Destination Development Research Articles

Coastalization patterns in the Mediterranean: a spatiotemporal analysis of coastal urban sprawl in tourism destination areas

Under the current climate change scenery, coastalization, i.e. a linear-type of urban sprawl along the coastal zone, has become a key planning and policy concern at a global scale. Such a coastal urban sprawl trend seems to be further intensifying by, among others, mass tourism development in coastal destinations. This is evident by the abundance of relevant examples, being detected, among others, in the Mediterranean region. Taking into consideration the extreme pressure of the coastalization trend on land/marine ecosystems and its impacts on sustainability and resilience objectives, the focus of this research is on the development of a spatiotemporal and data-driven methodological approach that is capable of quantifying the dynamics of coastal urban sprawl. The proposed approach is grounded on a set of spatial metrics and a combination of the multitemporal Global Human Settlement Layer and the Corine Land Cover data; and is tested in four Mediterranean highly-rated tourism destinations in Spain, France, Italy and Greece. The variation of spatial metrics along different time spots and distinct distance buffers from the coast, unveils diversifying coastalization typologies and urban sprawl patterns; and provides input for more informed and place-based policy decisions on sustainable coastal land management. The proposed approach is easily replicable to other coastal regions as well for capturing/quantifying aspects of urban sprawl and coastalization dynamics and supporting relevant evidence-based decision-making.

ІНТЕГРОВАНА БІЗНЕС-СТРАТЕГІЯ ОРГАНІЗАЦІЇ З УПРАВЛІННЯ ТУРИСТИЧНИМИ ДЕСТИНАЦІЯМИ (ОМД)

Destination Management Organizations play a leading role in managing the network of destinations and establishing and maintaining cooperation between stakeholders. It has been proven that destination management organizations (DMOs) need to perform both managerial and marketing functions. The criteria of their productivity are organizational efficiency and effectiveness. The article solves the problem of measuring productivity (effective use of organizational resources by the management) of DMO and optimization of the main processes in order to ensure the creation of added value in the entire value chain in tourism. Strategic management tools were used in combination with Lean Six Sigma method tools. This made it possible to build a value-oriented model of DMO process optimization, which will provide support for decision-making regarding the structure of the tourism chain, coordinate the movement of goods and the provision of services, as well as the exchange of information between organization members and stakeholders. According to the authors, this can be achieved through the integration of activities: promotion and marketing, understanding consumer requirements, access to technology and the implementation of innovative practices, training and professional development, quality consulting for clients, and the implementation of a modern management concept – lean management in DMO will contribute to increasing the number tourists and growth of added value at all. The presented methodology for building the strategic boundaries of DMO development, using Lean Six Sigma methods, will contribute to the optimal development of tourist destinations, presenting a complete current picture of processes and interdependencies between them within the framework of one management organization. This can be the basis for the development of an interactive decision support structure that is used to optimize activities and operations in DMO.

Complexity analysis about formation mechanism of residents’ value co-creation behavior in tourism communities: Based on the social embeddedness perspective

The interactive behavior between residents and tourists will directly affect tourists' consumption experience and tourism value perception, but few researchers pay attention to residents' value co-creation behavior. Based on the social embeddedness perspective, this paper constructs a theoretical model of value co-creation behavior driven by demographics, individual factors, and social embeddedness factors, using the fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA). The results showed that 25 pathways were found to promote residents' value co-creation behavior (RVCB), among which attitude towards the behavior, place attachment, subjective norms, and relational embeddedness were necessary conditions. Only one condition cannot drive residents to form value co-creation behavior. The factors influencing residents’ value co-creation behavior were complex and heterogeneous. Ultimately, this work expanded the research on value co-creation behavior and had an essential practical guide for the sustainable development of tourism destinations.

Content Analysis on Sustainability Dimensions in DMOs’ Social Media Videos Advertising the World’s Most Visited Cities

Rapid population expansion and poorly managed economic growth, unprecedented anthropogenic climate changes, non-renewable natural resources depletion, environmental pollution, social inequity, and loss of cultural integrity generate a global context that calls for urgent adoption of a sustainable development approach in major industries, including tourism. Sustainable tourism development requires the mobilization of tourism stakeholders at all levels and on the demand side through actions related to the travel decision-making process. To stimulate attitude formation and adoption of sustainable tourist behaviors, Destination Management Organizations (DMOs)—the main organizations responsible for sustainable destination development—need to adopt sustainable-oriented communication actions when building the destination image. As tourism stakeholders’ perspective is under-investigated for destination image projection and communication, this paper aimed at assessing the integration of sustainable tourism principles in the promotion of destinations by DMOs; the focus was placed on video advertisements posted on the primary online source of tourism information, social media. Through a content analysis of DMOs’ social media advertisements for the 50 most visited cities in the world, the current study revealed that elements covering all three dimensions of sustainability (economic, socio-cultural, natural) were featured in the commercial discourse, but not in a sustainable explicit standpoint. Besides, the content sporadically reflected sustainable governmental initiatives and projected responsible tourist behavior, while it lacked specific sustainable tourism-related terms. Moreover, several highly popular cities did not have promotional videos. The paper contributes to the body of knowledge on destination image formation by providing evidence from the supply’s side along with an original content analysis grid which can be used to capture and evaluate the sustainable tourism dimensions as portrayed in advertising videos of cities. Additionally, it offers practical implications for DMOs’ marketing communication strategies.

Tackling Comprehensive Evaluation of Tourism Community Resilience: A Probabilistic Hesitant Linguistic Group Decision Making Approach

Community-based tourism (CBT) has been adopted as an effective and practical solution to land use policies by governments that simultaneously pursue upgrading of local economy, conservation of local ecosystem and development of local communities. Confronting with new normality of detrimental eventualities in situated environments, destination management organizations (DMOs) or local governments have to employ effective governance strategies for fostering tourism community resilience in order to sustain development of CBT destinations. In viewing of that facilitating development through evaluation usually manifests as an efficient strategy in governance practices, this paper contributes to fill two main gaps in tackling comprehensive evaluation of tourism community resilience. Firstly, by noticing the fact that current literature overlooks processual characteristics of tourism community resilience, which originate from integration of disaster management and destination management (DM2), we have developed an analytical framework comprised of six attributes for comprehensively evaluating tourism community resilience. Secondly, aiming at the phenomena that cognitive assessments on attributes of tourism community resilience often exhibit complicate uncertainties caused by low-structured or ill-structured problem nature, we have put forward a powerful expression tool of probabilistic dual hesitant fuzzy uncertain unbalanced linguistic set (PDHF_UUBLS) to simultaneously capture evaluators’ cognitive characteristics of decision hesitancy, bipolar epistemic notions and relative importance among assessments. Then by formalizing comprehensive evaluation of tourism community resilience as a multiple attributes decision making process, we construct an effective multiple attributes group decision making (MAGDM) approach with assessments in the form of PDHF_UUBLS. Theoretical analyses verify the effectiveness of our constructed MAGDM approach and also show the approach avoids potential information distortion in comparison with other approaches. Overall, this paper provides effective and pertinent solutions, with both analytical framework and methodology, to the urgent task of comprehensive evaluation of tourism community resilience in DM2 agenda, thereby is of apparent significance in governance practice of CBT.

Segmentation of gastronomic consumers following Instagram influencers based on destination preferences and the effect of Covid-19 on their consumption

THE AIM OF THE PAPER
 The aim of the study is to explore the impact of gastronomic influencers on Instagram on consumer decision before choosing a restaurant. It also examines the role of the characteristics of destination in consumer decision-making process. The article also highlights the impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic and its impact on consumers’ decision process in that context.
 METHODOLOGY
 In order to analyze the main research questions, a quantative survey with 329 valid responses was implemented and descriptive statistics, relationship analysis methods and linear regression were used to answer the research questions. The research question also required the use of a subsample (n=185) in which respondents who are willing to travel for gastronomic purposes were examined during the Pandemic.
 MOST IMPORTANT RESULTS
 According to the results, the collection of information from gastronomic influencers on the Instagram interface is popular among the respondents, and the influencers’ activity has a positive effect on the number of visitors to the destinations. Thus, it can be said that the relationship between the influencer and the destination is characterized by a significant, medium strength relationship. Furthermore, the results also revealed that the Pandemic has led to an increase in consumers’ intentions to consume in restaurants.
 RECOMMENDATIONS
 As social media plays an increasingly important role in the decision-making process, it is important that professionals, service providers and researchers explore the views of consumers in the context under study. The results are highlighted in terms of destination development and in terms of consumer behavior.

A look into the crystal ball of ski destination development - The role of Alpine Summer Parks

A look into the crystal ball of ski destination development - The role of Alpine Summer Parks

Innovation and authenticity: Constructing tourists' subjective well-being in festival tourism.

Although festival tourism is an excellent fertile ground for improving individual emotions, few studies have been conducted on the influencing factors and formation mechanisms of festival tourists’ subjective well-being. To address the current research gap, this paper draws on Arnold’ s theory of emotion to examine a comprehensive formation model of tourists’ subjective well-being. The findings from 581 samples indicate that event design innovation, cultural innovation and aesthetic innovation of festival tourism are positive stimulus factors of tourists’ subjective well-being. Both experience quality and perceived festival value mediate the effects of cultural innovation and aesthetic innovation on subjective well-being, yet have no mediating effect on the relationship between event design innovation and well-being. However, it can only be achieved when festival authenticity contributes to a positive moderating effect. This study provides new ideas for the collaborative advancement of innovative development and authentic inheritance in festival tourism destinations.

Regional Development Through Tourist Destinations in Tanjungbalai City

Regional development is a basic idea and effort in allocating and managing the resources owned for the interests and progress of a region. The development of an area can be done through the development of tourist destinations in an area. This study aims to describe regional development through tourist destinations in Tanjungbalai City. This research uses qualitative research with descriptive method. The research was conducted in several stages: (a) field surveys on tourist destinations, (b) preparation of research instruments, (c) data collection, (d) data processing and analysis, (e) preparation and reporting of research results. The research findings show that regional development through tourist destinations in Tanjungbalai City has also met the criteria, including: Something to see, Something to do, and Something to buy. The development of tourist destinations in this city is also supported by the availability of adequate accommodation and accessibility facilities. The existence of various tourist objects and destinations in Tanjungbalai City also has a socio-economic impact for the community around the tourist attraction locations and helps reduce unemployment in Tanjungbalai City.

Designing Healing Destinations: A Practical Guide for Eco-Conscious Tourism Development

The design and sustainable development of tourist destinations in sensitive environments must follow an environmentally conscious approach that meets the resource and service needs of present and future generations without compromising the health of the ecosystems that provide them. The aim of this paper is to develop an eco-conscious design framework for tourist destinations in sensitive natural areas, as these are becoming increasingly attractive and popular in the tourism sector. This paper gives an overview of relevant fields of impact at the destination, which are drawn from holistic and nature-based approaches. The outcome is a three-dimensional design guidance, which creates a unique destination that focuses on creating a symbiotic relationship between humans and nature in which health is achievable for both. The approach was exemplified in a “Yoga house on a Cliff” architectural competition that took place in Serra da Estrela Natural Park in Portugal. The landscape was analysed with the Strolling method and the 3-dimensional design framework was used to design an authentic place in the prtotected mountain. Permaculture and nature-based solutions were used to structure the design and its elements wth a focus on environmental sustainability and the improvement of human health. This study provides evidence that an eco-conscious design has the potential to overcome incompatibilities and provide health-driven ecotourism in protected areas.

Eco-friendly Hospitality in Himalayas: An Investigation on Homestay Services in India

The hospitality sector has been considered as an equal contributor to tourism impacts. As far as the sustainable destination development is concerned, there requires a balanced approach by the authorities for economic benefits and the benefits to the environment. Where the concept of homestays is attaining is popularity among tourists, the realization for its contribution to economic development to the local population is also important along with keeping in view that these hospitality services are aligned with eco-friendly practices, thereby reflecting upon the sustained life of the Himalayan tourism. Hence, the present study was conducted to inspect the part of home stay practices in local socio-economic growth of people and to examine if these practices are aligned with environmental safety. The study has been conducted in various regions of Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Sikkim. The study revealed a requirement for the awareness and increase in knowledge among the homestay authorities for adopting the sustainable hospitality practices in regular service operations along with considering its benefits for local economic development.

IMPLEMENTASI PROGRAM PENGEMBANGAN PARIWISATA

Rokan Hulu Regency which has a very rich natural potential in the aspect of tourism, but this potential is not well managed because many designed programs have not been implemented. This study aims to analyze the implementation of the Rokan Hulu Regency Destination Development program. The method used is a qualitative method where this method refers to research that produces data that cannot be realized in the form of numbers, but in the form of an explanation that describes certain conditions, processes, events. The results showed that the implementation of the tourism development program in Rokan Hulu Regency had not been effective, because the program's objectives could not be achieved, one of which was due to limited budget and human resources in its implementation. The existing road access is not good. The purpose of visitors coming to Hapanasan Hot Springs, there are several objects that can be visited either to enjoy hot springs for therapy and bathing, the beauty of natural forests, tree houses, a small butterfly museum and also local specialties, namely processed kolang-kaling. There are no supporting facilities for lodging and restaurants, only snack stalls.

THE COMMUNICATION STRATEGY OF THE TOURISM OFFICE IN DEVELOPING LAKE MATANO AS A TOURIST DESTINATION IN NUHA DISTRICT EAST LUWU REGENCY

The purpose of this study was to examine the Communication Strategy of the Tourism Office and the Concept of Tourism Destination Development. This study used a qualitative descriptive method, with five (5) informants in this study. The data collection technique was through observation, interviews and documentation. The results of this study indicate that the communication strategy carried out by the Tourism Office in the development of Lake Matano is to inform the public through social media or directly to the community to be involved in the development of Lake Matano. The concept of developing Lake Matano is to make Lake Matano a geogical park or geo park because Lake Matano is the deepest lake in Southeast Asia.

Management Framework for Sustainable Nautical Destination Development: The Case of Montenegro

This paper examined ten main components of a nautical destination and the level of satisfaction with them by the nautical tourists visiting Montenegro. The goal is to propose the strategic management directions for sustainable development of Montenegro as an attractive, new Adriatic and Mediterranean nautical destination. A sample of 609 nautical tourists was examined on different dimensions of Montenegro as a destination; their obtained responses used exploratory factor analysis. All categories of respondents expressed the greatest level of satisfaction with the natural beauties of Montenegro, while being least satisfied with the nature protection. Given that strategic decision-makers are still in the process of considering the options for the development of the researched destination, and that foreign investors have recognised its attractiveness, this paper aims to offer to all stakeholders—the central government, local self-governments, investors, managers and tourism organisations—a framework for sustainable nautical destination management. The survey focuses on satisfaction defined quite broadly, since the aim is to gain an insight into crucial elements threatening the destination’s sustainability to be able, in the next steps, to examine the specificities of the problems detected. An added value is the applicability to similar nautical destinations, which very much like Montenegro, invest considerable efforts in boosting the development of this segment of tourism supply.

Multi-Modal-based Emotional Contagion from Tourists to Hosts: The Dual-Process Mechanism

Emotional reactions and transmissions are crucial to host-tourist interaction yet lacking in research, particularly from the host viewpoint. To deepen understanding of host-tourist interaction, this study took a host perspective to examine emotional contagion from tourists to hosts. By adopting video-vignette based interaction scenarios and cutting-edge techniques (e.g., FaceReader), a real-time multi-modal investigation was undertaken to reveal mechanism underlying emotional contagion of Hong Kong residents from Mainland Chinese tourists. Results theoretically consolidated the dual-process mechanism underpinning automatic emotional contagion and empirically verified an Emotional Contagion Model (ECM) from tourists to hosts. The compelling effects of mimicry, interaction context and stereotypes explained the emotional convergence and divergence between hosts and tourists. The study extended the knowledge boundary of host-tourist interaction to micro-level interpersonal emotional connection. Moreover, the verified ECM theoretically advances emotional contagion mechanism in the social psychology literature. Practical guidelines for host-tourist relation management and sustainable destination development were provided.

Business Modeling for Resilient Destination Development: A Multi-Method Approach for the Case of Destination Franconia, Germany

ABSTRACT Crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, can be an opportunity to re-think destination business models. Developing resilience can guide destinations through times of uncertainty and into innovative transformation. This study was a multi-method approach, in which exploratory interviews and the Delphi survey were vital for understanding multi-stakeholder involvement. This case study on Destination Franconia investigated the changes during the COVID-19 pandemic while considering the factors involved in developing a resilient destination business model. The results highlighted a mix of established values and innovations in business models, which included a “bounce-forward” ability, a resilience approach that accounted for continuous adaptation to disturbances and crises. Our findings showed that raising awareness through sharing information and a common destination strategy were essential to promote destination resilience. Finally, we introduced a threefold understanding of resilient destination development as change-driver, target, and competence.

Circular Economy in tourism: Overview of recent developments in research

The article provides a review of the recent developments and trends in the research on Circular Economy (CE) in tourism and identifies possible research gaps. CE is becoming one of the hot topics in tourism research due to its increased importance in policymaking, especially in Europe. However, the review shows that research on CE in tourism is in its early stages. The studies have mainly focused on CE in tourism at the micro level from environmental and business management perspectives especially in hotels and restaurants. In addition, emerging research themes include circular consumption behaviour, CE and smart tourism, cooperation and networking with the local supply chain as well as circular tourism destination development. Thus, tourism scholars are encouraged to shift their perspective more from micro to macro level to get a holistic picture of CE in tourism. The article outlines some ideas for a research agenda on CE in tourism.

The Role of Participative Leadership in Empowerment and Resident Participation

Traditional tourism development has adopted a top-down approach, and the role of government has primarily been decision making and regulation in regard to tourism development. There has been growing interest in residents’ participation in tourism destination development and management. The study aims provide empirical evidence by examining the relationship between participative leadership, empowerment, and tourism participation among residents living in the provinces near the borders in Korea. We examine the economic benefits derived from tourists as a moderator. A total of 758 questionnaires were used. This study performed descriptive analysis, factor analysis, and structural equation modeling (SEM). This study examined the effects of participative leadership and empowerment on three categories of residents’ participation in tourism in DMZ areas in South Korea. This present study tests the relationships between and evaluated the effects of participatory leadership and resident empowerment on three types of resident participation. Participative leadership positively influences empowerment and resident participation. In addition, a positive effect of psychological empowerment between participative leadership and participation as a mediator was found. Participative leadership affects motivational processes, and psychological empowerment leads to participation. The results found that residents perceive their participation as important, and there is no difference based on the additional income they derive from tourism. The study contributes to the enhancement of sustainable development and a deeper understanding of how residents act. Furthermore, the results can provide direction for the creation of participative approaches in tourism development.

Justice and community citizenship behavior for the environment: small tourism business entrepreneurs’ perspectives

Small tourism business entrepreneurs (STBEs) are important stakeholders in rural destinations, so that their community citizenship behavior for the environment (CCBE) greatly influences the sustainable development of rural tourism communities. This paper thus focuses on STBEs’ CCBE. Guided by equity theory and social exchange theory, this article examines the impact of perceived justice on CCBE and the mediating roles of place identity and subjective well-being in that process. The survey data was collected from 434 STBEs in rural China. Results indicate that perceived justice positively relates to place identity and subjective well-being. Furthermore, place identity and subjective well-being fully mediate the effect of perceived justice on CCBE. These findings offer a newer understanding of the underlying mechanism between perceived justice and CCBE and offer implications for destination managers to promote sustainable development of rural destinations.

Assessing the Impact of Air Pollution on Inbound Tourism along the Yangtze River across Space and Time.

The prevalent air pollution along the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) possesses a significant threat to the natural environment, which further affects nearby tourism destination development. The paper seeks to assess the impact of air pollution on tourism in this region through a 2002–2012 panel data of 31 prefecture-level cities, along with geographic information system (GIS) and cluster analyses. The results reveal that air pollution is negatively associated with the number of inbound tourists along the YREB. In general, when air pollution intensifies by 1%, the number of inbound tourists decreases by 1.171%. This impact is more evident when air pollution is more severe, in the long term, and in areas that are larger, more central, and with more tourism resources. The paper contributes to the literature by addressing common limitations in previous studies and providing a more comprehensive evaluation of air pollution’s impact on inbound tourism in the YREB. Practical implications regarding public policies and development directions based on air pollution periods, regions, and tourism resource allocations are provided.