Sustainable Destination Development Research Articles

Gravitating towards Community Based Tourism (CBT): Community Empowerment and Reducing Poverty in Tourism Sector Development in Bangladesh

Community-based tourism (CBT) offers a promising opportunity for sustainable growth in Bangladesh's tourism industry by utilizing local resources and involving communities in tourism-related activities. This research evaluates the possible advantages and difficulties linked to adopting CBT in Bangladesh. The study conducts an extensive analysis of existing literature and field investigations to identify the primary elements that impact the progress of CBT activities in the country. This study employs a qualitative approach, primarily relying on both primary and secondary data. The researchers have gathered data through the utilization of a primary data Google Form. The analysis is performed using SPSS 25 and MS Excel 2019 to provide the findings of this study. Three mountainous regions are suitable for implementing CBT, and the destination management organization (DMO) can assist in its implementation. The null hypothesis (H0) for these independent variables is statistically rejected at a significance level of 0.05. This demonstrates their significant impact on the development and promotion of sustainable destinations in Bangladesh. The model's fitness, as indicated by a R value of 78.5%, demonstrates a strong correlation between the independent and dependent variables based on the data collected from the respondents and analyzed using SPSS.

Meaningful community engagement through advanced indicator systems for sustainable destination planning

This study advances the measurement of sustainable development in communities and destinations examining socio-ecological, environmental, cultural, and economic dimensions. By integrating qualitive insights within established indicator systems such as the European Tourism Indicator System, it addresses the limitations of traditional, solely quantitative approaches. Carrying out over 400 resident surveys in Co. Clare, Ireland, the research established sustainable indicators and assessed the destination's sustainability through resident-based metrics. For instance, 87% of residents believed that tourism benefits their community, yet only 23% of residents were satisfied with their involvement in planning. Thematic analysis of the open-ended responses provided crucial themes for sustainable destination management, highlighting resident concerns on transport, planning, management, and community involvement and benefits. The study concluded that relying solely on quantitative indicators, limits Destination Management Organizations (DMOs) and planners to Likert scale results, failing to capture nuanced impacts observed by destinations. The study highlights the insufficiency of solely using quantitative indicators, which risk oversimplifying community inputs and misinterpreting resident dissatisfaction, signally a need for diverse solutions to address varied concerns. The study also identified survey fatigue as a governance challenge, potentially hindering future sustainable development efforts. Aligning with the socio-ecological indicators of the community-environment-development nexus call for papers, this interdisciplinary research demonstrates the value of advanced indicator systems in promoting meaningful community engagement and supporting policy formulation for sustainable destination development. It offers a comprehensive framework for integrating resident perspectives and thematic insights into destination management, contributing to a more inclusive and community-based approach to tourism development.

Residents’ attitudes toward land lease for rural tourism

Residents’ attitudes toward land lease are a crucial factor in the success of tourism development, especially in developing countries like China, where land lease has emerged as a significant means for developers to obtain rural land for tourism purposes. Nevertheless, the absence of longitudinal field research, which could offer more profound insights into residents’ attitudes compared to cross-sectional studies, contributes to the persistent “attitude-behavior gap” in sustainable tourism. Using a field research method and taking Longtan Village in China as a typical case, this study focuses on changes in residents’ attitudes toward land lease and the mechanism underlying these changes. The findings show that Longtan residents’ attitudes toward land lease for tourism development changed from “anxiety and collective objection” to “ambivalence and individual differences” and finally to “expectation and collective support”. Residents’ attitudes were determined by the transaction risk arising from the conflict between formal and informal institutions in the context of social transformation. The findings provide implications for tourism managers to achieve the sustainable development of tourist destinations in developing countries.

Perceptions and Realities of Lisbon: An Examination of the Image of a Tourist Destination

Destination image is related to comprising cognitive, emotional, and conative components and includes an individual's thoughts, ideas, and perceptions of a place. Images consistently coincide with the internalisation of distinct perspectives, demonstrating that people have different perceptions of the destiny. Influences include media, authority figures, music, and movies. Although the experience may not match their initial expectations, these effects form their preconceived beliefs and expectations of a trip. Accordingly, it is important to explore the trustfulness of the positioning of tourist destinations to ascertain its alignment with the expectations of tourists. Given that, Lisbon has been regarded as one of the foremost European cities in recent years, owing to its high level of accessibility and its multifaceted sensory attributes, it was deemed pertinent to investigate the perceptions of the visitors towards the city. The present study used a mixed methods approach, incorporating a multimedia component that showcases various locations in the Lisbon region with open-ended questionnaires to gather the perspectives of the tourists and a closed-ended questionnaire that inquiries about the primary factors that attract visitors to Lisbon. This analysis employed graphical representations, including word clouds and graphics to explore the identified impressions. The research revealed a robust association between cultural, historical, and aesthetic variables and the choice of travel destination. Certain visual representations highlight the imperative of pursuing sustainable and responsible development to mitigate the potential for enduring degradation. This holds significance as certain images are linked to instances of environmental and social irresponsibility. The study also revealed that History and Heritage emerged as the most significant factors that attract individuals, followed by Cultural Attractions, Weather and Climate, Gastronomy, and Panoramic Views and Landscapes. A notable perception exists regarding the insufficiency of sustainability and eco-friendly practices, underscoring the necessity for targeted sustainability endeavours to promote responsible and sustainable development of tourism destinations. Indeed, additional research on the contrast of perception and reality at the location is needed to evaluate the picture provided to visitors. However, understanding tourist-relevant areas like Lisbon is a good foundation for advertising them, allowing various stakeholders to make authentic and valuable marketing decisions.

Perceived Value and Behavioral Intention of Chengde homestay tourists based on Cognition-Affection-Conation

Against the backdrop of the new era, changes in tourism consumption demand have led tourists to prefer diversified, autonomous, and personalized tourism products and services in the process of tourism experience. They long for in-depth experiences as well as emotional identification and communication during travel. As a new industrial form emerging in China in recent years, the homestay industry has become a major attraction for tourists because it integrates beautiful scenery, creativity, and comfort, and each establishment has its own unique characteristics. Perceived value, as a comprehensive evaluation made by tourists of the perceived benefits and losses of tourism products or services in a specific context, is a source of competitive advantage. To achieve sustainable development of tourist destinations, exploring the formation mechanism of tourists' positive behavioral intentions has become an important research topic in both academic and industrial circles. Based on the "cognition-emotion-intention" relationship theory, this article explores the relationship between perceived value, satisfaction, place attachment, and behavioral intention among Chengde homestay tourists. Using quantitative research methods, questionnaire surveys, random sampling, descriptive statistical analysis, reliability and validity analysis, variance analysis, factor analysis, correlation analysis, and regression analysis, 450 questionnaires collected from tourists who have experienced Chengde star-rated homestays were analyzed. The results show that the behavioral intentions of homestay tourists are directly affected by place dependence, place identity, and perceived value, while indirectly influenced by tourist satisfaction. These findings provide reference value and significance for homestay owners, management departments, investors, local residents, and homestays in other regions.

Tourism destination sustainability: The systematic literature review

<p>The sustainable development of tourism destinations is a continual and evolving process crucial for long-term value and well-being. However, the existing literature reveals a gap in understanding how to effectively evaluate the sustainable development of tourism objects, with a predominant focus on developed countries. This raises concerns about the applicability of similar strategies in underdeveloped nations. This study employs an analysis of the scientific literature to address the identified research problem. We propose a more inclusive and comprehensive approach to sustainable tourism management, aiming to equalize the distribution of economic, social, and cultural dimensions. Our focus is on developing a theoretical evaluation model that goes beyond conventional frameworks and includes both broad and narrow dimensions. The research uncovers that sustainable development, as presented by various authors, encompasses economic benefits, environmental protection, and social dimension management. We introduce a sustainability management model that surpasses existing systems, offering a holistic perspective. Moreover, we emphasize the significance of voluntary publicity for environmental and socio-cultural activities in enhancing a tourism destination’s image and societal value. Our study contributes a theoretical evaluation model based on global criteria for sustainable tourism. This model not only evaluates the dimensions of coherence broadly but also incorporates specific criteria for a nuanced analysis of the current situation and potential opportunities. The proposed framework aims to guide tourism destinations in achieving economic benefits without compromising the environment and prioritizing the well-being of local communities, thus fostering a more sustainable and equitable development process.<strong></strong></p>

A study on the impact of tourism destination image and local attachment on the revisit intention: The moderating effect of perceived risk.

The revisit intention of tourists is an important guarantee for the sustainable and healthy development of tourism destination, and has also received attention from the current academic community. However, there is still insufficient research on the antecedents of revisit intention from the perspectives of tourism destination, image and nostalgia emotion. This study takes China's ecological tourism scenic area (Guilin Lijiang Scenic Area) as a case study, and uses questionnaire survey method to obtain research data for empirical research. The results of this study confirm that tourism destination image has a positive impact on nostalgia emotions and local attachment, nostalgia emotion has a positive impact on local attachment, and local attachment has a positive impact on revisit intention. Perceived risk plays a negative moderating effect between local attachment and revisit intention. In addition, this study also examined the mediating effect of nostalgia emotion and local attachment. This study is beneficial for enriching the theory of the influence mechanism of revisit intention from the perspective of consumer psychology. It is an interdisciplinary research result of management and psychology, providing theoretical reference for improving revisit intention in tourism destinations and promoting their healthy development.

System Construction, Tourism Empowerment, and Community Participation: The Sustainable Way of Rural Tourism Development

The development of rural tourism serves as a crucial strategy for achieving rural revitalization and common prosperity in China. However, the uneven distribution of interests caused by the imperfect tourism destination system is common, and its economic and social impacts have become a major problem and obstacle to the sustainable development of rural tourism. Tourism empowerment and community participation are important for balancing community interests and promoting the sustainable development of tourism. Therefore, from the perspective of tourism empowerment and community participation, this paper takes the Wuzhen scenic area as a case study and considers tourism empowerment as a mediating variable between system construction and community participation, with participation ability serving as a moderating variable. Employing a structural equation model, this paper investigates the interactions among system construction, tourism empowerment, community participation, and participation ability in a rural destination context. The results indicate that system construction significantly benefits tourism empowerment and community participation. Tourism empowerment exerts a significant positive impact on community participation while also serving as a partial mediator between system construction and community participation. Additionally, participation ability positively moderates the impact of system construction on tourism empowerment. This study recommends the creation of an interest linkage mechanism grounded in the property rights of tourism attractions, the introduction of oversight mechanisms for rural tourism enterprises, and the fortification of community participation through educational and informational support as strategies to ensure the sustainable development of rural tourism destinations.

On-screen tourism and destination development: a sociocognitive approach

ABSTRACT This study develops a new conceptual framework, called the “sociocultural market wheel” of tourism destinations, to establish on-screen tourism as an integrated part of destination development, rather than a peripheral voice or an ad-hoc niche element. To do so, this study applies the sociocognitive product market theory, which has been well established in the field of management in the recent years. This study argues that on-screen place-making representations impact tourism destination development through a continuous, mutual and two-way sensemaking and sensegiving process between film industry storytellers and internal and external destination shared conceptual systems, which is grounded around the exchange of multi-level stories, what has been also described as “serial narratives” that contain destination-related myths. The main aims of the study are, first, to build on recent literature on on-screen tourism that is taking a popular culture, rather than a destination or tourist, perspective and, second, to inform destination practitioners and DMOs that they need to monitor, interpret and analyse the stories and serial narratives that the film industry produces about the destination, to be able to proactively drive sustainable destination development and avoid the risks of touristification.

Toward Sustainable Visits

Abstract To meet, encounter, and visit others is foundational to culture and civilization. The ever-increasing number of tourists now challenges the social, cultural, and ecological systems of whole societies. In small, marginalized, and peripheral islands like Gotland, Sweden, tourism and heritage have been embraced as saviors. Although intensive heritage production and increased tourism have boosted parts of the island's economy, it has also led to acute water shortages, increased pollution of the Baltic Sea—already the world's most polluted sea—and to heightened gentrification and marginalization, which in turn has notably increased the islanders’ alienation and ambivalence toward their own lifeworld. In the essay, I introduce the notion of “sustainable visits” to envision forms of tourism that build on local understandings of hosts and guests, forms that acknowledge the legacy of the islanders without leading to further marginalization and Othering. How can studying heritage and folklore contribute to sustainable visits and sustainable destination development?

“I Have the Feeling of Community Again”: The Socioeconomic Impacts of Small-Scale Events on Community Recovery

The COVID-19 pandemic had severe consequences for communities across the globe and especially in Melbourne, Australia, where residents experienced strict control measures and extended lockdowns. Using a mixed-methods approach, this study explores an initiative to facilitate community recovery by analyzing the socioeconomic impacts of small-scale events held by local government in Melbourne’s West shortly after the final lockdown lifted. Survey data were collected from 843 event attendees and 43 business operators, followed by semistructured interviews. Results show that these events generated multiple social benefits by enhancing a sense of community, (re)connecting people, improving mental health, and promoting diversity and inclusion. Economic benefits were generated directly by boosting local and visitor spending and indirectly through increasing business‐community connectedness. The study contributes to the limited empirical research on the value and role of small-scale events for community recovery and has managerial implications for sustainable destination development, recovery, and regeneration strategies.

Exploring the Relationship between Tourist Perception and Motivation at a Museum Attraction

Tourism activity represents one of the most dynamic and defining activities for today’s society. In this context, knowing the perception and motivation of potential tourists visiting a museum attraction represents an essential approach with implications for the sustainable development of tourist destinations. The research methodology used in the present study involved the complementary use of survey methods for data acquisition and multicriteria analysis to identify and establish relationships between perception and motivation. The results obtained from the present study show a synthetic picture regarding the perception and motivation of the tourists who visited the Crișului Land Museum from Oradea, Romania, on the one hand, and the relationships that were established between perception and motivation, on the other hand, thus confirming the research hypothesis that perception influences motivation. The perception of tourists after visiting the Crișului Land Museum in Oradea is determined by personal and interpersonal reasons, as well as by the way they perceive the visited site. The study originality consists in the use of mixed-method approaches to collect and analyze data, as a means to complement different data sources.

Stakeholder Analysis on PAL 16 Tourism Development in Cikole Village

Tourism is a sector that is well-developed in Greater Bandung. One of the places that has potential for tourism is PAL 16 in Cikole Village, this research article presents a stakeholder analysis conducted to assess the development of tourism in Cikole Village, while also examining the impacts of tourism on the village itself. The study adopts a qualitative research method, utilizing stakeholder analysis and descriptive analysis as the primary research techniques. This research uses in-depth interview as data collection method for primary data. The research stages are data collection, data analysis, and conclusion drawing. The research findings highlight the key stakeholders involved in the tourism development process, which include the village government, community, academics, and tourists. The analysis underscores the importance of collaboration among these stakeholders to effectively develop tourism in Cikole Village. Furthermore, the study reveals that tourism in PAL 16 has had positive impacts on the economic, social, and environmental aspects of the village. Economically, tourism has created new business opportunities, stimulated the local economy, and generated income for the local community. Socially, it has fostered cultural exchange, promoted community engagement, and enhanced local pride. Environmentally, tourism development has encouraged conservation efforts, raised awareness about natural resources, and supported sustainable practices. This research contributes to the understanding of stakeholder dynamics in tourism development and emphasizes the need for coordinated efforts among stakeholders to maximize the benefits and minimize the negative impacts. The findings provide valuable insights for policymakers, local communities, academics, and other stakeholders involved in the sustainable development of tourism destinations.

International tourism as a tool for inclusive development of region

The main purpose of the article is to determine the degree of interrelation of indicators of sustainable development of regions by forming models of sustainable development of tourist destinations as an inclusive tool of international tourism and building a model of sustainable development of tourist destinations. To analyze the situation, the authors consider a model that includes East Kazakhstan, Almaty regions and the city of Almaty. The study revealed the conceptual significance and influence of 6 indicators in the system of inclusive indicators of regional development. The development of tourism in an inclusive direction is one of the main directions in the national development strategies of international organizations and developed countries. Therefore, the study of international tourism as an instrument of inclusive development of regions reveals the relevance of this work. The main tools were generalizations, comparisons, economic, statistical analysis, as well as to determine each indicator of sustainability, the arithmetic mean of the indicators for determining the degree and value of the specific gravity was used, correlation analysis, Pearson linear correlation coefficients were used to correlate the indicators of sustainable development of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the regions under consideration. The authors propose an integrated approach as a tool for integration, systematization of the management process and indicators that affect the achievement of goals. It is recommended to form a mechanism in the field of ensuring the necessary level of stability of the development of tourist regions, allowing the formation of further mechanisms.

Response of Ecosystem and Eco-Economic System to the Land use Structure Change in Tourism Typical Town: A Case Study in Yanyang Town of Guangdong Province, China

Purpose: The main purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship among rural tourism development, land use structure and ecosystem, and provide decision-making basis for the sustainable development of rural tourism destination.
 
 Theoretical framework: Based on the theory of sustainable development, this paper explores the sustainable development of rural tourism destinations with the framework of the relationship among ecosystem, economy and society.
 
 Design/Methodology/Approach: The research methodology used quantitative analysis. Taking Yanyang Town as the study area, based on the land use interpretation data from satellite remote sensing in 2004, 2014 and 2020, with the help of land use structure change index, ESV evaluation model and EEH index, the change characteristics of land use structure, and the response of ecosystem and eco-economic system in Yanyang Town were analyzed.
 
 Findings: Rural tourism is more conducive to the coordination development of rural ecosystem and economy than traditional agricultural production. However, in the process of tourism development, it is very important to reduce the interference to land use, protect ecological land, maintain the continuity and complexity of land use, enhance the ESV of land use, and pay attention to the excavation of ecosystem value and cultural connotation.
 
 Research, Practical & Social implications: It provides a basis for the optimizing land use structure, improving ecosystem service function, adjusting regional development model and coordinating economic development and ecological protection.
 
 Originality/Value: This research explores the influence mechanism of land structure-ecology-economy system in rural tourism destinations, which enriches the research results of rural sustainable development.

A study on the influence mechanism of perceived situational factors on young tourists’ pro-environment behaviors: Taking perceived coolness as an example

The sustainable development of tourism destinations is intimately tied to tourists' pro-environmental behaviors. Limited studies have explored the influence of factors such as emotions, morals, and rationality on tourists' pro-environmental behaviors. Although progress has been made in identifying the factors that predict tourists' pro-environmental behaviors, the mechanisms through which perceived situational factors impact environmental behaviors remain insufficiently understood. Furthermore, considering the evolving characteristics of the global population and changes in consumer behavior preferences, particularly the increasing use of coolness as a marketing tool targeting young people, this study develops a stimulus‒organism‒response (S–O-R) framework to examine the impact of perceived coolness on young tourists' pro-environmental behaviors and further investigates the gender differences in this relationship from the perspective of situated cognition. The approach used is deductive. According to data collected from 564 young visitors who attended the Strawberry Music Festival, males' perception of coolness directly influence their pro-environmental behavior, while females’ perception of coolness are indirectly influenced by place identity and psychological ownership. This study provides a valuable theoretical perspective on the influence of perceived situational factors on pro-environmental behavior among young tourists and offers insights for managers regarding promoting destination development and designing products.

Rethinking sustainable destination development through social innovations

Rethinking sustainable destination development through social innovations

Are smart tourism destinations developing sustainably?

<p>This paper attempts to clarify our understanding of the ability of smart tourism to underpin sustainable destination development and the theoretical and practical challenges that must be faced in this process. Several challenges must be overcome if smart tourism is to associate with progress in achieving sustainable development at the destination level. One challenge involves formulating a clear and consistent conception of what sustainability entails. Another challenge is to reject the growth ethic that drives much of the research effort in smart tourism with its implicit assumption of the role played by technological progress in ‘decoupling’ environmental effects from tourism growth. A third challenge involves accounting for resident well-being and ‘quality of life’ issues that are essential elements of the sustainability concept. A further challenge is to integrate the ideas proposed in a way that progresses smart tourism research providing guidance to researchers and destination managers wishing to take sustainability and well-being issues more seriously. The anticipated outcome is smart tourism development that is much more suitable to deliver valued economic, socio-cultural and environmental outcomes to destinations locally and globally.</p>

Development of Useful Cultural Tourism Increase Labor Absorption and Income in Baubau City Souteast Sulawesi Province

This research was carried out in 2020. The problem of cultural tourism in Baubau City is low productivity and competitiveness caused by the not yet optimal utilization of the potential of cultural tourism resources, the lack of integrated promotion systems, weak policy implementation, and inadequate infrastructure supporting cultural tourism. The results of the CPI analysis show that cultural tourism in Baubau City: (1) Tourist destinations in the Wolio Palace area (a) Wolio Palace Mosque average value of CPI 629, (b) Tombs of the Kings of Buton with an average value of CPI 427, (c) Historical sites of the Wolio Kingdom average CPI value of 424, (2) Art tourism destinations (a) Buton traditional dances average CPI value of 737, (b) Buton regional songs average CPI value of 559. (3) Wolio cultural tourism destinations (a) Wolio traditional clothing culture average CPI value 607, (b) Haroa culture average CPI value of 579, (c) Pakande-kandea culture average CPI value of 580, (d) Gotong royong culture average CPI value of 767. Concern for cultural values related to the monumental value of the Wolio Sultanate is an important part of the sustainable development of tourist destinations. Preservation of Wolio culture as a method of designing preservation with the collaboration of local government, traditional leaders, and the private sector through cultural galleries, cultural promotion, and cultural festivals, so that the younger generation loves and preserves the culture of the Buton area which will contribute to employment and community income.

The Fallout of Market-Oriented Sustainability Measures: Tourism Destination Sustainability Benchmarking and Ranking

Destination sustainability indices, designed to facilitate benchmarking, ranking, and direct competition, are increasingly employed by destinations to showcase their sustainability achievements, meet stakeholder expectations, and attract visitors. Consequently, these indices play a pivotal role in influencing how destinations strategically prioritize their sustainability initiatives. Despite the burgeoning research on sustainability measures, research on market-centric destination benchmarks and rankings remains limited. This letter aims to underscore the distinction between measures that apply a minimum standard approach, for example certifications, and those that allow for benchmarking/ranking in assessing destination sustainability. It argues that the latter holds significant potential to impact sustainable destination development. Thus, it investigates the question of what happens when destination sustainability becomes a point of competition and demonstrates that even meticulously designed indices can encourage counterproductive behaviors, potentially undermining sustainability progress at destinations. Based on this, the letter advocates for a comprehensive investigation into market-oriented sustainability indices and rankings.