a multicomponent framework to explain how these factors jointly influence two behavioral outcomes: whether AI-enabled features affect hotel choice and whether guests are willing to pay a premium. A cross-sectional survey of 689 hotel guests in Tirana, Albania, an emerging hospitality market and rapidly growing tourist destination in the Western Balkans, was analyzed using cumulative link models, partial proportional-odds models, nonlinear and interaction extensions, and binary robustness checks. Results show that prior experience with smart or AI-enabled hotels, higher awareness, and trust in AI, especially trust in responsible data handling, consistently increase both acceptance and willingness to pay. Perceived value, operationalized through the breadth of identified benefits and desired features, also exhibits robust positive effects. In contrast, privacy concerns selectively suppress strong acceptance, particularly financial willingness, while cultural–linguistic fit and support for human–AI collaboration contribute positively but modestly. Interaction analyses indicate that trust can mitigate concerns about reduced personal touch. Open-ended responses reinforce these patterns, highlighting the importance of privacy, human interaction, and staff–AI coexistence. Overall, findings underscore that successful AI adoption in hospitality requires aligning technological innovation with ethical transparency, experiential familiarity, and cultural adaptation. Full article

Road running tourism events continue to grow worldwide and are increasingly leveraged by destinations seeking diversification and seasonality reduction. This study examines the motivational structure of participants in the 2025 Half Marathon Magaluf (Mallorca, Spain)—a mature Mediterranean resort undergoing tourism repositioning—and analyses how motivation-based segments relate to socio-demographic, sporting and tourism behaviours. Data were collected through a self-administered online survey (N = 306). An Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), followed by a Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), validated a five-factor motivational structure: sport-related hedonism, socialisation, personal challenge, inclusiveness and digital interaction. A k-means cluster analysis identified five distinct segments—Digital Enthusiasts, Inclusive Enjoyers, Socializers, Hedonic Achievers and Inclusivists—each exhibiting differentiated patterns in Experience-Use History (EUH), origin, gender, and running-club membership. Notably, Socializers recorded the longest stays, Inclusive Enjoyers were overrepresented among first-time visitors, and Digital Enthusiasts and Hedonic Achievers included a higher share of international runners. These findings expand traditional motivational models by incorporating inclusiveness and digital interaction as emerging drivers and offer actionable recommendations for event organisers and destination managers seeking to enhance overnight stays and support destination repositioning strategies. Full article

This study investigates the deep-seated impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on Macao, a mono-economy extremely dependent on the single factor of “tourism mobility”. We investigate a counter-intuitive phenomenon observed during the 2020–2022 shock: the Herfindahl–Hirschman Index (HHI) declined significantly, suggesting “apparent diversification”. Using counterfactual simulations and a Two-Way Fixed Effects (TWFE) model, we quantitatively deconstruct this “resilience illusion”. The results confirm that the decline in the HHI was driven entirely by the “denominator effect” triggered by the collapse of the dominant industry’s (gaming) GVA; if the impact of this recession is excluded, the Counterfactual HHI was even higher than pre-pandemic levels, indicating that the structure did not undergo substantive optimization. Furthermore, inferential statistical tests confirmed the existence of significant “structural lag” in the labor market. This study further reveals a dual divergence mechanism based on “skill specificity”: in sectors with high skill universality (e.g., transport and catering), a structural shift toward “workforce casualization” occurred, manifested by a significant decline in the full-time ratio; conversely, in sectors with strong skill specificity (e.g., gaming and hospitality), firms tended toward “labor hoarding”. This study exposes the macro-indicator trap faced by tourism mono-economies under extreme shocks and provides new micro-evidence for understanding the heterogeneous scars in the service labor market. Full article

This study develops and empirically validates a theoretical model designed to assess the performance of tourism innovation ecosystems by integrating the dimensions of innovation, technology, and sustainability—dimensions that have typically been examined in isolation within the literature. The empirical investigation was conducted at two major tourism destinations: a pilot phase in Las Vegas, followed by the main study in Orlando, USA. Data collection was facilitated via the Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) platform, and analysis was conducted using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), enabling the examination of eight hypotheses across seven constructs. The findings provided evidence of both convergent and discriminant validity and supported five of the eight proposed hypotheses. Specifically, the study confirmed significant relationships among technology acceptance and adoption, adoption and innovation generation, innovation and both sustainability and overall ecosystem performance, and adoption and sustainability. Conversely, collaboration and actor-integration barriers did not exhibit significant effects in Orlando, which is consistent with its mature institutional environment. Innovation emerged as a mediating variable linking technology and sustainability, exerting a substantial influence on overall ecosystem performance. This research advances the theoretical consolidation of the tourism innovation ecosystem concept and offers actionable insights for destination managers aiming to foster innovation, facilitate the adoption of connective technologies, and implement sustainable strategies. The proposed model demonstrates empirical robustness and practical relevance, providing a comprehensive framework for analyzing and enhancing smart, resilient tourism destinations. Full article

This study moves beyond the static view prevalent in hospitality loyalty research by developing and longitudinally testing a process-oriented model of loyalty formation. Recognizing that loyalty is a dynamic outcome, we employ a three-wave panel design with a three-month lag, surveying 562 customers of organic restaurants within green-certified hotels. Data are analyzed using a Cross-Lagged Panel Model (CLPM) to meticulously map the temporal interplay among key antecedents, controlling for autoregressive effects and covariates. The findings provide robust evidence for a specific cognitive-to-affective sequence: perceptions of food quality at one time point shape subsequent judgments of perceived value, which in turn drive customer satisfaction, ultimately fostering loyalty in a succeeding period. Crucially, the CLPM also reveals that food quality and price fairness exert significant, direct time-lagged effects on loyalty, suggesting the presence of dual psychological pathways. By establishing temporal precedence and mapping sequential mediation, this study offers a more causally robust and managerially actionable understanding of how customer loyalty evolves. Full article

This study examines the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) among micro and small hospitality enterprises in Slovenia, a small EU economy where digital transformation remains limited. It explores how organisational characteristics and managers’ attitudes toward AI are related to its adoption and firms’ operating revenues. Data were collected from 286 accommodation and food-and-beverage enterprises through a structured questionnaire completed by managers or owner–managers, complemented by secondary official financial data. Using ordinary least squares regression, the analysis examined associations among organisational characteristics, managerial attitudes, AI use intention and adoption, and financial performance. The results indicate that firm size and structural features alone are not closely linked to digital transformation. AI adoption shows stronger associations with managers’ positive attitudes and with factors such as non-family ownership and smaller firm size. The overall General Attitudes toward AI Scale (GAAIS) score showed no direct relationship with revenue, but two specific items—enthusiasm for AI and recognition of business opportunities—were positively associated with higher revenues. Among AI tools, only smart text editors and CRM systems were statistically associated with revenues, suggesting that better-performing firms are more likely to use simpler, more affordable technologies. The study provides contextual evidence on behavioural and organisational dimensions of AI adoption in resource-constrained hospitality SMEs. Full article

The contemporary digital landscape overwhelms visitors with fragmented and dynamic information, complicating travel planning and often leading to decision paralysis. This paper presents a real-world case study on the design and deployment of an intelligent tourism assistant for Valencia, Spain, built upon a Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) architecture. To address the complexity of integrating static attraction data, live events, and geospatial context, we implemented a multi-agent system orchestrated via the ReAct (Reason + Act) paradigm, comprising specialized Retrieval, Events, and Geospatial Agents. Powered by a large language model, the system unifies heterogeneous data sources—including official tourism repositories and OpenStreetMap—within a single conversational interface. Our contribution centers on practical insights and engineering lessons from developing RAG in an operational urban tourism environment. We outline data preprocessing strategies, such as coreference resolution, to improve contextual consistency and reduce hallucinations. System performance is evaluated using Retrieval Augmented Generation Assessment (RAGAS) metrics, yielding quantitative results that assess both retrieval efficiency and generation quality, with the Mistral Small 3.1 model achieving an Answer Relevancy score of 0.897. Overall, this work highlights both the challenges and advantages of using agent-based RAG to manage urban-scale information complexity, providing guidance for developers aiming to build trustworthy, context-aware AI systems for smart destination management. Full article

Wine tourism has become a key element for the economic and cultural development of Spanish rural areas, traditionally excluded from major tourist flows. This study analyzes the motivations of wine tourists in Spain and their influence on perceived value while also considering the moderating role of perceptions generated during the visit. A total of 357 valid questionnaires were collected between October and December 2022 and analyzed using structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). Of the two hypotheses proposed, the positive influence of motivations on perceived value was confirmed, while the expected influence of perceptions on perceived value was not supported. The results highlight the importance of motivations as a determining factor for enhancing tourists’ perceived value and, therefore, their satisfaction and loyalty. These findings can be of great help to cooperatives and small wineries when designing wine tourism strategies and wine festivals that enrich the tourist experience and strengthen the positioning of destinations in the Spanish wine sector. Full article

This study aims to identify and critically compare multi-stakeholder frameworks and collaborative approaches for sustainable destination development. A comprehensive literature review was carried out, examining the most relevant frameworks published between 2014 and mid-2025. This study compares frameworks and collaborative approaches grounded in a real-life context, examining their operational mechanisms, foundational principles, and the adaptive perspectives tailored to specific destinations. The research questions were developed using the SPIDER tool, and the literature review was conducted using sources from various databases. Seventy-eight articles were included and typologically classified as applied, conceptual, and empirical. To deepen comparison, six focal cases were assessed in a five-criterion matrix. Three typical destination settings were presented and describe how frameworks are configured across contexts. The findings reflect a maturity scale, with empirical cases presenting a more comprehensive overview in relation to the criteria of the matrix. The discussion takes place through the identification of barriers and challenges of frameworks’ implementation and the introduction of two practical design levers, as an interpretive contribution, that are identified as mechanisms that go beyond the framework for upgrading the quality of implementation. The study contributes to the broader discussion on sustainable development and offers useful recommendations for future research in destination management. Full article

This paper studies the connection between the 4As factors and tourist satisfaction and evaluates the impact of digital interaction that can either strengthen or weaken the effect of these factors. The study has been conducted in five major tourist destinations in Serbia with 577 tourists as the sample, who used high category hotels. Bayesian statistics allowed a specific evaluation of the effects of predictors and the effects of moderation. The findings reveal that all the 4As determinants are important predictors of tourist satisfaction with attractions and amenities playing the strongest roles. Digital interaction: Digital interactions will become a major mediator of its presence, with an amplification of the effect of ancillary services and accessibility in the case of attractions and amenities, and a dependent effect on the perceptions of authenticity and technological literacy by the tourists. The research is relevant to the theoretical discussion on the impact of digitalization in tourism because it extends the concept of the 4As framework by providing it with a digital aspect. Practical implications show that there is a necessity to introduce a balance between digital and physical aspects of the tourist experience to maximize visitor satisfaction. Full article

The aviation sector faces increasing pressure to address climate change as its contribution to global CO₂ emissions continues to rise. This study investigates how passengers’ awareness of environmental issues and perceptions of sustainable airline practices affect their Green Air Travel Behavior (GTB). Drawing upon the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and extending it with constructs such as Environmental Awareness (EA), Perceived Service Quality (PSQ), and Green Trust (GT), the research examines their impact on GTB. Using a quantitative design, data were collected from 300 airline passengers and analyzed with Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). Results reveal that EA strongly influences PSQ, GT, Attitude (ATT), and Intention (ITN), highlighting its role as a key antecedent. PSQ significantly enhances GT, while both GT and ATT directly predict GTB. However, the effect of ITN on GTB was not significant, indicating an intention–behavior gap. The findings underscore the importance of awareness, trust, and service quality in promoting sustainable air travel, while also pointing to barriers that hinder intentions from becoming actions. Theoretically, the study extends TPB within green aviation, and practically, it provides guidance for airlines and policymakers seeking to advance SDG 13: Climate Action through sustainable air travel strategies. Full article

As service robots become more prevalent in hospitality settings, understanding what shapes employees’ trust in these technologies is essential for fostering effective human–robot collaboration. Despite extensive research on customer trust and robot-related attributes, employee perspectives have received limited and fragmented attention. The aim of this study is to examine how human, robot, and organizational factors collectively influence employees’ trust in service robots, thereby offering a more comprehensive understanding of trust formation in hospitality contexts. To address this aim, this study adopts a three-dimensional trust framework (human, robot, and organizational factors) and provides the first comprehensive empirical test in the hospitality sector. Drawing on survey data from 301 frontline hospitality workers in the United States, we investigated how various human-, robot-, and organization-related factors influence employees’ trust in service robots using bootstrap multiple regression analysis. The results reveal that human factors, particularly employees’ attitudes toward and comfort with robots, emerged as dominant trust predictors. Surprisingly, organizational factors showed minimal direct impact, suggesting complex trust dynamics unique to hospitality contexts. These findings significantly expand existing human–robot interaction (HRI) theory and offer critical practical insights for hospitality managers integrating robots into frontline service. Full article

Sustainability has become a significant concern in the tourism and hospitality industries. There is an increasing emphasis on how a company’s operations and employees influence customer experiences and value. This study employed the Social Exchange Theory to investigate the impact of sustainability-oriented practices on customer-perceived values, with pro-environmental work behavior serving as a mediator. Data obtained from employees in the tourism and hospitality sector in Ghana were analyzed using Harman’s single factor test in SPSS version 24 and partial least squares structural equation model in SMARTPLS version 4. The study revealed that sustainability-oriented practices significantly enhance both perceived customer values and pro-environmental work behavior. Further, pro-environmental work behavior was found to have a significant influence on customer-perceived values. Finally, the study revealed that pro-environmental work behavior partially mediated the positive relationship between sustainability-oriented practices and customer-perceived values. These findings underscore the importance of incorporating employee-driven environmental behaviors into sustainability initiatives, offering both theoretical insights through the Social Exchange Theory and practical guidance for enhancing customer value in the hospitality industry. Full article