ABSTRACT This research note examines the purpose and role of the ATLAS special interest group (SIG) Animals in Tourism, Hospitality, and Leisure and its contribution to advancing animal justice in tourism studies and practice. Drawing on the case of this recently established academic community, it reflects on the SIG’s development, aims and future directions one year after its foundation. Using insights from a participatory workshop with members and guided by the principles of a theory of change, the note discusses how the SIG fosters ethical reflection, critical dialogue and transformative education across tourism, hospitality and leisure. While clarifying the SIG’s scope and roadmap, it also considers its potential as an intentional assemblage – a collaborative, values-driven collective connecting knowledge, care and action for reimagining human-animal relationships in tourism research and education.

ABSTRACT This study examines the multifaceted impacts of culinary tourism on sustainability across sociocultural, economic and environmental dimensions. Using a systematic literature review, it synthesises existing research while addressing challenges such as cultural commodification, environmental pressures and resource use. The novelty of this work lies in integrating sustainable tourism theory, experiential tourism theory and social exchange theory into a single framework, demonstrating how culinary tourism operates at the intersection of cultural experience, community exchange and sustainability outcomes. By positioning culinary experience as the central nexus, the study advances theoretical understanding and offers a tool for analysing culinary tourism’s impacts across diverse contexts. The findings contribute to theory by bridging frameworks previously applied in isolation and to practice by providing insights for policymakers, tourism operators and communities seeking to integrate sustainability into their culinary tourism strategies.

ABSTRACT This study aims to expand academic understanding of seasonality by establishing if previous scholarly work on the subject is also applicable to the novel context of the urban event industry. A mixed-method approach combining qualitative and quantitative research was applied, collecting details from two event venues in the centre of Amsterdam and expert insight from the Amsterdam Convention Bureau. Findings reveal that certain aspects, such as fluctuating revenue and event distribution, national and school holidays, and seasonal pricing and marketing strategies are also relevant in the urban event industry context, although the specific composition differs per organisation. Overall, the study offers useful insights and provides a foundation for further research on seasonality in the urban event sector.

ABSTRACT This study investigates the interplay of wisdom and emotional intelligence as antecedents of customer-focused perspective-taking in the hospitality industry. Grounded in the balance theory of wisdom, the study develops a research model hypothesising that wisdom, comprising cognitive, reflective and affective dimensions, fosters emotional intelligence, which mediates its relationship with perspective-taking. Data were collected from 394 frontline hospitality employees in the Dodoma region in Tanzania using a quantitative survey design. The results from covariance-based structural equation modelling confirmed that all three dimensions of wisdom significantly influence emotional intelligence, which in turn drives customer-focused perspective-taking. These findings highlight the cardinal role of wisdom and emotional intelligence in enabling employees to empathise with customers, enhancing service interactions and employee well-being. The study extends the application of the balance theory of wisdom to the hospitality industry, offering theoretical insights into psychological mechanisms for perspective-taking. The study recommends that managers in the hospitality industry prioritise emotional skills training to equip employees for dynamic customer interactions.

ABSTRACT Education for sustainable development has transformed from a discretionary to an essential element of consideration in higher education institutes. Nonetheless, limited attempts have been made to uncover the effectiveness and importance of such efforts in research scholarship, particularly in the Sri Lankan context. Hence, this article attempts to systematically evaluate the effectiveness and importance of incorporating dedicated sustainability- centric pedagogical interventions. This study collected data from 151 tourism and hospitality undergraduates at a higher education institute in Sri Lanka using a concurrent embedded mixed-methods approach. The findings of the study reveal that the extent of sustainability and sustainable tourism knowledge among undergraduates cannot be solely attributed to a dedicated sustainability module. However, students with higher general sustainability knowledge also demonstrated greater sustainable tourism-specific knowledge. Additionally, tourism and hospitality undergraduates perceived learning about sustainability as highly important and held high expectations from higher education institutes to act as principal educators in sustainability considerations.

ABSTRACT This work concerns an urban vegetable garden in the north-west of Portugal and aims to describe the hospitality surrounding this environment. This study resulted from a two-year field investigation, which was methodologically driven by ethnography and supported by the anthropology of food. The concept of the semiosphere, linked to the semiotics of culture, was used as a reference to analyse the codes of hospitality that circulate in this space. This allusion helped emphasise the boundary separating the vegetable garden from urban texts and enunciating the collective memory established there, aligned with a group of mostly older people. These themes contoured dynamics that elucidated a hospitality profile, which was confronted with the four unwritten laws of hospitality proposed by Camargo. With this, it was concluded that the hospitable profile of this semiosphere emphasises the asymmetry law that the guest must respect the host’s right to space.

ABSTRACT This study explores gendered food practices and mealtime dynamics in Romanian households, both in Romania and in the United Kingdom. It examines how traditions of food sourcing, preparation, and serving are reproduced, adapted, or contested in native and diasporic settings. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with five participants, the research employs critical thematic analysis to examine recurring patterns and underlying ideologies. Four key themes were identified: gender-based hierarchies; marital status hierarchies; gender identity negotiation; and gendered power dynamics. Findings indicate that while traditional expectations around foodwork remain, younger respondents and those of the diaspora increasingly challenge and reconfigure such norms. Food practices emerge as domains of cultural continuity and personal agency, where participants assert autonomy, display culinary capital, and renegotiate traditional gender roles. This study lays the foundation for future research into the intersections of food practices, gender, migration, and cultural identity across diverse family contexts. Despite limitations related to a small sample size and gender representation, its exploratory research design enabled rich, context-sensitive insights into recurring dynamics in varying environments. It contributes new perspectives to gendered hospitality and Eastern European domestic studies by positioning family meals as key sites of symbolic power, identity negotiation, and the reinforcement of normative household hierarchies.

ABSTRACT The integration of physical and digital experiences in ecotourism is reshaping ecotourism by enhancing visitor engagement and advancing sustainability practices. This study employs a grounded theory approach to investigate the impact of technologies such as augmented reality, virtual reality and artificial intelligence-driven interactive platforms on ecotourism experiences. Three key themes emerged, including immersive engagement, environmental sustainability and digital adaptation. The findings demonstrate that physical and digital experiences in ecotourism significantly enrich the ecotourism experience by facilitating real-time environmental education, fostering deeper emotional connections with nature and reducing ecological footprints. However, challenges related to digital accessibility, concerns about authenticity and the need for greater community integration remain critical barriers. This research contributes to the discourse on smart and sustainable tourism by providing actionable insights for industry stakeholders and proposing a conceptual framework that integrates technological advancements with environmental consciousness. The study advocates for a more immersive, responsible and inclusive ecotourism paradigm, offering a foundation for future research and practice in this evolving field.

ABSTRACT Although the contribution of customer-focused perspective-taking in enhancing service performance has been extensively acknowledged in the literature, there is limited evidence on its antecedents. This study, therefore, tested a hypothesised model examining the interplay between employees’ religiosity and emotional intelligence in predicting customer-focused perspective-taking. The model was tested using data collected from 156 employees in the hospitality industry through structural equation modelling. The results indicate that employees’ religiosity is a prominent source of customer-focused perspective-taking, supported by mechanisms of emotional intelligence. The study contributes to theory and practice by deepening the understanding of psychological and value-based antecedents of customer-focused perspective-taking in highly interactive industries such as the hospitality industry. The study recommends empowering employees through customised training programmes to cultivate their ability to recognise emotions as valuable resources for customer management, especially in highly interactive sectors like the hospitality industry.