Travel Destination Research Articles

The Tourist Gastronomic Experience: Ties Between Young Foodies’ Motivation and Destination Development in Portugal

Gastronomic tourism has become a dynamic segment within the tourism sector, serving as a vital tool for the economic, cultural, and environmental growth of regions that emphasize culinary experiences. This study examines the motivations of young food-motivated tourists (“foodies”) and their impact on travel choices and destination development. Using a quantitative methodology, data were collected from 170 respondents (131 valid answers) in Portugal. The data were collected through the PTFoodies survey, a tool specifically designed by the authors to analyze tourist motivations and their connections to destination attributes. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) identified five key factors—endogenous products, local gastronomy, quality and innovation, authenticity and tradition, and diversity—revealing a balance between sustainability, local authenticity, and openness to innovation in tourist preferences. Additionally, correlation analysis highlighted significant relationships between motivations, such as the strong association between an interest in culinary routes and event participation and between local product appreciation and the preference for organic food. These findings contribute to both theory and practice by refining motivational theories specific to gastronomic tourism, offering insights into destination development strategies and emphasizing sustainable practices that resonate with tourists’ preferences. The study provides destination managers with actionable strategies to attract food-motivated tourists and foster sustainable community growth through gastronomic tourism.

Bibliometric Trends in Social Media and Destination Marketing: Shaping Perceptions in the Tourism Industry

This study delves into the transformative role of social media in tourism marketing, examining how these digital platforms influence traveler engagement and destination branding. Drawing from a comprehensive bibliometric analysis, the research synthesizes findings from seminal studies to explore the utilization of social media by tourism organizations and the resultant impact on traveler behavior and decision-making processes. The analysis highlights the strategic use of social media for enhancing destination attractiveness, the integration of big data to optimize marketing strategies, and the pivotal role of user-generated content in shaping destination images. The study identifies key trends, including the shift towards more personalized, interactive marketing approaches and the increasing reliance on technological innovations to drive marketing efficiency and effectiveness. These findings provide actionable insights for tourism marketers aiming to leverage social media's full potential within the dynamic digital landscape.

Factors Affecting Pre-Travel Planning of Families Netnographic Study of Facebook Group “The Travel Diary”

The aim of this research was to identify which factors are taken into account when families – with children or elderly parents – are planning to travel. To understand what these factors are, the Facebook group “The Travel Diary” was observed. For this study, the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) was chosen as the theoretical framework. Existing literature has also utilized TPB to study the factors that affect travel. However, the broader themes (under which these factors are categorized) have only been analyzed individually. The focus of this research is to study as many broader themes holistically as possible to gain deeper insights. Additionally, previous research has mainly gathered data through structured interviews. The current research, on the other hand, employed netnography in order to observe online community members to gather authentic, unobtrusive data. The themes that arose from the eight-week observation were traveler characteristics, travel characteristics, destination characteristics, travel arrangements and sources of recommendations. Some factors that, to the best of the researcher’s knowledge, have not been studied yet in literature were food related and baby related arrangements.

Post-COVID-19 Sojourn Choices: Exploring the Distribution and Preferences of Chinese Digital Nomads Based on the Lifestyle Migration Theory

With the advancement of digital technologies and the gradual waning of the pandemic’s impact, digital nomads have attracted significant attention from academia and industry as an emerging social group. Existing studies regarding the distribution and destination selection preferences of digital nomads remain lacking. This study aims to investigate the distribution patterns and destination selection preferences of Chinese digital nomads, guided by the lifestyle migration theory. Specifically, we address the following research questions: Where do Chinese digital nomads choose to sojourn post-pandemic, and what factors influence their destination preferences? Using a qualitative approach based on grounded theory, we analyze text data from China’s largest video-based social platform to uncover key factors shaping digital nomads’ choices. The findings reveal that Chinese digital nomads consider five key dimensions when selecting a destination: basic living conditions, social environment, work opportunities, travel experience, and local integrated environment. Notably, compared to traditional migrant groups, digital nomads demonstrate stronger online and sharing behaviors in work and social interactions. Additionally, “travel” is identified as a new category. This study makes a theoretical contribution by expanding the application of lifestyle migration theory to digital nomadism, offering new insights into contemporary migration behaviors. It also provides practical guidance for travel destination planning and management to better accommodate the preferences of this emerging group.

Kyiv Academy in Travelogues of the Second Half of the 18th through Mid-19th Centuries

During the second half of the 18th century, Kyiv gradually started attracting an increasingly bigger number of travellers, both from the Russian imperial centre and Western countries. In some cases, Kyiv could be the final destination of travel, but in most cases, it was only one of the stops on a journey toward the South, in particular to Crimea. Given the widespread interest of learned travellers in issues of the Enlightenment and education, Kyiv Academy could stir curiosity and arouse a desire to visit this institution. That said, motives of interest among Russian and Western travellers could vary; the former were attracted by Kyiv Academy because of its input into the development of education and sciences in Russia itself. Some travellers expressed admiration toward the educational institution and emphasised its role in the education of learned members of the high clergy and bureaucracy. They also stressed the fact of a relatively long history of the Academy that had to prove the long tradition of education and science in the Russian Empire. However, Western travellers visited the Academy because of their general interest in the state of education in the Russian Empire. With time these tendencies changed. In this paper, we study mentions of the Kyiv Academy in travelogues; in particular, we are interested in the issue of the changing character of these mentions during a long period from the 1760s to the mid-19th century, both in the framework of the history of travel literature and from the point of view of imperial control of knowledge.

NOvation and Indigenous struggle for land: Club Med’s failure in New Caledonia

Tourism development can significantly affect the environment and communities in popular travel destinations, often overpowering Indigenous peoples by the sheer dominance of this economic sector. However, the local population can regain control over tourism development in a destination. This paper addresses the research question of how Indigenous peoples can protect themselves as well as their land from the pressures of mass tourism. More specifically, it analyzes the example of the Kanak from the Isle of Pines in New Caledonia, who play a key role in the island’s tourism development, ensuring it aligns with their cultural values and norms. For example, no hotel can be built on the Isle of Pines without the consent of the customary authorities and the Indigenous community. This presents challenges to external investors like Club Méditerranée, the pioneer of the all-inclusive resort model, an innovative approach in hospitality. This paper explores the Kanak community’s resistance to Club Med’s resort establishment in the 1970s, despite pressures from foreign investors and the local government. To answer our research question, we used ethnographic research methods and archival data analysis. Our findings reveal that customary land tenure allows Indigenous communities to maintain ownership of their land while preserving autonomy and control over resources and decision-making processes. The Kanak opposition to Club Med was successful due to three empowerment factors: the broader recognition and adherence to customary law, the emergence of the Kanak independence movement and land restitution claims, and the active involvement of Indigenous peoples in the implementation of tourism projects. This ‘NOvative’ approach – marked by the opposition towards Club Med – allowed the Kanak community to maintain control over tourism development. By adapting it to suit their insular pace and scale, they have demonstrated how Indigenous peoples can shape tourism in ways that respect their customs and lifestyles.

Sustainable Tourism Observatories Framework at National Tourism Strategic Area Development (KSPN) in Indonesia

This study aims to establish a framework that integrates planning and implementation programs for sustainable tourism development in Indonesia, providing a guide for stakeholders to unify understanding and drive policy agreements. The framework emphasizes concise, transparent, measurable, and adjustable principles for monitoring Sustainable Tourism Development (STD) guidelines. Using methodologies including surveys, case studies, comparative studies, time and motion analysis, and documentation analysis, this research identifies key elements and characteristics of sustainable tourism phenomena. The findings highlight the critical role of stakeholders in monitoring sustainable tourism through periodic reporting processes led by the Sustainable Tourism Observatory (STO). Government bodies, academic institutions, and community stakeholders collaboratively develop sustainable travel destinations, fostering accelerated tourism growth and sustainability in Indonesia.

A Review: Health and Wellness Promotion in Context with Indian Tourism

A traditional form of tourism was thought to be wellness and health tourism. In terms of yoga, spas, and Ayurveda, India has become a top travel destination for wellness travellers and medical and spiritual pursuits. The study's findings indicate the various locations in India, along with their wellness treatments that is promoting Healing as well as health tourism in India. In order to draw patients and promote "world class" medical facilities, the government sponsors trade exhibitions and other promotional activities that are hosted abroad (Wibulpolprasert, 2004). The government is permitting 100% FDI in medical tourism due to the effectiveness of the public-private partnership model (Dave, 2023). This research study describes numerous measures adopted by the Indian govt. to encourage wellness and health tourism, such as AYUSH, in the same context. Future scholars may find it supportive to focus their research specifically on each health and wellness centre using the results of this case study, which are more detailed.

Living an Immersion Experience: Are First-Person Narratives Always Effective for Potential Travelers?

ABSTRACT Video blogs (or vlogs), which are gradually becoming the mainstream way for young people to record their travels during the COVID-19 pandemic, are convenient for introducing a travel destination through a selfie or a first-perspective long shot. This study investigates how narrative perspectives influence advertising effects, and explores the moderating effect of tourists’ affective risk perceptions. Two experimental studies were conducted to test the proposed hypotheses. Study 1 investigates the relationship between narrative perspectives, media types, and advertising effects. The results show that the media type acts as a moderating variable, affecting the advertising effects produced by different narrative perspectives. Study 2 indicates that affective risk perceptions have a mediating effect between narrative perspectives and advertising effects, and epidemic prevention measures have a moderating effect between narrative perspectives and affective risk perceptions. The research findings provide theoretical and managerial implications for online marketing of tourism in the context of the pandemic.

The Role of the International Court in Resolvingthe Genocide in Palestine

Context: This research is related to the function of the International Court of Justice in addressing existing genocide, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and the impact of the conflict between Israel and Palestine. Objective: The objects of this study are related to the Zionist Israeli genocide against Palestine, the International Court of Justice ruling in January 2024, the history of the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, and the impacts resulting from the dispute. Method: This research is a qualitative research with a descriptive approach that will describe things related to the causes of conflict, genocide, arguments of each country, the impact of conflict, and the role of international justice in overcoming this problem. The data used in this article is secondary data that researchers obtain from various credible scientific sources such as books, scientific journals, scientific magazines, and websites. The data obtained by researchers are analyzed and presented with the stages of data collection, data selection, data reduction, and drawing conclusion. Results: 1. The genocide against Palestine is based on three causes, namely from an economic perspective because Palestine is a sexy city and is the main destination for international tourists and world travelers in the history of tourism. From a historical and political perspective, the Zionists believe that Palestine is a strategic area and has a strong theological basis. 2. The impact of this genocide occurs in every sector, both economic, health, social, psychological, political, and so on, which is very detrimental to the Palestinian people. 3. The International Court of Justice/International Court has an important role in overcoming this problem. However, what happened in the ICJ decision in January 2024 was not firm enough because it did not immediately order Israel to implement a ceasefire. Contribution: The researcher greatly hopes that the criticism and ideas presented comprehensively in this article can be a reference for the International Court of Justice in making future decisions. The researcher also hopes that this article can be one of the causes of overcoming the Zionist Israeli genocide against Palestine.

FAKTOR-FAKTOR YANG MEMENGARUHI PENGGUNAAN TRANSPORTASI UMUM BUS TRANS METRO DEWATA DENGAN METODE REGRESI LOGISTIK BAYES

Transportation is very important in supporting people's daily mobility. The increasing population density has resulted in a high level of mobility that requires various modes of transportation, especially in urban areas, giving rise to the problem of traffic congestion. One alternative to reduce the level of congestion is to use public transportation that has been pursued by the government such as the Trans Metro Dewata bus. However, the use of this transportation bus is still quite low. Therefore, this study aims to determine what factors influence people to use the Trans Metro Dewata bus using the Bayes logistic regression method. The sampling method used was purposive sampling of 100 respondents with the criteria of people who live in the Sarbagita area (Denpasar, Badung, Gianyar, and Tabanan). The results obtained are the variables of travel purpose or destination, bus stop accessibility, and ownership of transportation modes have a significant effect on the use of the Trans Metro Dewata bus.

유튜브 관광콘텐츠의 사회적 실재감과 관광 행동의도와의 구조적 관계 - AIDA 모델을 중심으로

This study examines the influence of YouTube tourism content on the decision-making processes of those who have watched such content. In doing so, this study applies the AIDA model, which has not been considered in previous studies. An online survey was conducted targeting Korean adults who have watched YouTube content introducing travel and tourist destinations in the past 12 months. SPSS and AMOS statistical programs were used to analyze the survey data and the results demonstrate the following. Firstly, the social realism of YouTube tourism content had a positive influence on interest and immersion in tourist destinations. Second, interest and immersion positively influenced the desire to visit the destination. Third, desire also positively influenced both the intention to visit and the intention to continue watching YouTube tourism content. These findings provide a deeper understanding of the marketing effectiveness of YouTube tourism content and provide useful implications for formulating digital media-based marketing strategies to promote tourism consumption.

Utilizing the value added intellectual capital (VAIC) to tourism-related industries in a tourism intensively dependent country

This research examines intangible assets or intellectual capital (IC) performance of tourism-related industries in an underexplored area which is a tourism intensively-dependent country. In this study, VAIC which is a monetary valuation method and also the most widely applied measurement method, is utilized as the performance measurement method for quantifying IC performance to monetary values. Moreover, to better understand performance, the standard efficiency levels are further applied for classifying the performance levels of tourism industries. The sample sizes of study are 20 companies operating in the tourism-related industries in the world top travel destination or Thailand, and the companies’ data are collected from 2012 to 2021. Therefore, finally, there are 187 firm-year observations. The utilization of VAIC could assess IC performance of tourism firms and industries, and the standard efficiency levels further support the uniform interpretation of IC efficiency levels. The obtained results show the strong performance of both human and structural capital of the focused tourism dependent country especially in the logistics industry that directly supports and connects to the tourism attractions. Moreover, the finding also highlights the significance of human capital which plays as a major contributor for overall IC performance in this tourism dependent economy. This study contributes the new exploration of IC in the high impact industries and also specifically in the top significant tourism country. Moreover, the application of VAIC also confirms a practical application for management. The limited number of studied countries is a limitation of study. However, these new obtained data and information could be further applied for making comparisons or in-depth or statistical analysis in the future works.

Uniqueness of Malaysia’s Halal Gastronomy in Promoting Muslim-Friendly Tourism Hub

Malaysia’s Halal gastronomy, with its deep roots in Islamic dietary laws, presents a strategic opportunity to enhance the country's position as a premier destination for Muslim-friendly tourism. Despite Malaysia's rich culinary heritage, the potential of Halal gastronomy to drive tourism and economic growth remains underexplored. This study aims to fill this gap by conducting a qualitative analysis of the cultural, economic, and societal impacts of Halal gastronomy on Malaysia's tourism industry. Through a comprehensive review of existing literature and qualitative data, the paper provides insights into how Malaysia can harness Halal gastronomy to strengthen its identity as a welcoming and inclusive destination for Muslim travellers.

Dual trust, emotional bond, and tourists’ on-site pro-environmental behavior at nature-based destinations: Extending norm-activation theory from the perspective of social dilemma

The sustainable development of tourism is closely tied to the protection and preservation of natural environments, particularly in nature-based destinations where the appeal and competitiveness depend heavily on the quality of environmental resources. Among the various strategies to enhance environmental sustainability, a strong emphasis has been placed on encouraging tourists to engage in spontaneous on-site pro-environmental behavior (PEB). However, tourists' participation in PEB at travel destinations often presents a scenario of social dilemma, where individual interests conflict with collective benefits. This conflict often makes individuals less willing to engage in PEB in the tourism context than they would in their everyday environments. To address this issue, the study advances the norm-activation theory (NAT), a well-established framework in PEB studies, by incorporating trust and emotion—two critical factors in resolving social dilemmas. An integrated model was proposed to better understand and predict the formation of tourists' on-site PEB and was empirically tested on a sample of 544 visitors from three natural parks in Hangzhou, China. The results reveal that (1) the two dimensions of trust—interpersonal trust and outcome trust—have significant effects on the key cognitive variables in NAT, namely ascription of responsibility and awareness of consequence, and (2) the emotional bond developed between tourists and the destination significantly enhances the link between ascription of responsibility and tourists' PEB intentions through the mediation of personal norm. These findings suggest that innovative interactive-based approaches can be implemented to more effectively promote tourists’ on-site PEB, thereby fostering sustainability in nature-based destinations.

Do you love traveling to the beach or mountain? Predicting personality traits and choice behaviour

ABSTRACT Several personality-predicting tools are being used by managers in their strategic decision-making process. The most common are the Big Five model and the Myers – Myers-Briggs Type Indicator model, respectively. This study deviates and tests a novel personality prediction model. Specifically, it utilizes the TF-IDF (Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency) algorithm as a feature extraction method to map personality traits based on consumers’ textual data from the Kaggle MBTI Personality Type dataset. This study uses realistic data gathered from traveller reviews and comments on hotel stays from TripAdvisor’s widely recognised platform to predict different personality traits and their travel destination preferences, i.e. beach or mountain. The contribution of this study lies in the identification of multiple dimensions of peoples’ personality traits and their relationship with their preferences for travel locations. This proposed trait classification mechanism can assist marketing managers in effectively carrying out customer segmentation, setting realistic goals, and optimizing marketing strategies.

A Review of Marketing Stratergies for Promoting Sustainable Tourism Destinations in India

Sustainable tourism for Indian destinations is promoted and marketed by utilizing marketing strategies to gain interest from travelers. However, the promotion of sustainable tourism destinations is achieved in a manner that does not jeopardize the environment or community conservation. Sustainable tourism is promoted by increasing the destination's visibility, which includes social media marketing, search engine optimization, and content marketing, one such example is the scheme of Swadesh Darshan, which was launched by the Indian tourism and it aims for the development of sustainable tourism destinations. Furthermore, enhancing cultural and community features in marketing might help to attract and retain tourists' interest, thereby strengthening sustainable tourism. To entice people to visit sustainable tourist places, the tourism sector is focusing on proper selling factors, physical improvements to attractions and accessibility, and proximity to other tourist sites. Overall, the current study reveals that a comprehensive Destination Management action plan can help accelerate India's green tourism transition. This study aims to understand some of the marketing strategies employed by Indian Tourism Industry on environmentally sustainable vacation spots. The Indian travel industry is impacted by sustainable tourism, one of the topics discussed in this article. This study is descriptive and relies only on books and periodicals covering a wide range of topics that are relevant to sustainable tourism destinations in India. Moreover, the present study also highlights, the importance of online marketing strategies for marketing sustainable Indian travel destinations which is discussed to have a better understanding of the future of the tourism sector in India. The particulars of the study are emerging from the SWOT analysis model for the assessment as well as the scrutinization of the potential of the Indian tourism industry.

Effect of Economic Policies on Business Travel in Brazil

Purpose: The aim of the study was to analyze the effect of economic policies on business travel in Brazil. Methodology: This study adopted a desk methodology. A desk study research design is commonly known as secondary data collection. This is basically collecting data from existing resources preferably because of its low cost advantage as compared to a field research. Our current study looked into already published studies and reports as the data was easily accessed through online journals and libraries. Findings: Economic policies in Brazil have significantly impacted business travel, particularly through changes in taxation, currency fluctuations, and infrastructure investment. The government's fiscal policies, such as tax reforms and high import tariffs, have increased the cost of doing business, leading to a reduction in both domestic and international business travel. Currency volatility, especially the depreciation of the Brazilian real, has made international travel more expensive for businesses, further dampening demand. Additionally, insufficient investment in transportation infrastructure, such as airports and roads, has contributed to inefficiencies, reducing the attractiveness of Brazil as a business travel destination. Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: Theory of planned behavior (TPB), institutional theory & economic theory of travel demand may be used to anchor future studies on the effect of economic policies on business travel in Brazil. Businesses would benefit from clearer guidelines on tax incentives related to travel, enabling them to plan and budget more effectively. The Brazilian government should consider revising tax policies to include specific incentives for business travel.

Personalized origin–destination travel time estimation with active adversarial inverse reinforcement learning and Transformer

Travel time estimation is important for instant delivery, vehicle routing, and ride-hailing. Most studies estimate the travel time of specified routes, and only a few studies pay attention to origin–destination travel time estimation (OD-TTE) without a specified route. Moreover, most of these studies on OD-TTE ignore the personalized route preference and the cost of data annotation. To fill this research gap, we analyze the individual route preference and propose a personalized origin–destination travel time estimation method based on active adversarial inverse reinforcement learning (AA-IRL) and Transformer. To analyze the personalized route preference, we integrate adversarial inverse reinforcement learning with active learning, which effectively reduces the cost of sample annotation. After inferring the possible routes, we propose AdaBoost multi-fusion graph convolutional Transformer network (AMGC-Transformer) for travel time estimation. Numerical experiments conducted on ride-hailing and online food delivery trajectories in China validate the advantage of our method. Compared to relevant studies, our approach can improve F1-score of route inference by 2.50–3.35% and reduce the mean absolute error of OD-TTE by 7.44–11.66%.

Evaluation of risk-based travel policy for the COVID-19 epidemic in Scotland: a population-based surveillance study

ObjectivesWe aimed to assess the effects of risk-based travel restrictions on (1) international travel frequency, (2) SARS-CoV-2 case importation risk, (3) national SARS-CoV-2 incidence and (4) importation of SARS-CoV-2 variants...