Search Results (1,286)

This paper examines the relationship between perceived event quality and visitor loyalty in the context of a river-based sport tourism event. This study examines visitors at the Danube Regatta in Negotin, a small-scale sport-tourism event integrated into the international Danube International Regatta. Drawing on event quality and experience economy frameworks, the study analyses the effects of four dimensions of perceived quality-organizational arrangements, program and atmosphere, environmental care, and infrastructure on visitors’ loyalty, operationalized through revisit intention and recommendation. The authors collected data through an on-site survey of 217 event visitors during the 2025 edition of the event. The analysis employed descriptive statistics, Spearman’s correlation, multiple linear regression, and cluster analysis (K-means). The results show that program and atmosphere represent the strongest predictors of visitor loyalty (β = 0.734, p < 0.001), confirming the dominant role of experiential elements. Organizational arrangements (β = 0.196, p < 0.01) and infrastructure (β = 0.203, p < 0.01) also exert statistically significant positive effects, suggesting their role as supporting conditions rather than primary drivers of loyalty. In contrast, perceived environmental care has a statistically significant negative effect (β = −0.240, p < 0.01), indicating a potentially complex sustainability-related relationship whereby perceived shortcomings in environmental practices reduce loyalty intentions. Cluster analysis identified four distinct visitor segments, highlighting heterogeneous visitor behavior motives and behavioral patterns among event participants. The findings add to the existing literature by providing empirical support for a multidimensional event quality–visitor loyalty framework in the context of small-scale river-based sport events. The study highlights the primacy of experiential components while emphasizing the need for more visible and effective environmental management practices in nature-based events. Full article

Tadlac Lake, Gunao Lake, and Tikub Lake have embraced tourism development, but their foundations for initiation and establishment need further exploration and investigation. These small lakes are notable destinations, yet their tourism institutions hinder them. Thus, this article delves into the three small lakes in the context of Lake Tourism, defining key concepts and enumerating their fundamental components. Lake Tourism’s central idea is introduced from a politically philosophical-relativist perspective, emphasizing a subjective, qualitative stance. Methodologically, the research relies primarily on the author’s extensive research, supported by other articles, reports, and official documents, to expand tourism development scholarship. The inferences on tourism components’ impediments are: (i) Tadlac Lake has been established and functional but underutilized since it still maintains issues in achieving Lake Tourism. (ii) Gunao Lake has potential but has been dysfunctional and untapped since it intends to institute Lake Tourism but has yet to commence. (iii) Tikub Lake has been developed and is functional, but underutilized, since it is still completing its Lake Tourism. These stumbling blocks must be addressed to unlock the potential for tourism development and contribute to the municipal economy and communities in the long run. The government authorities must spearhead efforts for the three small lakes, as they often have stronger financial capacity and mechanisms. This government’s underpinning is a critical ingredient in enhancing Tadlac Lake, Gunao Lake, and Tikub Lake—to a large extent, progress in Lake Tourism continues to be defined by the actions or inactions of the municipal government. Thus, the government defines and shapes the tourism development in the three small lakes. Full article

Planetary health recognizes that human health, well-being, and sustainable development depend fundamentally on the integrity of natural ecosystems that regulate climate, maintain biodiversity, secure food and water resources, and protect populations from environmental risks. As environmental degradation increasingly threatens this life-support system, there is a growing need for economic indicators that explicitly recognize the value of natural capital alongside conventional measures of development. Gross Ecosystem Product (GEP) has emerged as comprehensive metric for quantifying the monetary value of ecosystem services and informing evidence-based policy. This study estimates India’s GEP for the period 2011–2012 to 2020–2021 using an ecosystem accounting framework aligned with the System of Environmental Economic Accounting (SEEA). The analysis integrates provisioning services (timber, non-timber forest products, fuelwood, and fisheries), regulating services (carbon sequestration), and cultural services (nature-based tourism) using market price, replacement cost, and benefit transfer methods based on secondary data from national and published sources. India’s total GEP is estimated at US$207.05 billion, highlighting the substantial but under-recognized contribution of ecosystems to the national economy and societal well-being. Regulating services dominate GDP, with carbon sequestration alone accounting for US$166.73 billion, followed by provisioning services, while cultural services contribute a relatively smaller share. These findings reveal a significant gap between ecosystem contributions and their representation in conventional metrics such as Gross Domestic Product (GDP), underscoring the limitations of growth-centric development frameworks. By integrating ecosystem values into national accounting, GEP provides a practical tool for advancing planetary health, strengthening climate resilience, conserving biodiversity, supporting ecosystem-based management, and guiding policies that align economic development with ecological sustainability and long-term human well-being. Full article

Tourism is a major driver of the global economy, accounting for approximately 10% of global GDP; however, the literature highlights that unsustainable tourism growth can lead to economic volatility and overdependence, making sustainable approaches essential for ensuring long-term stability and resilience. This paper presents the development of a nonlinear model predictive control (MPC) framework that incorporates key state variables, such as the number of tourists and average spending per tourist, along with control variables including investment in facilities and services and human capital development, in addition to the formulation of the cost function and system dynamics. Numerical experiments demonstrate that the proposed MPC framework effectively manages the complex interactions inherent in tourism systems, achieving sustained growth in tourist arrivals, spending, and employment without instability, stabilizing experience quality despite congestion effects, maintaining a controlled decline in affordability within feasible bounds, and producing smooth, interpretable policy trajectories consistent with institutional constraints. To evaluate the robustness of the framework and identify the most critical governing parameters, a sensitivity analysis was conducted using the Morris screening method. Full article

Whether agricultural cultural heritage (ACH) tourism supports sustainable heritage development depends partly on whether visits sustain the communication and internalization of heritage knowledge rather than merely produce favorable consumption evaluations. Drawing on experience economy theory, social identity theory, and tourism learning theory, this study constructs a mechanism model linking ACH experiences to tourists’ cultural learning. To reduce conceptual overlap, experience quality is defined as visitors’ perceived distinctiveness, novelty, and memorability of the visit, whereas perceived value is defined as a utilitarian assessment of gains relative to the money, time, and effort invested. ACH experience is therefore divided into three analytically distinct dimensions: experience quality, perceived value, and knowledge transfer. Cultural identity is introduced as a mediating variable and is understood as a layered psychological construct including cognitive recognition, affective attachment, and evaluative commitment. Income level is introduced as a moderating variable and is interpreted as a within-sample socioeconomic boundary condition after controlling for education and other demographic characteristics. In this study, sustainability is defined narrowly as the sociocultural continuity of ACH from the visitor side and is operationalized through perceived knowledge transfer, cultural identity, and self-reported cultural learning; income is used to examine whether this pathway differs across socioeconomic groups. Based on 430 valid questionnaires collected from visitors to ACH sites in Fujian Province, this cross-sectional study conducts empirical tests using structural equation modeling (SEM), Bootstrap mediation analysis, and hierarchical regression analysis. The results show that experience quality and knowledge transfer are positively associated with tourists’ cultural learning, with knowledge transfer showing the stronger association. Perceived value has no significant relationship with cultural learning, indicating that a consumption-level perception of value for money does not necessarily correspond to deeper cultural learning. Cultural identity fully mediates the statistical relationship between knowledge transfer and tourists’ cultural learning, revealing a dominant pathway linking knowledge transfer, cultural identity, and cultural learning. Income level positively moderates the relationship between cultural identity and tourists’ cultural learning. Because the data are cross-sectional and self-reported, these findings indicate theoretically consistent associations rather than definitive causal effects. The study contributes to sustainability research by offering a quantifiable visitor-side framework for monitoring knowledge communication, cultural connection, and learning-related outcomes. Repeated measurement of these indicators may support adaptive heritage management and inclusive cultural participation, but they should be combined with ecological, economic, and community-based indicators rather than treated as a complete sustainability index. Full article

The global energy transition requires countries to rapidly expand renewable energy infrastructure, yet the factors associated with this transition remain comparatively underexplored in resource-dependent economies. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) represents a particularly important case: despite their substantial role in global hydrocarbon markets, they are simultaneously pursuing renewable energy expansion and economic diversification. Examining this transition therefore offers insights not only for the GCC but also for other hydrocarbon-dependent economies facing similar diversification challenges. This study examines, for the first time, the association between tourism development and renewable energy capacity share across six GCC countries from 2014 to 2024. Unlike most existing studies that use renewable energy consumption as the dependent variable, this study focuses on renewable energy capacity share, which more directly reflects long-term infrastructure investment and commitment to the energy transition. Using a balanced panel of 66 observations, the empirical analysis tests for cross-sectional dependence, applies the second-generation cross-sectionally augmented IPS (CIPS) unit root test, and estimates alternative panel specifications, with the fixed-effects model selected as the preferred specification based on the Hausman test. The results show that tourism receipts and foreign direct investment are positively and significantly associated with renewable energy capacity share, while GDP per capita shows no robust significant association. These findings highlight the potential relevance of tourism development and foreign investment to renewable energy expansion in hydrocarbon-dependent economies and provide policy-relevant evidence for countries seeking to align economic diversification with the energy transition. Full article

The rapid development of the low-altitude economy is reshaping tourism activities, infrastructure provision, and landscape resource use, yet national-scale research on low-altitude tourism bases remains limited. Using data on 1247 bases in China, this study applies average nearest-neighbor analysis, kernel density estimation, and spatial inequality measures to characterize multi-scale patterns. The study further employs an optimal parameters-based geographical detector within a geographical nature framework to identify influencing factors and interactions. The results reveal significant clustering and regional inequality, with a pronounced east–west divide along the Heihe–Tengchong Line. A diamond-shaped core bounded by Beijing, Hangzhou, Chengdu, and Sanya, together with its 200 km buffer zone, contains 89.17% of all bases. Domestic tourism revenue, the number of low-altitude industry enterprises, general aviation airports, national tourist resorts, and domestic tourist arrivals constitute the leading factors, although the dominant factor combinations vary across base types. Factor interactions are dominated by two-factor and nonlinear enhancement. The three natures form a coupled pathway: first nature provides environmental suitability, second nature transforms resource potential into marketable tourism products, and third nature regulates implementation. General aviation infrastructure acts as an operational interface linking environmental conditions, tourism demand, industrial support, and policy arrangements. The findings provide a basis for differentiated regional zoning and type-specific facility planning, thereby informing the sustainable development of low-altitude tourism. Full article

The impacts of international tourism on economic performance, sustainable development, natural resources and environmental outcomes have been extensively researched during the last couple of decades in the available body of knowledge. However, the specific role of international tourism on women’s empowerment is rarely researched despite the fact that it creates numerous employment and entrepreneurial opportunities in host economies for women. Accordingly, this research study attempts to examine the impacts of international tourism on women’s empowerment using the framework of Vision 2030 introduced by Saudi Arabia in 2016. Using the ARDL cointegration approach and utilizing annual time series data from 1995 to 2024, this study demonstrates that international tourism has improved women’s empowerment both in the long run as well as in the short run in Saudi Arabia. Besides tourism, this study found that urbanization and female’s labor force participation have accelerated the pace of women’s empowerment both in the long run and short run. In addition, the results underscored that trade openness only matters for women’s empowerment in the long run. Finally, this study demonstrates that internet use is helpful in promoting women’s empowerment in the short run only. The study’s research findings highlight the significance of international tourism as a determinant of women’s empowerment and advocates that the policymakers of Saudi Arabia should introduce gender-inclusive tourism policies. The findings of this research study contribute to the existing body of literature on tourism-led development and gender equality, which is consistent with SDG-5 and Vision 2030 of Saudi Arabia. Full article

As religious tourism expands across Asia, it remains unclear who benefits from its growth and who is overlooked in policy and industry accounts. Drawing on fieldwork in the temple-towns of Jejuri and Tuljapur in Maharashtra, India, this paper aims to make a timely and original contribution about the significance of informal, family-run and ritual-linked enterprises to the centre of debates on entrepreneurship and inclusive tourism development. The study combines visitor surveys, detailed enterprise mapping and entrepreneur interviews to reveal a dense but precarious local economy which is sustained by religious retail (a term articulated for sale of items related to rituals), street vending and small-scale service provision. These micro-enterprises are culturally central but economically fragile, low-margin and weakly recognised in policy. The paper argues that entrepreneurship is constrained by traditional religious authority, informality, seasonality and limited innovation capacity, while rising visitor numbers are creating opportunities in travel, accommodation and food. It shows that sustainability in temple-towns depends on livelihood durability, socio-cultural continuity, participatory governance and distributional justice. By foregrounding actors often omitted from formal economic analysis, the paper reframes religious tourism as an embedded entrepreneurial ecosystem and calls for policies that strengthen local enterprise capability, resilience and participation. Full article

Recreational fisheries contribute significantly to global economies through tourism, employment, and ecosystem service valorization. However, a systematic understanding of their economic magnitude and regional disparities remains fragmented. This study conducts a systematic review of 112 peer-reviewed articles published between 1991 and 2024, synthesizing the economic evidence across three key domains: consumer behavior, resource management, and ecological interactions. Consistent with previous research, our systematic synthesis documents a pronounced imbalance in the existing evidence base: studies from high-income countries more frequently report established management frameworks (e.g., bag limits, catch-per-unit-effort monitoring) and robust economic valuation mechanisms (e.g., Willingness to Pay estimation), whereas low- and middle-income countries face significant barriers in infrastructure and resource quantification. We identify that non-market valuation methods, particularly the travel cost method and consumer surplus analysis, are critical for internalizing the environmental value of fisheries. Furthermore, while ecological restoration demonstrates clear positive feedback loops for local economies, the sector exhibits high vulnerability to external shocks, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. This review highlights the urgent need to bridge the data gap in developing regions and suggests that transferring successful adaptive management models from developed nations is essential for achieving equitable and sustainable growth in the global recreational fishery economy. Full article

Tourism plays an important role in the global economy, contributing massively to the gross domestic product (GDP) and creating numerous jobs. The introduction of emerging technologies can accelerate the sector’s growth through personalization, improved user experience and better operational efficiency. The present work investigates the impact of visible light communications (VLC) in the tourism and hospitality industry based on the analysis of the recent literature published in the last decade, with the scope of improving tourist experience, operational efficiency and sustainability. Additionally, this work aims to critically evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of implementing VLC technology in the tourism and hospitality industry. For these purposes, this study presents a narrative review of the recent academic literature. The findings indicate that VLC technology can be used in a wide range of tourism-related applications, including contactless hotel services, indoor positioning and navigation, secure communications, accessibility solutions for visually impaired individuals and energy-efficient lighting infrastructure. In addition, this review demonstrates VLC’s potential to support the development of smart and sustainable tourism destinations through the integration of user-centered communication and illumination infrastructure. Finally, this work also identifies several challenges that affect large-scale deployment, including implementation costs, line-of-sight dependency and ongoing standardization issues. Full article

Achieving environmental sustainability, particularly the targets outlined in Sustainable Development Goal 13 (Climate Action), is a critical global imperative. This investigation analyzes the heterogeneous effects of artificial intelligence (AI), tourism intensity, tourism expenditure, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) share contributed by tourism, natural resource rents, and environmental policy stringency on the ecological footprints of advanced countries from 2000 to 2022. Using a robust analytical framework featuring advanced econometric methods, specifically the Method of Moments Quantile Regression (MMQR) and an innovative machine learning approach—Panel Quantile-on-Quantile Kernel-Based Regularized Least Squares (PQQKRLS)—the research elucidates complex, nonlinear interdependencies. Key empirical results show that AI adoption significantly mitigates ecological footprints across all quantile distributions. Conversely, heightened tourism intensity and increased tourism expenditure are associated with greater environmental degradation. The analysis further indicates a U-shaped tourism–ecological footprint relationship, suggesting that tourism’s economic contribution may initially reduce ecological pressure but may increase it again beyond a certain expansion threshold. These conclusions underscore the necessity for advanced nations to adopt synergistic policy frameworks that strategically leverage AI technologies, promote sustainable tourism practices, and reinforce rigorous environmental governance to advance climate action and ecological sustainability. Full article

This article discusses the use of thermal and mineral waters in Poland in balneology, rehabilitation, and recreation. It highlights their importance for health, economy, and tourism, as well as the country’s significant hydrogeothermal potential, particularly in the Carpathians, the Sudetes, and the Polish Lowlands. The authors present a classification of waters, their chemical and thermal properties, and their main applications: therapeutic baths, drinking cures, inhalations, peloidotherapy, and hydrotherapy. A significant portion of the study reviews the latest global research confirming the effectiveness of balneotherapy in the treatment of musculoskeletal and skin disorders, indicating the need for further clinical research. The paper also discusses Polish spas and recreational centers using thermal waters, pointing to their growing role in health care and wellness tourism. Limitations to the development of balneotherapy, such as high drilling costs, geological risks, and the need to maintain therapeutic water parameters, are highlighted. Full article

It is critically important to analyze the network structure of tourism services trade and identify China’s role within it, as such analysis provides a foundation for promoting sustainable growth under the Belt and Road Initiative. To this end, based on 2005–2022 tourism services export data for the Belt and Road economies from the WTO-OECD Balanced Trade in Services Database, this study uses complex network analysis and the QAP regression to build a directed weighted network and analyze its structure and influencing factors. The results indicate that: (1) The network has expanded steadily, with typical small-world characteristics and efficient factor mobility. (2) China, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, and other countries serve as core nodes. China’s three centrality indicators have consistently ranked among the top ten, and its betweenness centrality remains the highest, making it a stable anchor. The cohesive subgroups have consolidated into three stable trade blocs. (3) Common language, air passenger capacity, and trade agreements are key factors facilitating trade relations. Based on these findings, China should leverage its role as a core hub and intermediary bridge, enhance cross-regional resource allocation, network advantage transformation, and industrial synergy, deepen policy coordination and rule mutual recognition, and promote high-quality expansion of regional tourism services trade and deep economic integration. Full article