Sustainable Development Of Tourist Destinations Research Articles

Visitor Engagement, Relationship Quality, and Environmentally Responsible Behavior.

Visitor environmentally responsible behavior (ERB) is helpful for promoting the sustainable development of tourist destinations. Existing studies on visitor ERB tend to either focus on restraining visitors’ environmental misconducts or rely on visitors’ psychological factors. Based on the theory of engagement, this paper constructs a theoretical model to explain visitors’ self-conscious ERB. Visitor engagement with the destination is investigated as an independent variable which leads to the improvement of relationship quality and visitor ERB. Relationship quality is explored to mediate the impact of visitor engagement on ERB. In addition, the moderating role of environmental clue on the tested relationships is also examined. This study adopts partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to investigate a total of 410 valid questionnaires. The results show that (1) visitor engagement with the destination positively affects visitor ERB; (2) relationship quality mediates the impact of visitor engagement on visitor ERB; (3) environmental clue plays a significant moderating role in the effects of engagement and relationship quality on visitor ERB. The study extends theoretical perspectives on visitor ERB and customer engagement, and provides managerially practical value to better understand visitors’ self-conscious ERB.

Venice and Overtourism: Simulating Sustainable Development Scenarios through a Tourism Carrying Capacity Model

Overtourism problems, anti-tourist movements and negative externalities of tourism are popular research approaches and are key concepts to better understand the sustainable development of tourism destinations. In many of the overtourism narratives, Venice is considered to be one of the most relevant cases of overtourism and therefore has become a laboratory for studying the different conflicts that emerge when tourism numbers continue to grow and the quality of the tourism flow continues to decline. This article is therefore focusing on Venice and on one of the possible solutions to mitigate the negative impacts of tourism represented by the concept of a tourist carrying capacity (TCC) in an urban destination. The aim of this paper is to discuss alternative methodologies regarding the calculation of the TCC, and to apply a fuzzy instead of a ‘crisp’ linear programming model to determine the scenarios of a sustainable number of tourists in the cultural destination of Venice, looking for the optimal compromise between, on the one hand, the wish of maximizing the monetary gain by the local tourism sectors and, on the other, the desire to control the undesirable effects that tourism exerts on a destination by the local population. To solve the problems related to tourism statistics and data availability, some uncertainty in the parameters has been included using fuzzy numbers. The fuzziness in the model was introduced on the basis of questionnaires distributed among both tourists and residents. By applying the fuzzy linear programming model to the emblematic case of Venice, it was shown that this approach can indeed help destinations to understand the challenges of sustainable tourism development better, to evaluate the impact of alternative policies of overtourism on the sustainability of tourism, and hence, to help design a strategy to manage tourist flows more adequately

Evolutionary game analysis of land income distribution in tourism development

Social stability is the key to the sustainable development of tourism destinations. And reasonable distribution of land revenue during tourism development can effectively avoid social conflicts at these destinations. This study explores the dynamic nature and stabilization of land revenue distribution for tourism development. It does so by developing an evolutionary game model. In this model, the main stakeholders include the government, developers and local communities, and analysis of the model indicates that the process of distributing land revenue is profoundly influenced by land transfer methods. Specifically, a developer chooses land transfer methods by weighing the land cost (consisting of land prices and taxes) or the benefit under non-cooperation with different land transfer methods. Meanwhile, the local community chooses whether to cooperate by considering the land income (consisting of land prices) or non-cooperative benefits. With different game sequences, the stakeholders will consider different conditions. Moreover, government taxation and subsidization policies are found to have little influence on the land transfer market in the long run. Instead, to avoid potential conflicts and social instability, the government should provide a good political environment for community participation. This study offers important implications for policymaking involving land income distribution for tourism destinations.

Study on Tourist Satisfaction of Xijiang Miao Village from The Perspective of Landscape Gene

Analyzing the factors that affect tourist satisfaction can guide the sustainable development of tourist destination to a certain extent. In order to study the influence of Landscape Gene on the tourist satisfaction, the model of the structural equation was constructed by constructing the identification system and constructing the model of the structural equation. The results show that the characteristics of the building and the characteristics of the folk custom are positively influenced. The characteristics of the faith have a negative effect on the satisfaction of the tourists, and the correlation coefficient is prominent. The characteristics of the environment have a negative impact on tourist satisfaction. The effect of the folkcustom character on tourist satisfaction is the most significant.

Study on Construction of Tourism Security Early Warning System in Tourist Destinations - Take Yangshuo, China as an Example

Tourism security is the necessary foundation for sustainable development of tourism destinations. The application of next-generation information technology for early warning of tourism safety can achieve the management goals of tourism destinations such as accuracy, economy, and rapid response. The tourist destination safety early warning system mainly consists of video surveillance-based passenger flow assessment, traffic safety early warning system, emergency intelligent guidance system and intelligent rescue simulation system.

Impact of climate change on Tibet tourism based on tourism climate index

Climate change is an important factor affecting the sustainable development of tourist destinations. Based on the monthly observation data of the main meteorological stations on the ground in Tibet from 1960 to 2015, this paper constructs a tourism climate index model. This index is used to quantitatively evaluate the tourism climate changes in Tibet, and investigate the impact of climate change on tourism. The results show that from 1960 to 2015, the temperature in Tibet increased by 1.35°C, and the tourism climate index changed significantly, especially in the regions of Changtang, Ngari and Kunlun Mountain. The fluctuation of temperature-humidity index, wind-chill index and index of clothing of these areas was larger than that of other regions. The changes of each index in different months are different, where spring observes larger changes while summer observes smaller changes. The tourism climate index in northwestern Tibet has increased, and the climate comfort period is expanding. In southeastern Tibet, the comfort level has declined and the comfort level in the central part has been slowly increasing. The comfort index in the southeastern part of Tibet has gradually declined, and the comfort index in central Tibet has slowly increased. According to the comprehensive assessment method including temperature and humidity index, wind-chill index, index of clothing and altitude adaptability index, the types of tourism climate index in Tibet can be divided into reduced, low-speed growth, medium-speed growth and rapid growth. Different regions should adopt alternative tourism products, strengthen energy conservation and emission reduction technology applications and green infrastructure construction, and appropriately control the scale of tourism activities so as to adapt to and mitigate the impact of climate change on tourist destinations.

Cluster approach to sustainable tourism development

The article considers the cluster approach to the sustainable development of tourism destinations. The concept of the "regional tourism cluster" and its features, as well as the symbol of the formation of the tourist group.

The Evolution of Cultural Space in a World Heritage Site: Tourism Sustainable Development of Mount Wuyi, China

It is necessary to examine cultural space in tourism destinations, including World Heritage Sites, for the long-term sustainable development of these destinations. Existing studies on cultural space mainly concentrate on the conceptual and textural elements. However, factors influencing the evolution of cultural space still need to be explored for the sustainable development of tourism destinations. Taking Mount Wuyi, a World Heritage Site in China, as a case study, this research examines the evolutionary trend of its tea cultural space. Specifically, this study investigates indicators that influence cultural space and explores its evolutionary mechanism. The vector autoregressive model was used to analyze Mount Wuyi’s tea cultural space evolution from 1996 to 2017. The results reveal that culture had the highest overall development in the tea-space evolution; the market supply and demand were the strongest and most enduring exogenous forces. Moreover, the evolution of tea cultural space demonstrated a multi-stranded interactive evolution model. This study not only enriches the understanding of cultural space evolution in tourism destinations but also offers suggestions for the sustainable development and management of World Heritage Sites.

Forexite instrument for forecasting strategic development of tourism

The purpose of the article is the allocation of foresight tools for forecasting the strategic development of tourism, taking into account national characteristics, drawing on world experience. Two approaches are identified as the basis of the foresight methodology: normative and exploratory. It is proposed to use the ideas of I. Ivey concerning the foresight of tourism in order to forecast the development of tourism. The necessity to form a system of strategic vision of tourism development is proved, based on 3 levels (horizons). A number of tools and processes that can be used to form the "Horizon 3" are highlighted. It is proposed to expel four megatrends of tourism development in the future: demand growth; growth of sustainable tourism; advanced technology; mobility of travel. The main drivers of qualitative changes in tourism and hospitality are the development of information and communication technologies and e-business. Currently, travel companies use Internet technology for two main purposes: marketing and direct sales of their services. Actively used such Internet technologies as sites, on-line reservation, on-line purchase of tourist products, and also tracking of preferences of clients. The basis for competitiveness and profitability in the field of tourism and hospitality is a new profile tourist destination: digital; "green"; social indicators. Indicators of tourism development in the Odessa region are analyzed and problematic aspects are highlighted. The recommendations for stimulating tourist activity for consolidation of the work of the authorities, the public and business for the common goal are the following: the observance of international standards of all members of the tourism product supply chain for the sustainable development of tourist destinations in Ukraine. Sustainable tourism requires awareness of all stakeholders, a strong political leader for consolidating society; effective programs and projects; monitoring changes. The trend is the development of responsible tourism, based on the principles of social and economic justice, respect for local ecology, traditions and culture.

Evaluation and drive mechanism of tourism ecological security based on the DPSIR-DEA model

Tourism ecological security evaluation is a critical way of measuring the sustainable development of tourism destinations. Based on ecological system theory, this study creates a new comprehensive evaluation model, “Driver-Pressure-State- Impact-Response"—"Data Envelopment Analysis” (DPSIR-DEA), to measure tourism ecological security, which is an evaluation of “Quality” from the perspective of “Efficiency”. The Yangtze River Delta (YRD) is chosen as the study site, and methods including Geo-Detector and spatial autocorrelation are used to analyze space-time law and influence factors. Results indicate that the spatial differentiation pattern of southeast–northwest is gradually presented from hot-spot to cold-spot. Moreover, some critical impact factors affecting tourism ecological security are identified, including third-industry growth rate, tourist density, etc, and the driving mechanism is constructed. We not only introduces a new evaluation of tourism ecological security but also explores the crucial impact indexed and the driving mechanism.

Determinants and Mechanisms of Tourists’ Environmentally Responsible Behavior: Applying and Extending the Value-Identity-Personal Norm Model in China

It is well recognized that tourists’ environmentally responsible behavior is a prominent contributor to the sustainable development of tourist destinations. Based on the original Value-Identity-Personal norm (VIP) model and self-efficacy theory, this study proposes an extended VIP model for exploring the generalized determinants of tourists’ environmentally responsible behavior and investigating the impact mechanism of this behavior in China. A total number of 435 self-reported questionnaires were collected on a professional online survey platform. Our research results indicated that the extended VIP model could significantly and validly explain tourists’ environmentally responsible behavior. Specifically, biospheric values have an indirect but rooted effect on tourists’ environmentally responsible behavior. Furthermore, two indirect paths play the same mediational role between biospheric values and tourists’ environmentally responsible behavior. The findings expand the application field of the VIP model, contribute to a better understanding for academic researchers of tourists’ environmentally responsible behavior and shed light on managerial implications for practitioners in the sustainable development of tourist destinations.

Visitor management and sustainable destination management nexus in Zegie Peninsula, Northern Ethiopia

Visitor management becomes a core element of sustainable destination management in the wake of a continuously growing tourism sector. The current study examines how effective visitor management contributes to sustainable tourism destination development employing the triple-bottom-line concept. The study adopts a qualitative research approach with an exploratory design and collects qualitative data from purposively selected participants. Data collection took place between December 2017 and April 2018. Research findings inform that proper visitor management practices further strengthen sustainable tourism destination development. Even though, inadequate, visitor management is currently practiced in Zegie Peninsula. However, ensuring broad-based tourism stakeholder engagement to sustain the proper development of tourism remains a challenge. This study advances our understanding of the inextricable links among visitor management practices, stakeholder engagement, and sustainable destination development. Visitor management concepts compatible with sustainable tourism development are suggested along with study limitations and opportunities for future research. • Examines the role of visitor management in sustainable destination development. • Highlights the roles of stakeholders in visitor management and improving visitor experiences. • Suggests interventions for effective visitor management practices in sacred heritage sites.

Promoting Co-evolutionary Adaptations for Sustainable Tourism: The “Alpine Convention” Case

ABSTRACTThe sustainable development of tourism destinations is the result of co-evolutionary adaptations between tourism firms and their environment. Recent tourism studies adopting the co-evolutionary approach – also fertilized by evolutionary economic geography literature – have looked at how these adaptations are promoted at the firm’s level, while little has been said about how adaptations can be promoted at the environmental level, and especially the institutional level. Thus, this paper examines the role played by institutions for the sustainable development of a tourism destination, mainly looking at the mechanisms that promote co-evolutionary adaptations. In particular, the study focuses on the qualitative analysis of a longitudinal intrinsic case study concerning the Institution “Alpine Convention”. Data are analyzed through a mixed thematic analysis. Findings highlight the pivotal role played by stakeholders’ involvement in decision making processes and by the inter-organizational knowledge transfer in promoting effective co-evolutionary adaptations. The paper contributes significantly to the tourism literature and to the study of co-evolving mechanisms among macro-, meso-, and micro- levels. Implications for both policy makers and executives emerge, together with suggestions for future research.

IMPROVEMENT OF TOURIST DESTINATION MANAGEMENT AT REGIONAL LEVEL UNDER CONDITIONS OF DECENTRALIZATION OF POWER IN UKRAINE

It is substantiated that creation of regional tourist destination management organizations based on public-private partnership (in terms of combining funds and efforts) in the tourism industry can become an effective model of tourism management under conditions of decentralization of power in Ukraine. There are several key benefits for government authorities, civil society and business from combining their efforts and funds to develop the tourism industry. The conclusions are based on European and world experience, as well as recommendations of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) on the success factors of destination management/marketing organization (DMO – term that defines regional tourist destination management organizations in Western countries). The current state of work of destination management organizations in the world has been challenged by changing the course from marketing to management as their leading function, which requires increasing responsibility and rethinking their activities. The essence of the term “destination” is revealed according to UNWTO recommendations and this term is determined as the main one used when determining the tourist region. The basic success factors, components of an effective regional tourist destination management organization are revealed, such as: leadership, institutional determination, integration of public and private budgets, effective management and strategic vision that is related to sustainable development of tourist destination. The possible ways of financing and legal subordination of regional tourist destination management organizations according to legislation of Ukraine are considered and it is substantiated that these issues require deeper study and development of practical recommendations on implementation, as today there is no transparent system that would allow financing of non-state institution from state funds.

Is Southern Xinjiang Really Unsafe?

Destination image and safety not only affect tourist decision-making but also the sustainable development of tourist destinations. Some tourist destinations are too vulnerable to defend against emergency tourist crises, and tourists’ perceived safety can be severely biased, which is then deepened by media panic caused by the publication of excessive negative reports. This paper discusses the mechanism of perceived safety and perceived image on tourist behavioral intention, as well as the inter-group difference. Our study is based on a survey in Southern Xinjiang in which the respondents were divided into four groups. Four structural equation models were established with “perceived safety” and “perceived image” as independent variables, “destination trust” and “perceived value” as mediating variables, and “behavioral intention” as the dependent variable. The final results show that a paradox of safety perception exists in tourists’ perception of Southern Xinjiang. The perceived safety differs sharply between the tourists who have traveled to Southern Xinjiang and those who have not. The mechanism of perceived safety on tourist behavioral intention differs from that of the perceived image on tourist behavioral intention. Destination image still plays a key role in tourist traveling decision-making. The findings are of great significance for the restoration of cognitive bias, management, and marketing activities, and the sustainable development in Southern Xinjiang and similar destinations.

Possibilities of Connecting Maritime and Continental Tourism with an Emphasis on Sustainable Development

Contemporary tourism trends are marked by a number of elements that enrich the product of the tourism and travel industry and contribute to the satisfaction of visitors, while respecting the principles of sustainable tourist destination management. This paper analyzes the possibilities for the implementation of charter flights and the introduction of electric cars with the aim of connecting maritime and continental tourism in Croatia on the principles of sustainable development of tourist destinations. For the purpose of proving the set hypotheses, research has been carried out involving all the county tourist offices as the target points of the survey, as each of them covers a range of local self-government units, and can be considered a representative sample of tourism in the entire territory of Croatia. The survey was conducted through questionnaires with the office directors. The analysis of their responses suggests the need to approach and merge maritime and continental tourism through a new tourist product by introducing charter flights and electric cars. Based on the results of the research and in the opinion of the respondents, the introduction of charter flights would lead to the extension of the tourist season, the expansion of the tourist offer and thus the greater pleasure of visitors themselves, increase of employment, increase of local government revenues and synergy effect of economic development. Respondents believe that the introduction of alternative electric vehicles would significantly contribute to environmental protection and rationalization of operations due to considerably lower costs (gas emissions into the environment, the possibility of co-financing through EU funds or central and local government funds, maintenance costs, etc.). The introduction of charter flights and the usage of electric cars from the airport to the destination would significantly contribute to the achievement of better tourism-related results and the increase of the competitiveness of Croatian tourism as a whole.

A Small-Scale Event and a Big Impact—Is This Relationship Possible in the World of Sport? The Meaning of Heritage Sporting Events for Sustainable Development of Tourism—Experiences from Poland

The theoretical part of this article presents the meaning of sporting events for the tourism industry and the importance of sporting events at a small scale, as well as heritage sporting events for sustainable development of tourist destinations. The literature review shows that there is a clear research gap with respect to the analysis of economic and social impacts of small-scale events. The empirical research was conducted by the method of a diagnostic survey during three sporting events of different rank, which took place in Poland and represented various sports disciplines—running, horse riding, and swimming. A total of 2098 respondents took part in the study, including sports tourists and resident-hosts who took part in the studied events. The aim of the study was to examine whether there is a link between the rank of a sporting event, the development of tourism, and the impact on the host city’s image. The results of the study showed that the highest additional tourism activity in the city on the occasion of participation in an event as an athlete or supporter was undertaken by the participants of the lowest ranked sporting event (Half-Marathon). They also gave the highest rating of the positive impact of a sporting event on the host city’s image. The hosts also rated the highest social impact from the Half-Marathon (i.e., increased sense of pride, social integration, and local identity). Events related to the heritage of the sport of a given region and other smaller-scale sporting events, including mass sports and recreation events (e.g., marathons and other running events), provide an alternative to homogenized, commercial, and very expensive sporting events in the world and may contribute to the sustainable development of tourist regions. The research results show that big social potential lies in the organization of small-scale sports events. The reflections contained in this article may inspire the organization of small-scale sporting events and the continued care for sporting events related to the cultural heritage of a given region. Events of this kind successfully impact tourist revival and improvement of the regions’ image.

Determinants of Visitors’ Intentions to Consume and Recommend Local Agro-Food Products

ABSTRACTPrevious research has revealed the relevance of consuming local food products in the visitor experience and in maintaining the sustainable development of tourism destinations. By reviewing the available studies in the field of tourism, attempts have been made to identify those factors influencing the consumption of local food products during a trip. However, few studies have analysed visitors’ behaviour in terms of their intentions to search for and recommend these products after returning to their home countries. The present study addresses this gap by analysing the factors that influence visitors’ intentions. A total of 500 international tourists in Portugal were interviewed and several linear regression models were used. The evaluation shows that the attributes of local agro-food products, food-related personality traits, and the motivations behind consuming these kinds of products emerge as the most important factors that influence visitors’ intentions to consume these products and to recommend them after a trip. However, the results also show differences in the determinants in terms of type of local agro-food product under analysis, as well as differences between the intention to consume and the intention to recommend. The theoretical and managerial implications of the findings are also presented.

Network characteristics of tourism destinations: a case from the Yesanpo tourism destination in China

This study considers the Yesanpo tourism destination as a case, using network and spatial analysis methods to reveal its structure characteristics from the perspective of node centrality, connection hierarchy and space cluster. The results are as follows. (1) Core scenic spots/central towns have higher centrality than surrounding rural communities and characteristic parks, and occupy core positions. (2) Network connections show obvious hierarchical characteristics and spatial heterogeneity; each hierarchy is based on the core scenic spots and the central town, existing spatial difference between the south and north and spatial dependence on the river and main road. (3) Spatial elements tend to cluster to form several tourism cluster units, which centre on core scenic spots, composed of central towns, rural communities and characteristic parks, and show the dual features of ‘adjacent connection’ and ‘preferential connection’. The study also suggests each tourism node should be equipped with appropriate facilities and services based on their structural characteristics and functions to promote sustainable development of tourism destinations.

Residents Perception of Sustainable Tourism Destination Development - A Destination Governance Issue

Residents Perception of Sustainable Tourism Destination Development - A Destination Governance Issue