Pages: 110

No chapter abstract available.

Pages: 14

This chapter introduces a new paradigm for the future development of global travel and tourism: meaningful tourism. Based on the methods and insights of positive psychology and the spin-offs of positive tourism and positive sustainability as well as the advanced versions of experience economy, meaningful tourism claims to find answers to a number of shortcomings in the discussion about sustainable tourism, responsible tourism, regenerative tourism, green-growth tourism, de-growth tourism, steady-state tourism, circular economy tourism and other such approaches. Firstly, meaningful tourism starts not from the question of what to reduce, give up, forego or at least feel ashamed about in our tourism practices. It rather concentrates on forms of tourism which ensure benefits and satisfaction for all stakeholders involved. Secondly, meaningful tourism does not consider the different stakeholders to be in competition with each other, with the need to “balance” their interests, or to treat the interests of one of them as more important than those of the others. Stakeholders are neither competitors nor enemies, their interests do not have to be contradictory.

Pages: 14

Sustainable tourism is not a market segment or a product type, like adventure or business travel; rather it is a deliberate approach to implementing tourism in a way that contributes to socio-environmental sustainability. Sustainability, much like quality, is an approach to conducting tourism – an operating system for tourism. Although sustainable tourism has been one of the dominant themes in tourism research over the past several decades, there remains much to learn about the intersection of sustainability and tourism. This chapter examines the trends and issues facing sustainable tourism in the coming years.

Pages: 11

The Great Reset is the name of the 50th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, where participants discussed sustainably rebuilding society and the economy following the COVID-19 pandemic. It is based on three main pillars: (1) creating conditions for a stakeholder economy, (2) building “resilient, equitable, and sustainable” infrastructure projects in the spirit of a green economy, and (3) “harness the innovations of the Fourth Industrial Revolution”. This vision is being gradually disseminated and applied to all fields of life and industries; tourism is not an exception. Obviously, tourism management and marketing are facing certain challenges and difficulties. In this chapter, the authors discourse on the intersection of the tourism industry today and the Great Reset concept in a holistic manner, intending to provide a “helicopter view” on the researched phenomena through a prism of qualitative analysis. Consequently, the authors identify and outline current tourism trends and future perspectives through the prism of ongoing socio-economic metamorphoses and the Great Reset values. This involves reflections about tourism’s “new normal” based on a literature review and expert analysis, followed by real examples and cases. This allows us to understand, explain, describe, and visualize the process and direction of modern transformations in the tourism industry, identifying directions for future research and development.

Pages: 11

Aiming to open up dialogue on climate change, tourism, and philanthropy, the authors seek to explore the role they have by addressing some challenges that host communities face in view of the climate change backlash. A systematic review of the relevant literature addresses gaps in it. Tourism, climate change, and philanthropy are a growing area that will likely expand as climate change awareness increases amongst tourism stakeholders. The most significant efforts in tourism, climate change, and philanthropy aim to address SDG 13 on climate change action and SDG 12 on sustainable and responsible consumption. To date, action against climate change has been implemented through the adoption of market-based measures that allow tourism role players to participate in the carbon market and industry players to adopt green technology. Future research is needed on tourism philanthropy to foster climate resilience amongst host communities as an integral part of responsible tourism.

Pages: 14

Sustainable tourism has become an increasingly popular field of research because it provides a balance between the three dimensions of tourism development – the environmental, economic, and socio-cultural. Sustainable tourists are generally opposed to traditional mass tourism or as it is termed today “overtourism”. The aim of this chapter is to present a systematic review of the current literature to determine whether older tourists are undertaking new travel trends post-COVID-19 that specifically promote sustainable tourism practices. One of the older age segments termed “baby boomers” (born between 1946 and 1964) have a real and enduring love for the outdoors and soft adventure tourism and are strong supporters of sustainable tourism, which involves practices that minimise the negative impact of visitors on the natural environment, while respecting local cultures. This chapter also predicts some of the future trends of sustainable tourism such as the need to escape the stress of city life, increasing preference for green hotels, and a greater demand for experiential tourism.

Pages: 12

This chapter explores tourists’ sustainable consumption behaviour by seeking to understand how tourists adopt a more sustainable tourism lifestyle. Specifically, the chapter provides an overview of Malaysian tourism and unsustainable consumption behaviours by addressing the following: How sustainable are you when you travel?

Pages: 11

In whale-watching tourism, ensuring responsible human–cetacean interactions has raised critical academic debate over recent decades. This chapter reviews empirical evidence with the aim of progressing towards new trends that yield managerial responses for reconciling whale-watching tourism with sustainability principles. A co-word analysis of the last 30 years of scientific literature is conducted to explore the evolution of the leading topics, relate these to some industry milestones, and identify the research and managerial gaps. The evidence urges a new socio-ecological relationship approach in whale watching for sustainability, to be achieved by 2030 and beyond, by reorienting management practices to a more integrative approach based on scientific breakthroughs and collaborative stakeholder networks.

Pages: 11

Fair pricing used to refer to the problem of the buyer’s judgement of a seller’s price decision. Nowadays, when sustainability becomes a vital and fundamental consideration of tourism development, fair pricing should be discussed in a much wider context. The ethical context of fair pricing in tourism should be emphasised, as it is recognised as one of the transparent and ethical practices of tourism enterprises. In consequence, fair pricing is a significant element of corporate social responsibility and supports other goals like the beneficial partnerships of tourism enterprises with local communities and suppliers, providing equal opportunities and remuneration for the employees of tourism enterprises, as well as increasing the sustainable treatment of scarce natural resources. Fair pricing relates not only to the judgement of tourists (price versus value), but also to the opinion of the employees of tourism enterprises (price related to salaries), suppliers (price of finished product related to prices of raw materials and services), local communities (price versus income), and other stakeholders dependant on tourism industry in different ways. Finally, fair pricing must solve the issue of so-called “cheap nature”. This means that fair pricing relates to a valuation of ecosystem services, as tourism “consumes” environmental assets and significantly influences the cultural landscape. In consequence, fair pricing might contribute to the protection of bio- and geodiversity, climate, and cultural landscape. The aim of the chapter is to: (1) define fair pricing and discuss the evolutionary changes of the definition; (2) highlight the emerging importance of fair pricing in tourism; (3) review the theoretical concepts, empirical results, and practical applications of fair pricing; and (4) discuss the contribution of fair pricing to achieving sustainable development goals for tourism.

Pages: 8

In the last two decades, marine tourism has developed very rapidly in Indonesia. The number of tourist visits continues to increase in almost all marine tourism destinations. This is because the objects of marine tourism attraction are widespread in Indonesia and varied. For example, for manta ray diving, according to 2015 Manta Watch data, although there are more Manta Pari spots in the Maldives, the chances of encountering these protected biota are three times higher in Komodo National Park, West Manggarai Regency. To achieve the target of 20 million foreign tourists, the government has opened ten new marine tourism destinations. But the growth of marine tourism also causes damage to destinations, such as significant damage to coral reef ecosystems, the disappearance of mola fish (Mola mola) and whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) from destinations due to booming tourist visits. The results of the author’s research of 2015 showed a decrease in hard coral cover from 58% (good category) to 20% (bad category) within 12 years in several dive spots located within the tourism zone in Wakatobi National Park. On the other hand, the contribution of the tourism sector to GDP is only 10.4% with the contribution from the marine tourism sector only around 10%. Another problem is that some districts, such as Wakatobi Regency, which initially made the marine tourism sector a leading one for regional development, are now turning to the fisheries sector as their leading sector. One of the reasons is the low regional income from the marine tourism sector.

Pages: 85

No chapter abstract available.

Pages: 12

The goals of this chapter are to demonstrate how widespread the problem of trader harassment of visitors was before the novel coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19), note a key pattern to the phenomenon, and posit ideas on how global tourism leaders may assist in reducing it globally. To accomplish this, the authors discuss the results of a 2019 study, in which researchers and volunteers reviewed 1,489 documents (such as blog posts, journal articles, master’s theses, online magazine and newsletter articles, news reports, newspaper articles, project reports, speeches, and press releases) and the response to an open-ended question taken from 659 surveys. From the analysis, the research team found 80 countries and territories where significant trader harassment of visitors was reported between the period 2010 and 2019. Among the states were developed and developing nations, most of which were in the equatorial climate zone (namely the Caribbean, South East Asia, and Southern Asia). The chapter then ends with suggestions on measures that regional and global tourism leaders should take to curtail the problem going forward.

Pages: 11

Tourism has played a critical role in regional development and integration for cross-border destinations. Although improved infrastructural interconnectivity and technologies facilitate cross-border mobilities, there are some inherent and external roadblocks to cross-border tourism such as institutional complexity and the current immobility situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. By taking the case of the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA), which spans geographical and institutional borders, this chapter traces the policy-based networking and development phases of the GBA and identifies people’s changing perceptions of the GBA destination image before and during the pandemic. On the basis of interviews and longitudinal surveys, the authors concluded four pillars of cross-border tourism collaboration and a sense of local belonging in adjusting marketing strategy during and after the pandemic. The GBA case provides important implications for cross-border tourism planning and management in the post-pandemic era by addressing how a cross-border destination has been affected by the pandemic but also remains resilient.

Pages: 13

This chapter commences by identifying recent trends in regional tourism partnerships based on a GUESS framework (growth, universality, e-marketing, sustainable development and sustainable tourism, and scope). Sixteen specific examples of regional tourism partnerships are highlighted. Then, there is a discussion of the reasons and catalysts for the increasing interest in such partnerships. Two successful partnership cases are presented (the Wild Atlantic Way and the Experience Mekong Collection). Next, the prerequisites, barriers, and challenges for partnerships are identified. The roles of stakeholders in creating and maintaining partnerships are discussed. The chapter then reviews the potential contributions of regional tourism partnerships in achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and presents six expected future trends for these partnerships. The chapter ends by outlining the potential contributions of this work.

Pages: 9

There is a lack of a comprehensive understanding of how island tourist destinations can improve social, economic, cultural, and territorial issues. A need to support decision-making through an intelligent framework and rigorous research is the focus of this chapter, which revolves around four key elements: size, tourism specialisation, economic growth, and tourism competitiveness. The construct of tourism specialisation relates to tourism supply and demand, while the construct of competitiveness corresponds to demand. The concept of smallness is an island’s ability to strategise a prosperous path of sustainable economic growth through tourism. The research proposal emerges from this route, towards the empowerment of island destinations. The aim is to achieve improvement for residents’ lives and to explore opportunities arising in a post-pandemic era. The chapter presents a rigorous transversal analysis of the literature to explain the relationship between tourism and growth.

Pages: 11

Island tourism has always been one of the most popular kinds of tourism in the world. Yet, it is difficult to analyse the tourism growth on an island because it is a dynamic entity with distinctive characteristics. In recent years, island tourism development has dealt with problems like climate change, environmental degradation, economic downturns, cultural loss, and diseases like the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, tourism for inclusive growth is key to ensuring the destination can keep up with demand. The author chose the SLIQ concept because it was a new way of looking at an old problem and selected the Hai Tac islands as a case study and conducted in-depth interviews with five island people. The findings demonstrated that local authorities should govern the island as a living entity, needing a unique approach to contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals. The chapter also affirms that sustainable economic growth, environmental protection, and human fairness should be the three goals of public policy when planning and managing inclusive tourism development on islands.

Pages: 15

Community-based tourism has established itself as an advanced, sustainable, and collaborative form of tourism that is aimed at the development of host communities. The last two decades have seen India’s tourism ministry developing and implementing a number of community-based rural tourism development programmes in different parts of the country. While community-based tourism is definitely a better alternative to mass tourism practices, it also has its own disadvantages if not implemented with a critical awareness of the power equations in the community. Drawing from PhD research conducted in a rural tourism site in the Himalayan state of Himachal Pradesh in India, the author explores the various ways in which community based rural tourism constructs and transforms the unequal power relations of gender, class, and caste in the community. Located within a theoretical framework drawn from feminist political thought (feminist materialism, feminist topography, and an intersectionality perspective), the author finds that the communities are not homogeneous and their members experience tourism and its benefits as well as costs differently if the existing power relations are not weaved into the structure of tourism development activities. The study adopted a phenomenological methodology to describe the varied lived experiences for people of tourism development in their community. Tourism processes and activities (introduced as part of the state’s tourism development for livelihood generation in the community) reflect the prevailing social relationships and confirm existing power relations while also creating space for some transformation. Through an analysis of the cultural, social, and material lives of women in their productive and reproductive spheres, the study specifically reveals that a person’s socio-spatial location in the community in terms of her gender, caste, and class shape her experiences of tourism and also determine the share of its costs and benefits to her.

Pages: 10

Contemporary and historic examples abound of the removal and termination of stray domestic animals from the holiday space to “spare” tourists from encounters with such animals and the negative social constructions surrounding them. Yet such actions are increasingly meeting resistance driven by changing social perceptions of animals as sentient beings with rights and welfare needs. As a result, and through tourism, we are witnessing a re-imagining of stray animals, from undesirables to new trendy attractions. This chapter discusses the historic construction of stray animals as pests in the holiday environment and how they have traditionally been dealt with. In the light of changing societal views about animal rights and welfare, the chapter discusses changing trends in how stray animals in the tourism experience are imagined and dealt with. The chapter highlights the need for the tourism industry to re-imagine its relationship with stray domestic animals to ensure its own sustainability.

Pages: 98

No chapter abstract available.

Pages: 9

This chapter delivers understandings of tourism employees’ wellbeing while emphasising the significant role of the notion at a personal, organisational, industrial, and societal level. The chapter proceeds by delivering current issues and future perspectives related to the notion of wellbeing within the tourism and hospitality workplace context. Practical and theoretical implications are also provided. A conceptual diagram that summarises the interrelated elements shaping the wellbeing of individuals is proposed for academic and tourism stakeholder consideration. The diagram presents the rather ignored aspect of the “freedom” sense that should be acknowledged while researching, measuring, and endeavoring to promote the wellbeing of individuals in the future. Highlights Wellbeing is an ancient concept that will continue to be of utmost importance at a personal, organizational and societal level. “Freedom” emerges as a previously neglected dimension when examining well-being. The “sense of freedom” contributes to the well-being of people/employees.

Pages: 10

Companies in the tourism industry should have resilience built into their DNA. Recovering in the face of adversity and adapting to change and trends should be intrinsic to the hospitality industry, given its changing and dynamic nature. While it is critical to build organisational resilience led by resilient leaders, research on such leaders and mechanisms for stimulating organisational resilience is still in its infancy. Consequently, the goal of this chapter is threefold: (1) to provide a deeper understanding of resilience in the tourism industry; (2) to understand and recognise the value of fostering resilient leaders capable of coping with disruptive changes, navigating complexity, and cultivating resilience in themselves and their teams; and (3) to provide some broader perspectives on the term's applicability to leadership in the industry.

Pages: 12

Over the past decade, international organisations have highlighted the important role of women as drivers of tourism entrepreneurship. The challenges and opportunities are documented in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, the Global Report on Women in Tourism, and the World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap. In addition to these systemic challenges, African women in tourism have limited education, particularly in areas related to entrepreneurship. Although peer-reviewed publications on women’s entrepreneurship in tourism are widespread, this topic remains underrepresented in Africa, with studies evident from South Africa, Tanzania, and Burkina Faso. Although the need for education is a consistent recommendation in most of these publications, it is only a mainstream suggestion that does not address the specific educational needs of women entrepreneurs in tourism. The need for entrepreneurial education has been exacerbated by the recent pandemic, as many women in tourism have lost their jobs and have been forced by circumstances to start a new business. The emerging trends highlight the need to profile women entrepreneurs in tourism by developing flexible and self-directed training programmes based on their current level of education and entrepreneurial needs.

Pages: 10

The tourism industry has never faced an economic crisis as bad as that during the COVID-19 pandemic. All segments of the industry, from hotels to restaurants to travel by sea or air, suffered great losses. It is now clear the industry has not been as resilient as many were predicting prior to this crisis. Many expected a quick recovery, especially after the lighting fast introduction of a few COVID vaccines. However, the rebound is not proceeding smoothly as the revenue lost during the pandemic can never be recovered and the industry cannot find enough workers post-COVID. Add to that rising costs and an unpredictable supply system at a time when consumer demand is skyrocketing, and it becomes difficult to avoid customer dissatisfaction. With the global economy rapidly recovering, why is there still a worker shortage? Some blame the generous unemployment payments and stimulus checks for making people less likely to take the traditionally low-paying hospitality jobs again. Others counter that companies could raise pay if they really wanted workers back quickly. This chapter discusses the reasons behind the worker shortage and expands on the great reassessment that is going on in the US economy to explain why so many are hesitant to return to work. Economists describe this phenomenon as reallocation friction. The pandemic caused some jobs in the economy to change, and workers are taking their time to figure out what new jobs are out there, what new jobs they want, and what skills they need for these different careers.

Pages: 11

Resilience, which is understood as the capacity of a system to absorb disturbance and reorganise while undergoing change, has increasingly become an important topic in both professional practices and academic research. In tourism and hospitality, this is an essential ability for the destinations, the organisations, as well as the workforce to adapt and thrive during competitive and challenging times. This chapter focuses on the workforce, aiming to provide a comprehensive understanding of resilience from the organisational perspective and the individual career perspective. It provides a thorough theoretical background of organisational resilience, employee resilience, and career resilience. Additionally, empirical data from Vietnam in the context of a major health crisis, that is, the COVID-19 pandemic, will further illustrate and broaden the knowledge of these issues. Two empirical studies will be included. The first study, with a qualitative approach and from a managerial perspective, demonstrates human resource (HR) practices during the pandemic to ensure the resilience of the organisation and the workforce. A framework of HR practices to enhance resilience during a crisis is proposed. The second study, with a quantitative approach and from an employee perspective, explores the factors which influence the career resilience of the hospitality and tourism workforce, with the foundation of the protection motivation theory. The link of resilience between these two perspectives is then drawn, together with practical and theoretical implications.

Pages: 12

The hospitality workforce crisis has been an ongoing discussion for academics, researchers, and industry practitioners. Globally, the hospitality sector is considered one of the fastest-growing, but it is experiencing severe workforce challenges. To address these issues, it is necessary to consider the factors affecting employees and discouraging prospective staff. This chapter examines factors influencing the workforce shortage and provides suggestions for addressing the issues to make the industry attractive and sustainable.

Pages: 10

In recent decades, corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become a powerful marketing tool in the hospitality industry. Many hotels commit to participating in CSR to gain awareness of customers buying decisions. Young people tend to follow their favourite brands and use social media- and video-based platforms when making patronage decisions. Electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) has become one of the common practices for young customers to communicate. Brand and ethics are their main concerns when making purchase decisions. Given that brands often reflect their values, they prefer brands that they perceive as environmentally responsible and socially ethical. Results indicate that CSR does not affect young customers’ patronage intentions. Moreover, eWOM directly affects brand equity, which presents a mediating factor between eWOM and patronage intention. This chapter also highlights the opportunities and challenges in the hotel industry which has been confronting CSR. Predictions for the next three decades in sustainability development are discussed. Recommendations for industry practitioners and practical suggestions are also delineated.

Pages: 13

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the Chinese travel market was one of the most dynamic in the world. Since its official beginning, China’s outbound tourism has been seen as an El Dorado promising a plethora of visitors spending huge amounts of money and taking over former traditional outbound tourism markets. This should not eclipse the fact that Chinese tourism has always been closely controlled by the government, and the travel restrictions implemented in response to the COVID-19 outbreak are a reminder of this logic. We may wonder what the future of Chinese tourism will be, and if it will ever go back to its pre-pandemic levels. In this chapter, the author draws stakeholders’ attention to three trends that should be looked out for in the long run: the rivalry with the United States, the isolationist move taken by Xi Jinping, and the ageing of the Chinese population. She underlines the challenges and opportunities brought by these trends, as well as some of the strategies to deal with them.

Pages: 7

For decades the all-inclusive holiday package offered by tour operators constituted a very popular product, structurally intertwined with mass tourism and destination development. Large European tour operators, like TUI and Der Touristik, have engaged in horizontal and vertical integration practices with several tour operators, travel agencies, hotels, and airlines to provide all-inclusive holiday packages serving millions of travellers and recording billions of euros in annual sales. The demise of Thomas Cook in 2019 though led several analysts to conclude that the tour operations model is unsuitable to address the flexibility required by modern tourists; on the other hand, inclusive holidays do offer a one-stop shop, reducing transaction costs and allowing budget control for holidaymakers. In addition to its overall adverse consequences for tourism, the COVID-19 pandemic severely impacted tourist preferences and their perception with respect to quality, safety, and social distancing. The purpose of this chapter is to elaborate on this change in tourist preferences regarding the holiday types and emphasising the role of all-inclusive holiday packages in the post-COVID-19 era.

Pages: 167

No chapter abstract available.

Pages: 12

Tourist-generated short videos (TGSVs) have increasingly contributed to the popularity of destinations among Chinese people with rapidly rising numbers of them making and watching short videos. The core characteristics of TGSVs include being short in time extent and amusement-oriented. Watching TGSVs makes audiences feel that the place and travel style in the videos are close to their life. Therefore, it is hypothesised that the videos are perceived to be trustworthy and to prompt aspirations to travel. The present research explored the capacity of TGSVs to improve travel intentions through studying authenticity perceptions and multi-dimensional travel motivations. Mixed methods were employed. Firstly, three authenticity-relevant themes, including authentic video content, authentic producer, and authentic self, emerged from a content analysis of 186 reviews of TGSVs. Secondly, a scale measuring the perceived authenticity among video audiences was developed as the tool for further study, based on 155 valid online surveys. Thirdly, quasi-experiments involving 32 participants were conducted to verify the impacts of short videos. Higher levels of authenticity perception, travel motivations, and intention to visit Iceland were manifested among participants watching a TGSV, compared with those watching an official destination marketing video of the same temporal length. The findings facilitate a better understanding of the ways in which convenient channels available on mobile phone are influencing Chinese tourist behaviours. The present research is significant for the online marketing strategies of destination management organisations.

Pages: 13

This chapter through a content analysis of the narratives contained in the vlogs of foreign tourists stranded in the Philippines during the early part of the COVID-19 pandemic, found five dominant themes relevant to the destination image emerged, namely incomparable sites, Filipino hospitality, unique food experience, Filipino qualities, and the Philippines as home. The themes showed how stranded foreign vloggers gained a positive view of the Philippines and Filipinos despite the erstwhile negative experience of being stranded.

Pages: 16

This chapter aims to give details about augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) application trends in the tourism industry. AR and VR technologies and types, tourism industry applications, the advantages and challenges of these technologies in different areas of tourism, and predictions for the future are described in this chapter, which will be an effective source for those who want to learn about tourism, AR and VR applications, and their advantages and challenges.

Pages: 10

Tourists are increasingly becoming active consumers of tourism offerings. Although engagement is an important concept in tourism marketing, the literature is replete with nomological approaches investigating its antecedents and outcomes. Thus, there is no available study in delineating how tourist engagement (TE) may co-create/destroy value at each stage of the consumption process to advance our knowledge on the topic. Therefore, this chapter aims to explain TE throughout the consumption process of tourism offerings. To achieve this goal, the chapter proposes an integrative conceptual framework that delineates TE in the three stages of the customer journey and at all levels of the service ecosystem. The chapter contributes to the literature by advancing our knowledge of tourist engagement and its role in value co-creation/destruction. Moreover, it identifies research voids and provides valuable future research recommendations.

Pages: 11

This chapter analyses the comments on social networks and the opportunities that may arise when looking at the future of communication. The results come from a content analysis of the social networks of Termas de Chaves and Termas de São Pedro do Sul located in Portugal, where it is identified that people are more and more motivated to experience thermal services and products in a fast-changing world. This is a situation that needs to be rethought, as we look to the future of thermalism and communication.

Pages: 20

The growth of tourism has increased the need for visitors to negotiate foreign languages, unknown transport systems, complex networks, asynchronous payment methods, and different currencies in tourism destinations, which has added to travel stress. This chapter explores the use of mobility-as-a-service (MaaS), a digital innovation designed to manage urban mobility trips, as a solution to improve tourists wellbeing. Beijing MaaS was developed in 2019 in China, alongside the city’s carbon trade incentive approach, to contribute to the city’s 2030 carbon-neutral target and enhance visitors’ wellbeing and levels of satisfaction related to travel. This chapter presents users’ attitudes towards Beijing MaaS in 2020 and 2021. It explores tourists’ concerns, needs, and values towards tourism and MaaS in this particular case study, compared to other places in the world. The authors conclude that MaaS has considerable potential to improve tourists’ wellbeing through providing instant and accessible travel information into a seamless, convenient, and user-centric mobility service.

Pages: 13

Digital nomadism is a fast-growing phenomenon all over the world. The current situation and historical development of this phenomenon are discussed in order to clarify the concept. The research topics related to digital nomads are also examined. Because of the digital nomadism movement, digital nomad destinations have been emerging. It is necessary to determine the characteristics of the most appropriate such destination with the purpose of contributing to the relevant literature. A wide range of information resources including 23 scientific publications, 22 Web platforms, and 3 reports are examined. The needs and motivations of digital nomads are determined and qualifications identified for preferring a destination as a digital nomad. A model called UDDN is developed in order to present convenient characteristics for digital nomad destinations. The developed model is expected to be a pathfinder for destinations and a guide for digital nomads.

Pages: 10

Gamification is a newly emerged concept which has many uses in a wide variety of fields. Tourism as an industry is one of these areas in which gamification practices are gaining popularity. The purpose of gamification in tourism is to engage tourists in numerous activities and tasks to enhance their touristic experience by utilising gaming dimensions. In recent years, museum tourism has become a crucial motivational factor for touristic movement of all kinds. The rising popularity of gamification in the tourism industry is also reflected in museum tourism. The main objective of this chapter is to provide deep insight into how gamification practices could be used to create a demand for museum tourism by creating real experiences. The authors examined existing studies on this topic in the literature in detail and compiled different applications of gamification practices in museum tourism.

Pages: 13

Museums have shifted to a new hybrid cultural venue format, to be enjoyed through multiple channels, multiple platforms, spreading the voice of art all around the world. Museums are challenged to draft new ways to interact with potential visitors. Technology has built a new framework of opportunities for museums to engage with clients and art and culture lovers, allowing these consumers to be part of the museum experience from any place. This chapter seeks to evaluate through a conceptual analysis of the use of #musetech and #musesocial, as a tool to define the new technological adoptions of potential visitors, matching their digital needs, and measuring the level and depth of adoption of these museums’ disruptive technologies. An initial exploratory analysis is offered (n = 617 posts) to determine the current trending topics reframing service design.

Pages: 13

In the hospitality industry, the emerging virtual reality (VR) technology is increasingly aligned with various opportunities. Although VR as a marketing tool has the potential to transport consumers to virtually experience a hotel or tourist destination, few studies have been conducted on the factors that convince customers to make an online purchase or booking using VR experience. To this end, this study investigates whether the perceived VR presence (PVP) and the decision comfort (DC) of users positively affect their purchase intentions for online hotel bookings by applying the stimulus-organism-response theory. The results of this research imply that the sense of presence in the VR experience aided by head-mounted display has a positive and significant impact on online purchase intention towards the hotel highlighted in the virtual experience. PVP also has a positive influence on DC. VR is an opportunity for immersive marketing that provides value through personalised content and shapes marketing strategies to deliver more engaging experiences for consumers. The theoretical and managerial implications, as well as recommendations for future research, are further discussed.

Pages: 12

Emerging trends of smart tourism theories primarily focus on how information and communications technology and big data influence marketing, product, and destination development. However, an overt technical approach to formal outcomes, including products, services, and technology, diminishes concern for the social dimensions and practices of those involved. This chapter explores theoretical reviews and elaborates a few selected case studies of co-designing as an approach to evoking smart tourism experience through the all-inclusive hotel staycation experience. Through the integration of service-dominant logic and the Resource-Based View Theory Model, co-designing moves from designing for people to co-designing with people. The study highlights the co-designing between hotel management and the guests staying in the hotel. This approach is discussed in terms of stimulating a creative and “designerly mindset” in the search for latent possibilities by linking existing tourism practices in the hotel industry with technologies and big data and through new social relations between stakeholders. In smart tourism, key concepts for enhancing tourism experiences are described as “value-adding experiences” and “value co-creation” mediated by technology, smart devices, and real-time data. A central argument and contribution will be made in theorising that the potential value of big data to evoke innovation is only as great as the successful interplay of sensemaking and co-designs underpinning big data practices. Key discussion from the reviews include that smart tourism is collaborative and its successful creation requires the creating and sustaining of new relations in designing new experiences for tourists.

Pages: 11

As 90% of the global population adjusted to life under travel restrictions and others stayed at home in fear of the COVID-19 virus itself, the travel and tourism sector came to a near-total standstill. Traveller preferences and behaviours have shifted toward the familiar, more predictable, and trusted journey. Transparent communication will be even more important to travellers in spurring demand. Health and safety are paramount in this new era. Personal experiences, advice from experts, and concerns for distancing will guide consumer behaviour in the short to mid-term. The lack of real-time determination of tourism safe areas hence calls for the need to identify tourism safe zoning through implementation of a Safe-Zone Travelling Network. Businesses will have to collaborate even more closely with their extended value chains to ensure readiness and the implementation of like-minded protocols, such as safe travels protocols, standard operating procedures, and health certificates. In this chapter, the travel and tourism sector’s quest for innovation and the integration of new technologies such as Smart Health Travel Certificates as well as a Digital Safe-Travel Zoning Corridor Network are discussed and an integrative framework will be proposed to facilitate travellers’ decision making to travel, enhance tourism-related business preparation, and achieve government policy acceptance especially for cross-border travelling. The aim is for destinations to successfully offer a virus-free environment, aid the international readiness of tourism destinations for the new norm, and transform government policy support into creating new tourism hotspots. Consequently, the integrative framework guideline functions as a catalyst of innovation and a tool to build tourism resilience.

Pages: 7

Information and communication technology has integrated with all industries closely and rapidly. In China, the tourism industry has experienced a high-level of digitalisation exploration. With big data, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, VR, AR, and other digital tools, industrial digitalisation is powering the tourism industry toward sustainable and intelligent production. Chinese governments and Internet platform companies actively embraced global digitisation opportunities to supply high-quality public services. Based on the value of co-creation, Chinese Internet platform companies used technical superiorities to help governments and tourism market supervision. At the same time, this action could also help themselves transform from consumer Internet into industrial Internet services. In September 2017, IDC Government Insights rated an innovative travel platform named GO-Yunnan as the best Asia-Pacific Smart City project in “Economic, Tourism, Art, Library, Culture and Public Space”. This smart travel platform enabled the connection between online and offline public services from the government to merchants, representing the current changes in China’s tourism industry. Therefore, in this chapter the authors choose the GO-Yunnan smart travel platform as an example to discuss the Internet industry’s role in reconstructing the Chinese tourism industry. Moreover, they summarise three trends related to the industry, tourists, and government.