Sustainable Destination Development Research Articles

MEASURING COMPETITIVENESS IN TOURISM ENTERPRISES USING INTEGRAL INDEX

The study aims to develop the methodology of measuring competitiveness in the context of tourism enterprises. The normalization method was used to construct the integral index of competitiveness which was aggregated by 13 sub indicators. In the process of obtaining sub indicators the methods of survey and face to face interviews were used. This study recommends new method of measuring competitiveness in the context of tourism enterprises uniting human resources, service quality competitiveness, market share, and profit benchmark in one integral index. This index can be used by regional tourism destination management bodies to make better decisions regarding sustainable development of tourism destination.

A Study on the Residents’ Attitudes towards Tourism: Also on the Tobacco Problem in Fengjian Watertown

Community residents are an important factor influencing the sustainable development of rural tourism destinations, and the attitudes of residents in tourism destinations have a significant impact on the development of rural tourism. This paper takes Fengjian Watertown, Shunde District, Foshan City as an example. It designs a scale from three dimensions including social capital, sense of place, and heritage protection, uses questionnaire surveys and in-depth interviews to study the residents’ attitudes towards tourism, puts forward four hypotheses and verifies them one by one. It also extracts the representative ideas of residents from in-depth interviews and finds some problems in the development of tourism in Fengjian Watertown: complex attitudes of residents towards tourism, mentality imbalance of residents caused by capital intervention, no mutual complementation between tourism and business formats, weak cohesion of residential communities, losing trust in grassroots rural organizations, etc., And found that rural tourist destinations did not properly ban smoking in public places.

Under-tourism regions and destinations: what are their opportunities to succeed?

PurposeThe paper aims to identify the success factors that guide the sustainable development of rural tourism destinations in Cyprus.Design/methodology/approachFor the purpose of this study, two rural villages in the Larnaca and Limassol districts of Cyprus were selected as a sample. Interviews, field visits, interactions with practitioners, the local community and leaders in these villages then followed. Thematic analysis was applied to identify the factors guiding the sustainable development of these villages.FindingsNine success factors were identified: finding the theme and engaging with it, allowing locals to guide the development, training and education, economic benefits, developing new products and services, community involvement, the role of younger people, strong leadership and island-wide efforts to rebrand Cyprus as a destination. These factors seem to be critical to the success of sustainable rural destinations and to rebranding Cyprus as a destination that offers authentic experiences.Originality/valueThe nine success factors identified by studying two villages in Cyprus can guide other rural destinations in finding their path to sustainable development through themes and authentic experiences.

A Model for Sustainable Tourism Development of Hot Spring Destinations Following Poverty Alleviation: Understanding the Tourists’ Perspective

Few studies have examined the issue of the sustainable destination development of hot spring from tourists’ perspective. This study thus proposes a model for sustainable tourism development of hot spring destinations following poverty alleviation in local communities. This model is based on environmental (environmental cognition), sociocultural (hot spring experience, food experience, and attitude toward cultural landscape), and economic (revisit intention) dimensions (factors) of sustainability. The analysis of 271 valid on-site questionnaires about the Conghua hot spring destination in Guangzhou, China, showed that the attitude toward cultural landscape, hot spring experiences, and environmental cognition are the important factors that influence the intention of tourists to revisit hot spring. These findings are based on the level of importance; however, food experience did not play a significant role. Through the cultural landscape, the connection between tourists and destinations is strengthened, which helps to increase the likelihood of tourists revisiting the destination. This study found that the purpose of cultural legacy can be achieved while balancing environmental development issues, and is one of the guidelines for sustainable development in poverty alleviation in destination.

Sustainability of Ski Tourism in China: An Integrated Model of Skiing Tourists’ Willingness to Pay for Environmental Protection

This study aimed to explore ski tourists’ willingness to pay for environmental protection for the sustainable development of a ski tourism destination as a valuable tourism market in China. The result of the structural model revealed that the integrative models of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and the Norm Activation Model (NAM) have the most significant explanatory power. The ski tourists’ willingness to pay can be enhanced by volitional, nonvolitional and altruistic factors. Additionally, the moderating and mediating roles of perceived authenticity on the integrative model have also been confirmed. This study is the first to provide a conceptual framework merging the TPB and NAM in the domain of environmental protection behavior in the Chinese ski tourism field for sustainable tourism development.

Inbound tourism – a bibliometric review of SSCI articles (1993–2021)

El turismo entrante – una revisión bibliométrica de los artículos de la SSCI (1993–2021)PropósitoEl objetivo de este estudio es presentar una sinopsis holística de la actual estructura científica de la investigación turística entrante y sugerir nuevas direcciones de investigación.Diseño/metodología/enfoqueSe condujo un análisis bibliométrico de 30 años utilizando la base de datos de recopilación de datos de la red de ciencias básicas a través de CiteSpace, que abarcó 568 artículos del Índice de Citación de Ciencias Sociales.ResultadosEste estudio identifica sistemáticamente la evolución de estructuras científicas y las tendencias de investigación emergentes en el campo del turismo entrante. Las conclusiones muestran que: i) las pautas de coautoría han revelado una tendencia a la cooperación internacional; ii) la evolución de los temas de investigación es coherente con el desarrollo del macro-entorno y de la industria del turismo entrante, centrándose más recientemente en el desarrollo sostenible de los destinos; iii) los diversos métodos de análisis de datos multivariados predominan en el análisis empírico actual; iv) existen tres grandes dimensiones de investigación en el ámbito del turismo entrante; y v) los factores políticos unilaterales en los destinos y los factores de vinculación bilateral que afectan a la demanda turística entrante han despertado un interés cada vez mayor a la investigación.Implicaciones prácticasEste estudio ayuda a los académicos y los profesionales a entender problemas y necesidades actuales de la industria turística entrante y desarrollar una futura guía de investigación para fomentar el desarrollo continuo de la industria.Originalidad/valorEste estudio es el primer intento de proporcionar información sobre el desarrollo teórico del turismo entrante en las últimas tres décadas, desde la perspectiva de la plataforma basada en un conocimiento y facilitar aún más el desarrollo sostenible de la industria.Palabras claveTurismo entrante, Bibliométrica, Estructura científica, Plataforma basada en el conocimiento, Agenda de investigación futura, CiteSpaceTipo de papelRevisión bibliográfica

Sustainable Tourism Destination Assessment as a Baseline for Tanjung Kelayang Tourism Development

Tourism is a complex and prominent sector in Indonesia that involved many stakeholders. Led by the success story of Bali tourism development which able to grow beyond all expectation, helping to improve public and private infrastructure, including the birth and growth of small-medium enterprises, led the Indonesian government to distribute and spread the development all over Indonesia through Ten New Bali concept. One of these is Tanjung Kelayang, located in Belitung Island. Despite Bali success stories, negative impacts of Bali tourism development on environmental sustainability appeared, such as land-use change, soil and water degradation, pollutions, waste mismanagement, etc. Reflected from Bali negative tourism impact, this paper will identify and analyse Tanjung Kelayang tourism development as a New Bali using sustainable tourism destination criteria to create baseline data. A qualitative approach using both primary data by on-site observation and in-depth interview with related parties, and secondary data by identifying the Local Official Tourism Development Master Plan (RIPPARKAB) year 2014 and other studies in regards with Tanjung Kelayang tourism development by using GSTC-D V2 as a tool to reflect sustainability commitment was occurred on this paper. The result of compliance shows that only 19% for Sustainable Management, 4% for Socio-Economy Sustainability, 11% for Cultural Sustainability, and 0% for Environmental Sustainability. Thus, it shows the gap of Tanjung Kelayang tourism development in regards with sustainable destination concept. Hence, a commitment, communication, and cooperation from all related parties is necessary to be in place to achieve a sustainable tourism destination development in Tanjung Kelayang.

Robots in service experiences: negotiating food tourism in pandemic futures

PurposeThis research discusses the role of service robots in gastronomic and dining experiences in a post–coronavirus disease (COVID) world.Design/methodology/approachThe research note draws on secondary data to analyse the use of robots as an important mechanism to address the impacts of global disease outbreaks on the food industry, as related to hospitality and tourism.FindingsHospitality and tourism services are highly affected by the current travel bans, lockdowns and health-related rules that have emerged to manage the current pandemic (COVID-19). This research showcases the role of service robots in food encounters in hospitality and tourism as agents that contribute to safe and innovative experiences.Originality/valueThis research note explores how the use of robots in tourism futures will not only transform food experiences, but it is also critical to sustainable development of communities and destinations in a future that will continuously have to deal with disease outbreaks and pandemics with continued travel mobilities.

Exploring mass tourism impacts on locals: A comparative analysis between Barcelona and Sevilla

Mass tourism is growing uncontrolled in many destinations worldwide. Negative impacts emerge from it, transforming the city and influencing on locals’ lifestyle and well-being. However, debates and contradictions emerge on the real impact on communities. From that, a deeper analysis of this issue is needed to understand how people perceive tourism and its effects. A quantitative study was conducted in two mature destinations in Spain: Barcelona and Sevilla. One of the major findings from this research is the importance of locals’ support to manage tourism. Practical and managerial implications are suggested in order to promote more sustainable and participative development of destinations.

Strengths, weaknesses and challenges of municipalities in North Cyprus aspiring to be a sustainable Cittaslow tourism destination

PurposeLocal government has a significant role to play in securing sustainable destination development. This paper aims to identify the strengths, weaknesses and challenges of municipalities in North Cyprus as they aspire to become sustainable Cittaslow tourism destinations.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative research approach was used to observe the perceptions of municipalities as they transition to become sustainable Cittaslow tourism destinations. The data have been obtained through in-depth interviews with the mayors of the municipalities that are members of the international Cittaslow network.FindingsThe results of the study show how alternative forms of tourism could help to improve the local economy. Also, the reasons for challenges and weaknesses are explained by the limited economic conditions of countries, high demand for mass tourism and lack of awareness about the importance of being a Cittaslow member.Practical implicationsThis study reflects on the critical points in relation to the destination’s management at the local level. It also provides empirical indicators for achieving sustainable tourism development in North Cyprus.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the tourism literature by addressing municipalities' roles in the sustainability of tourism destinations in developing countries, more specifically in North Cyprus. A review of the literature reveals that there are very few prior studies of the role of municipalities in sustainable Cittaslow tourism.

Effects of air quality and weather conditions on Chinese tourists’ emotional experience

Though the effects of air quality and weather conditions on tourism have been examined from different perspectives, their effects on tourists' emotional experience have not been investigated. Due to lack of effective measurements, tourists' real-time on-site emotional experience have not been duly examined. This study used tourists' geo-tagged check-in user-generated content (UGC) to extract the sentiments underlying tourists' real-time on-site emotional experience, and modelled the effects of air quality and weather conditions on tourists' emotional experience. The empirical results confirmed a negative and non-linear impact of air pollution, and an inverted-U effect of temperature on tourists' emotional experience. By developing a new and effective measure of tourists' emotional experience, this study provides hard evidence on the effects of air quality and weather conditions on tourists’ emotional experience, and thus advances the knowledge of environmental psychology and tourist experience studies. Results have practical implications for sustainable destination development and tourist experience management.

Social-cultural sustainability of roots tourism in Calabria, Italy: A tourist perspective

Roots tourists are members of diaspora communities who visit their motherland during holidays searching for their roots and identity. This research aims to explore how roots tourism can contribute to a more sustainable development of destinations by focusing on its socio-cultural impact. It involves qualitative research, analysing roots tourism from the tourists’ point of view. 45 roots tourists who visited the Calabria region in Italy were interviewed. The findings of the research show that roots tourism can be seen as socio-culturally sustainable. This paper seeks to fill a gap in the literature on the effects of the development of roots tourism on the local socio-cultural fabric to evaluate them in terms of sustainability.

Designing destinations for good: Using design roadmapping to support pro-active destination development

This conceptual paper develops and justifies a pro-active, design-driven approach to sustainable destination development. Using insights from design science, it helps explain the limited practical usability of concepts such as the Tourism Area Life Cycle, by noting that these often focus on an aggregated ‘topological’ level of destination design, while a focus on experiences and product development on a ‘typological’ and ‘morphological’ level is key to constitute change. The ‘Tourism Destination Design Roadmap’ is introduced, its potential to scrutinise ‘visitor flows’ is explored as well as ways in which it can contribute to developing desirable qualities in a destination, while minimising negative impacts. The paper concludes by highlighting its conceptual contribution and identifying directions for future research.

Transformative rural tourism strategies as tools for sustainable development in Transylvania, Romania: a case study of Sâncraiu

Purpose According to the United Nations World Tourism Organization, sustainable tourism is a form of tourism that meets the needs of present tourists and host regions, while protecting and enhancing the opportunity for the future. It aims at having a low impact upon the environment and local culture; generating income and employment; and ensuring the conservation of local ecosystems. This paper aims to examine the ways in which the development and promotion of a new tourism product based on unique rural heritage and traditions contribute to the development of sustainable tourism by relating the practices to the sustainable development goals (SDGs) 1, 8, 10, 11, 12 and 17. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on a literature review on the topic of sustainable rural tourism, this paper uses a case-study methodological approach and provides an example of a sustainable rural tourism destination from the North Western development region of Romania (Cluj County, Transylvania) to depict specific sustainable tourism practices. The study uses a comprehensive desk-research based on secondary data from key industry and academic sources. Findings The research findings show that sustainable rural tourism can greatly support the development of rural destination and makes a significant contribution to the sustainable development of the Romanian tourism industry, in general, and rural economies in particular, as shown in the case examined in the paper. Sâncraiu represents an example of sustainable tourism practices that contribute to poverty reduction (SDG1 – Target 1.A), provide decent work and ensure economic growth (SDG8 – Target 8.9), help reducing inequalities (SDG10 – Target 10.3), protect and safeguard the world’s cultural and natural heritage (SDG 11 – Target 11.4), promote responsible consumption and production (SDG 21 – Target 12.b) and last but not least this destination demonstrates that development is only possible when partnerships are forged (SDG 17). Social implications This paper illustrates that fostering unique rural heritage and traditions can contribute to the sustainable development of destinations. Sustainable tourism practices contribute not only financially to a destination but also to its social infrastructures, jobs, nature conservation, adoption of new working practices and the revitalisation of passive and poor rural areas. Originality/value This paper examines and depicts sustainable rural tourism development as a transformative strategy contributing to the long-term viability of a rural destination. The research findings can be viewed as an example of good practice, which may be applicable to other geographic regions with similar contexts.

Improving the Tourist’s Perception of the Tourist Destinations Image: An Analysis of Chinese Kung Fu Film and Television

Cultural media, film, and television works can increase the popularity of the image of tourist destinations, thereby promoting the sustainable development of the tourism industry and obtaining economic benefits. This study takes Chinese kung fu film and television as examples to explore the mechanism of audience participation in the perception of tourist destinations. It further explores the mediating effect of cultural contact. The study took the image perception of tourist destinations as the dependent variable and audience participation as the independent variable. A total of 331 subjects were surveyed, and a multi-layer regression model was established to test the rationality and validity of the hypothetical theoretical model. The research results show that audience participation in martial arts films and television tourism can directly and indirectly affect the audience’s perception of martial arts culture. At the same time, the viewer can achieve contact with martial arts culture through film and television, accordingly forming his or her perception of the destination. In other words, film and television audience participation can bring more cultural contact to the audience. In turn, cultural contact can enhance the image perception of tourist destinations and play an important intermediary role in the process of audience participation by enhancing the perception of tourist destinations. By confirming the variable relationship in Wushu film and television tourism, this research fills the gap between the two aspects, which contributes to promoting the two-way interaction between Wushu film and television works and tourism marketing and achieving the long-term sustainable development of tourism destinations.

The Impacts of the Winter Olympic Games on SPORT Tourism: A Systematic Review

Purpose: Sport Tourism is a driving force for sustainable economic development of tourism destinations. The Winter Olympic Games is a catalyst for this momentum. In order to clearly sort out the impacts of the Winter Olympic Games on sport tourism of the host city, this paper employed a systematic review. This study allowed to provide some enlightenment for the development of sport tourism in the host cities of the Winter Olympic Games in the future, and proposed the corresponding reference for the continued research in this field. Method: This paper adopted systematic review, more rigorous than the traditional literature review, to ex-plore the impacts of the Winter Olympic Games on sport tourism in host cities. Through the literature search of selected data, 369 articles in English language was retrieved and finally narrowed down to 17 articles accord-ing to the set research criteria. The information extracted from the remaining articles was used to present the types of impacts the Winter Olympics have had on sport tourism in host cities and in how it impacted. Results: Through the review and summary of the literature, current Winter Olympic Games had both positive and negative impacts on sport tourism in host cities. According to its specific manifestation, this paper classi-fied the impact factors. Positive impacts could be summarized into three parts: improving sport tourism reve-nue, improving city image and promoting urban reform. Negative impacts were mainly reflected in two aspects: the excessive cost leads to excessive burden and the unsatisfied sustainable development sustainable develop-ment. Conclusions: This paper clearly stressed that the Winter Olympic Games had both positive and negative im-pacts on the development of sport tourism in host cities, and further analyzed the aspects in which these im-pacts are found. Based on research results, it proposed the enlightenment on the development planning and ecological environment in order to ensure the sustainable development of sport tourism for the upcoming Bei-jing Olympic Games. It is a pity that there were still some limitations in the research scope and methods, and it hoped that they can be solved in the following research.

What Is Interdisciplinarity in the Study of Sustainable Destination Development?

A large body of evidence suggests that sustainable destination development (SDD) is not only multidisciplinary but interdisciplinary as its research involves the integration of knowledge, methods, theories or disciplines. The word inter- is a “dangerous” one as it implies a “dangerous connection” attempting to reconcile irreconcilable people (i.e., North institutions and South institutions), but it is also very inclusive as, for example, economic behavior is related to social background and cultural issues. Although a common view is that SDD is interdisciplinary, what disciplines does it cross exactly? With the attendant “semantic confusion”, research on SDD is working in different directions, but what exactly does the existing research take as its object of study? What are the leading themes and perspectives in the field? How do we evaluate these diversification efforts? Trying to add one more seems redundant. We believe that after nearly two decades of productive scholarship, it is now time to try to identify some potential paradigms in SDD. A content-analysis-based literature review to explore previous studies is undoubted of value, as these diverse efforts point to current trends in SDD research. Therefore, we conducted an exploratory and descriptive analysis of the literature on SDD from 2015–2020 to provide specific indications for its interdisciplinary character. As a result, a total of 175 articles in 31 crucial journals from 2015 to 2020 are reviewed. Based on content analysis, five leading themes and five leading perspectives in the SDD literature were identified. We adopted an immanent critique method to discuss our findings. We appeal for consensus instead of definition and balance instead of choice in the discourse of SDD. We suggest ways in which past academic research can be used smartly and point out some important but neglected areas to stimulate a more creative research production.

What’s in a name? The meaning of sustainability to destination managers

Destination managers frequently describe strategies, plans, or projects in destinations as part of an overall commitment to sustainable development or sustainability in the destination. The meaning of the term sustainability, however, is highly contested in both academia and practice, and it is not at all clear what destination managers mean when they claim to act in the interests of sustainable tourism. This paper assesses the concept of sustainability and its operationalisation by destination managers at the regional destination level. Our international, comparative study examines two destination regions that emphasise nature-based tourism, the Tyrolean Oberland, Austria, and the South Island of New Zealand. Twenty-two high-ranking destination managers representing 20 destinations were interviewed. We demonstrate how colloquial, academic, and applied interpretations of sustainability are tangled and intertwined in day-to-day destination management. The types of destination management interventions that are described as sustainable and the extent to which the economic component of sustainability is prioritised vary strongly across destinations and destination regions. The study results demonstrate that in order to achieve sustainability in destinations, stakeholders need to develop a shared understanding of what constitutes sustainable destination development, and how it can be meaningfully operationalised.

The Concept of Sustainable Rural Tourism Development in the Face of COVID-19 Crisis: Evidence from Russia

In the context of globalized processes, the importance of the sustainable development concept in solving the problems of local tourism systems development is growing. Unprecedented challenges caused by the COVID-19 crisis in the tourism sector, on the one hand, questioned the possibility of fulfilling the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the goals of sustainable tourism. On the other hand, they emphasized the need for balance between three pillars of sustainability, both as an urgency tool to cope with the pandemic crisis and as a solid basis for long-term development in the post-pandemic period. The study presented in the paper discusses sustainability issues in rural tourism as one of the most promising sectors for the development of domestic tourism on the example of the Russian tourism industry. The overall goal of the study initiated in the pre-pandemic period is to find ways to support sustainable rural tourism in Russian regions and to develop indicators for monitoring the effectiveness of local strategic development programs, taking into account national and regional specifics. This paper discusses intermediate results obtained with the adjustment for pandemic challenges. The authors combined a number of methods and techniques, namely desk research, statistical analysis, and analysis of empirical data obtained by means of in-depth interviews, as well as a survey using a formal questionnaire. The results confirm that Russian enterprises and local communities considered the three pillars of sustainability as important to develop tourism in rural destinations both in the pre-pandemic period and in times of challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, the findings show weaknesses in the federal and local policy, including the lack of systemic measures to improve the sustainable management of Russian tourism destinations. From the authors’ point of view, it makes sense to adapt the European tourism indicator system for sustainable destinations (ETIS) for local peculiarities. ETIS is a useful tool to boost the sustainable development of rural destinations by encouraging stakeholder engagement and monitoring processes. In the case of Russia, one needs to add indicators for monitoring the effectiveness of the implementation of strategic development programs in the field of tourism.

Tourism Well-Being and Transitioning Island Destinations for Sustainable Development

The unprecedented growth of tourism over the last century has led to increasing concerns over the sustainable development of many popular tourism destinations throughout the globe. High concentrations of tourists and residents, especially in urbanized areas, have heightened this concern with the arrival of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Over reliance on tourism has left residents vulnerable to external factors, such as the coronavirus pandemic that has halted tourists from coming to this remote destination. As a result, Hawaii’s overall economy is suffering greatly. A survey was developed and distributed to potential tourists in order to acquire their perceptions regarding tourism and well-being, as well as the COVID-19 outbreak. The focus of this study was to examine practices in tourism that moves beyond solely economics which will allow repositioning in a manner that promotes the well-being of both residents and tourists and to transition this unique tourism destination for sustainable development practices for the future. One of the results from the study reported that the majority of the respondents agreed or strongly agreed that testing for COVID-19 should be a travel requirement prior to flying to Hawaii, as well as having an additional COVID-19 test administered upon arrival.