Search Results (83)

Traditional Jiangnan water towns in China serve as important cultural heritage sites and tourist destinations. Existing studies have revealed a potential connection between environmental elements and spatial perception in these towns. However, there remains a lack of research systematically investigating whether and how these environmental elements influence subjective evaluation indicators, such as spatial attractiveness, and the mechanisms underlying the interactions between these elements. To further understand these mechanisms, we used Nanxun Old Town as our study site, employed computer vision techniques to perform semantic segmentation on street-view images, extracted the visual proportions of environmental elements, and conducted quantitative correlation analysis with subjective attractiveness evaluations. The findings indicate that different environmental elements in water towns shape spatial imagery in diverse ways, thereby influencing perceived attractiveness. Firstly, though space-defining elements such as buildings and water generally contribute positively to perceived attractiveness, their proportions should be controlled within a reasonable range to maintain a spatial scale that aligns with the traditional imagery of water towns. Secondly, foreground elements like boats and lanterns, although occupying a smaller proportion, can effectively enhance the space when properly combined. Finally, the influence of elements such as bridges and buildings depends on the specific viewing distance and angle. These findings, based on an interpretable analytical framework, reveal that the effects of environmental elements on spatial attractiveness are context-dependent and nonlinear, varying with their proportions, combinations, and perspectives. This approach offers a more comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms by which environmental elements shape spatial attractiveness, providing a scientific foundation for regulating key visual components and optimizing spatial composition for sustainable traditional water town environment management. Full article

In the face of an unprecedented public health crisis (COVID-19), despite tourist perceptions toward cultural heritage tourism having undergone significant transformation, such transitions are increasingly viewed as opportunities to enhance sustainability practices in cultural heritage tourism worldwide. This study traces the evolution of tourist perceptions at Lijiang Old Town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, across three stages from 2017 to 2024—before the pandemic, during the pandemic, and after the pandemic. Data were collected from major tourism platforms, yielding a comprehensive dataset of 50,022 user-generated reviews. We adopt a mixed-method framework integrating TF-IDF, Social Network Analysis (SNA), and Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) to identify salient terms, semantic structures, and latent themes from large-scale unstructured textual data across time. The findings indicate that cultural heritage tourism demonstrates adaptability and resilience through significant perceptual transitions. After the pandemic, visitors increasingly prioritized cultural depth and high-quality service experiences, whereas before the pandemic, tourists focused more on cultural heritage attractions and commercial experiences. Moreover, during the pandemic period, visitor narratives reflected adaptations toward quieter, safer, and more personalized experiences, highlighting the impact of safety measures on tourism patterns. These findings demonstrate the methodological potential for dynamically monitoring perception shifts and offer empirical grounding for future perception-oriented research and sustainable cultural heritage destination management practices in cultural heritage tourism toward sustainable tourism. Full article

The paper makes a novel contribution to bridging the academic–practitioner divide in tourism studies, specifically in the context of the destination image. An advanced, robust estimation modeling approach that analyzed a lagged commercial international survey of potential tourists reveals that academics and practitioners tend to draw different conclusions from the same dataset based on their different hypotheses. These findings suggest that academics and practitioners have limited perspectives of destination image, casting doubt on the relevance of existing destination image models, particularly when applied to individuals who already hold a less-than-positive perception. Hence, this study suggests four steps for enhancing cooperation between academics and practitioners: the use of a mixed team, re-examination of commercial (lagged) datasets, developing a combined set of hypotheses, and conducting rigorous analysis. The findings advance both theoretical understanding and practical strategy by showing that cognitive marketing messages may reinforce existing views but rarely overturn them. To support the market, academics should focus on conative destination image, develop segmentation tools to identify the target groups based on their overall destination image, and build dynamic destination image models that portray the differences between the groups and conditions. Full article

Natural disasters such as hurricanes, earthquakes, or tsunamis can significantly affect the image of tourist destinations and the intention to visit them. However, research on the effects of natural disasters and their impact in destinations in Mexico is an under-researched topic. Moreover, attitudes and behaviors of solidarity are important for recovery of destinations after natural disasters. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine how people’s perceived risk and solidarity attitudes affect the image and intention to visit destinations after natural disasters in the country. Through a structured questionnaire (n = 228), the risk perception, solidarity attitudes, destination image, and intention to visit were measured to assess interest in visiting the emblematic destination of Acapulco, Mexico, which was devastated by Hurricane Otis (category 5) in October 2023. The results show that risk perception does not affect destination image and solidarity attitudes, but it does affect the intention to visit the destination (β = −0.120). The main findings of this study establish the strong influence of solidarity attitudes on the image (β = 0.611) of the destination and the intention to visit (β = 0.581). The results state that destination image had a mediating effect (β = 0.240) on solidarity attitudes and intention to visit post-disaster destinations. Therefore, destination image has a fundamental effect on the formation of attitudes of solidarity for the recovery of destinations after a natural disaster. Solidarity attitudes are of great importance for the destination’s recovery after natural disasters. It is important to prioritize marketing campaigns that recognize these actions of solidarity, on the part of destination management organizations (DMOs) and local governments. Full article

This study examines the relationship between tourists’ level of perceived safety in Thailand and their future behavioral intentions to revisit Thailand in a post-COVID-19 context. Moreover, the study also examines the moderating role of a destination’s image and the mediating effects of perceived constraints on the relationship of tourists’ perceived safety and their future behavioral intentions. The aim of this study is to fill gap in the literature regarding the impact of safety perceptions on future sustainable travel intentions. For this purpose, a cross-sectional research design was used, and data were collected through purposive sampling. Structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was employed to analyze the data. A total of 219 tourists participated in the study, of which 122 were male and 97 were female. The results revealed a positive association between perceived safety and future behavioral intentions. Moreover, the moderating effect of a destination’s image on the relationship between perceived safety and future behavioral intentions was found to be positive. Additionally, the mediating role of perceived constraint in the relationship between perceived safety and future behavioral intentions exhibited a negative effect. While no significant gender differences were observed in most variables, perceived constraints differed significantly between male and female tourists. These results underscore the crucial roles of safety and a destination’s image in influencing tourists’ future travel decisions. By emphasizing safety and positive destination imagery, the findings contribute to sustainable tourism development by promoting long-term visitor engagement, enhancing destination resilience, and supporting the socio-economic recovery of tourism-dependent communities. Full article

From the perspective of social media data, this study investigates the coupling relationship between tourists’ spatial perception and tourism image in traditional old urban areas. Using Nanxun Ancient Town as a case study, this paper reveals the interaction and mutual influence between tourists’ perception of space and tourism image in the development of traditional ancient town tourism. We employed Python 3.13.0 to gather 10,789 valuable comments from tourists from Dianping 11.35.3, Ctrip 8.78.4, and Mafengwo 11.2.6. Mini Tag Cloud software is used to analyze the text data, systematically classify the cognitive image of tourists, and identify negative emotional factors. This paper constructs a four-dimensional landscape spatial perception evaluation system centered on “high-frequency words”, “perceptual dimensions”, “semantic networks”, and “emotional tendencies”. The key findings are as follows: (1) Tourists’ spatial perception exhibits pronounced characteristics of subjective preference and emotional attachment influenced by emotional factors. Overall, tourists exhibited positive emotional perceptions, with 59.51% positive emotions, 21.16% neutral emotions, and 19.33% negative emotions. (2) The perception of Nanxun Ancient Town’s tourism image can be summarized into four dimensions. Here are the dimensions in order of how important they are: historical culture and folk heritage (34.18%), perceptions of natural landscape and architectural style (31.03%), perceptions of tourism services and facilities (18.37%), and psychological identity and emotional interaction (16.42%). (3) Tourism image reciprocally influences tourists’ spatial perception. A positive tourism image is anticipated to encourage tourists to explore the spatial details of the ancient town more deeply, enhancing their positive spatial perception and experience. There exists a coupling relationship between tourists’ spatial perception and tourism image. (4) Key aspects of tourists’ perception of Nanxun Ancient Town include its historical and cultural significance, as well as commercialization. Future studies could focus on tourists’ spatial perception and tourism destination brand image building, and tourism policy makers should pay attention to tourists’ perception of Nanxun Ancient Town’s history, culture and commercialization, and use the coupling of the two to improve development and service policies. Full article

The image attributes of a tourist destination are the elements that make up the perception that visitors have about a place. Segmenting by image attributes is establishing subgroups of tourists, differentiating them by the way they perceive the image of the destination. The present study in a marine protected area aimed to (i) identify image attributes, (ii) establish segments based on image attributes, (iii) determine the relationship between image segments, satisfaction, and behavioral loyalty, and (iv) ascertain the socio-demographic characteristics of image segments in insular marine protected areas. This study was conducted in the Galapagos Islands of Ecuador, a marine protected Pacific Ocean area declared a World Heritage Site. A total of 407 surveys were collected in situ. The data were interpreted using factor analysis techniques and non-hierarchical K-means cluster analysis. The results show four image attributes in marine protected areas: Staff Attention, Tourist Facilities, Nature and People, and Cultural Attractions. Likewise, three segments based on image attributes were identified: the Passive segment, with low scores overall; Nature, with high scores only in attributes related to nature; and the Want It All segment, with high scores in all image attributes. Among these groups, the Want it All segment demonstrates the highest satisfaction and loyalty levels. The results will serve as management guidelines for marine protected area administrators and contribute to academic literature. Full article

This study investigates the environmental and socioeconomic dimensions of domestic cycling tourism in Slovenia, focusing on “double pollution” and “greenhushing” practices. The aim is to evaluate the sustainability of cycling tourism by examining its indirect environmental impacts, particularly emissions from ancillary travel behaviours such as car usage to reach cycling destinations. Utilizing data from 2011 to 2021, this research employs factor analyses using the principal component analysis (PCA) extraction method and vector autoregression (VAR) modelling to explore relationships between key socioeconomic, environmental, and tourism-related variables. This study identifies three common factors influencing cycling tourism: (1) socioeconomic and urban dynamics, (2) tourism-driven environmental factors, and (3) climatic sustainability challenges. Results highlight that cycling tourism contributes to emissions due to associated car travel, counteracting its eco-friendly image. Findings reveal that favourable economic conditions and urbanisation drive tourism demand, while increased tourist arrivals correlate with higher emissions. This study also uncovers greenhushing, where stakeholders underreport the environmental costs of cycling tourism, leading to mistaken perceptions of its sustainability. This study concludes that, while domestic cycling tourism supports economic growth and health, its environmental benefits are compromised by ancillary emissions. Transparent environmental reporting, enhanced public transport, and local bike rental systems are recommended to mitigate these challenges and align cycling tourism with Slovenia’s sustainability goals. Full article

In recent years, the growing number of Online Travel Review (OTR) platforms and advances in social media and search engine technologies have led to a new way of accessing information for tourists, placing projected Tourist Destination Image (TDI) and electronic Word of Mouth (eWoM) at the heart of travel decision-making. This research introduces a big data-driven approach to analyzing and measuring the perceived and conveyed TDI in OTRs concerning the reflected perceptive, spatial, and affective dimensions of search results. To test this approach, a massive metadata analysis of search engine was conducted on approximately 2700 reviews from TripAdvisor users for the category “Attractions” of the city of Kastoria, Greece. Using artificial intelligence, an analysis of the photos accompanying user comments on TripAdvisor was performed. Based on the results, we created five themes for the image narratives, depending on the focus of interest (monument, activity, self, other person, and unknown) in which the content was categorized. The results obtained allow us to extract information that can be used in business intelligence applications. Full article

Inbound digital marketing strategies play a vital role in the tourism industry, significantly influencing visitors’ decision-making processes, enhancing tourist experiences, and ensuring post-consumption satisfaction. This study explores the effectiveness of digital marketing strategies in shaping tourists’ perceptions of service quality and sustainability and their subsequent impact on overall satisfaction and behavioural intentions. This paper developed a conceptual framework and hypotheses through a comprehensive literature review to assess the causal relationships between digital marketing effectiveness, perceived destination service quality, perceived destination sustainability quality, tourist satisfaction, and behavioural intention. The empirical analysis was conducted using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) on data collected from 195 international tourists in Thailand’s coastal regions. The results reveal that while digital marketing effectiveness directly influences tourists’ perceptions of service and sustainability quality, it indirectly influences tourist satisfaction and behavioural intentions through these perceptions. The findings highlight the critical role of aligning digital marketing strategies with service quality and sustainability initiatives. Moreover, the developed construct serves as a valuable tool for assessing and maintaining the destination image, helping tourism providers to improve their offerings and continuously foster long-term customer relationships. Full article

This research investigates the significant role of international volunteering, particularly through the European Solidarity Corps (ESC), in shaping the image of Barcelos as a tourist destination. The study specifically examines various volunteer programs in Barcelos, such as construction projects, teaching, and agricultural assistance. It focuses on the volunteers’ perceptions and motivations and on the impact of their experiences on the city’s touristic recognition. Using a mixed-methods approach, this research analyzes responses from electronic surveys with 92 former ESC volunteers and interviews with four local organizations that host these participants. The findings reveal that international volunteering through specific programs enhances Barcelos’ image as a welcoming, culturally rich, and civically engaged tourist destination. This research highlights the importance of integrating such initiatives into the city’s tourism management strategy, suggesting that such efforts can significantly enrich the tourist experience and the overall image of the destination. Furthermore, the study identifies areas for future research, including the need for a more in-depth analysis of the long-term impact of these volunteering activities on the local economy and cultural sustainability. The limitations of the study, such as the use of a convenience sample and the reliance on self-reported data, which may influence the results and their generalizability, are also discussed. In conclusion, this work provides valuable insights for tourism managers and policymakers, demonstrating how international volunteering can be a strategic component in enhancing the image of tourist destinations. Through careful and strategic management, Barcelos can continue to develop and promote its identity as a destination for solidarity tourism and cultural vibrancy. Full article

The burgeoning field of sustainable tourism in historically significant urban districts has derived increasing attention in tandem with broader urban economic development. The perceived image of a tourist destination significantly affects tourist consumption behaviors and destination choices, while negative evaluations provide destination managers with insights for targeted improvements to tourist amenities, thereby contributing to the sustainable development of these historically significant districts. This study leveraged Python 3.12.3 software to collect online textual data from popular tourism websites, specifically Ctrip 8.71.4 and Mafengwo 11.1.7. Then, ROST CM6.0 software facilitated high-frequency word analysis, network semantic analysis, and sentiment analysis to outline the perceived image and characteristics of the Macau Historic District, a UNESCO World Heritage site, from the perspective of tourists. The findings are as follows: (1) The image of the Historic Centre of Macao as a tourist destination comprises four primary dimensions: cultural (16.02%), landscape (30.85%), emotional (16.97%), and local (36.16%). (2) Tourists perceive the Historic Centre of Macao as a blend of dynamism and tranquility, tradition, and modernity. (3) Emotional evaluations of the Historic Centre of Macao as a tourist destination are primarily positive (85.45%), whereas negative sentiments constitute 5.76%, with recurring themes pertaining to overcrowding, high prices, a lack of interactive experiences at attractions, excessive commercialization, and insufficient public rest facilities. These findings offer valuable directives for the future planning and development of tourism in Macau, a city recognized for its World Heritage status. (4) In summary, the thematic image of the Historic Centre of Macao can be considered authentic, romantic, and commercialized. Full article

Tourists’ environmentally responsible behavior (TERB) is one of the key areas in tourism as it concerns tourism sustainability that further influences a destination’s competitiveness and image. This study sought to deepen the formation of TERB through tourists’ degree of environmental perception, mediated by their feeling of awe towards the environment, and moderated by their level of face consciousness. Data were collected from tourists in Tibet and the findings indicated that awe exerted partial mediation on the tourists’ perception-behavior relationship. Furthermore, face consciousness moderated the mediated relationship of humanistic environmental perception, awe, and TERB. This study adds value to existing tourism studies by revealing the influences of awe on constructing tourists’ attitude in sustainable tourism. From a practical perspective, the findings offer insights for destination management organizations (DMOs) in promoting tourists’ environmentally responsible behavior that fosters sustainable tourism development. Full article

Mining communities often rely on tourism as a vehicle for post-mining territorial development. Sometimes, these expectations of the locals are justified by the natural setting and/or the well-preserved industrial heritage; however, these potential tourist destinations are disadvantaged primarily by their image, often associated with decay in the perception of travellers. In this paper, we treat travellers as stakeholders, able to decisively influence the image of a destination by uploading content (photos, reviews and ratings) on Google Maps and TripAdvisor, and we emphasise that user-generated content should be considered when shaping the tourism development strategies. Taking as case studies three former mining regions trying to capitalise on their tourist potential—Jiu Valley and Ștei, in Romania and La Louvière, in Belgium—this article proposes a method for assessing the image of the destination, also aiming to identify those aspects that require improvement. Full article

This research extensively discusses the connection between destination image and films influencing tourism. Despite the worldwide fame of the James Bond saga and extensive publications on the subject, research into the role of tourism promotion in the image of destinations is still scarce, and there is no specific focus on analysing promotional aspects in relation to film-induced tourism. This study focuses on the influence of cinematographic images on the destination image perception and promotion, specifically exploring the case of the James Bond saga as a practical case. With 25 films released since 1962, the James Bond saga provides a basis for evaluating cinematic presence in tourism promotion strategies. This research proposes the content analysis of the official tourist websites of 23 destinations where the James Bond saga was shot, which offer some tourist products linked to the saga. The key findings provide valuable insights into the promotion of James Bond saga tourism destinations, the role of films in promoting destinations, and the tourism products developed from the saga films. The results provide visual outputs about the target image of the film shooting locations, and the text analysis provides keywords linked to the theme. The study’s methodology contributes to the discourse on film tourism and destination image topics and brings practical and theoretical contributions to both academia and destination managers. Full article