Pages: 16

The integration of social capital and digital promotion remains underexplored in tourism research, particularly in rural Southeast Asia. This study addressed this gap by examining how social capital was leveraged for virtual promotion in the community-based tourism (CBT) sector of Tra Vinh, Vietnam. It investigated the role of social networks in digital tourism efforts, examined the associated challenges and opportunities, and proposed strategies for culturally sensitive and sustainable engagement. A qualitative case study methodology was employed, using interviews with key stakeholders. Thematic analysis, guided by a deductive coding framework grounded in social capital theory, revealed that bonding capital fostered local collaboration, while bridging capital extended digital reach. However, weak linking of capital constrained innovation. Further barriers included cultural values and generational gaps. The study concluded that effective virtual promotion in CBT depends on strengthening institutional ties and aligning digital strategies with community structures. It contributes a strategic framework for culturally sensitive and sustainable tourism promotion in rural Vietnam.

Pages: 15

The rapid development of shopping malls in Indonesian urban centres has transformed not only the retail landscape but also the broader dynamics of urban tourism and community engagement. This study proposes an investigation into the key factors influencing consumer preferences in selecting malls as commercial and social destinations, with a focus on Semarang, the capital city of Central Java Province, Indonesia. Amid the growing role of malls as lifestyle hubs and tourist attractions, understanding the motivations behind visit frequency and consumer satisfaction is essential for fostering inclusive urban development. This study proposes a conceptual framework incorporating five latent variables: personal factors, emotional factors, mall environment, situational factors, and perceived mall value. These variables are expected to shape consumer behavioural intentions, particularly the frequency of mall visits. A quantitative research design is employed, using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). Data collection is conducted through an online questionnaire targeting Semarang residents aged 17 and above who have visited a mall within the past month. The findings of this study are expected to contribute to the development of strategic insights for mall operators in enhancing consumer experiences, optimizing mall facilities, and strengthening competitive positioning in a dynamic retail environment.

Pages: 28

This exploratory study investigates the intersection of learning, collaboration, and co-creation as strategic levers for fostering sustainable and inclusive tourism. While responsible tourism has gained prominence, a critical gap persists in understanding how these interconnected processes can be effectively operationalized across varied tourism landscapes. Through a thematic analysis of literature and empirical case studies, the research explores how stakeholder-driven innovation—anchored in shared learning and participatory design—can generate adaptive, equitable, and resilient tourism models. The study identifies key enablers, challenges, and transformative practices that shape co-creative approaches, offering a context-sensitive framework to guide policymakers, practitioners, and community actors. By illuminating the underexplored nexus of collective agency and inclusive tourism development, this work advances both theoretical insights and practical strategies for systemic change in tourism planning and governance.

Pages: 18

Local communities play a crucial role in authentic and sustainable tourism, but they are also the ones to suffer due to the value leakage, transparency, and lack of control over the tourism processes. Blockchain technology is decentralized and transparent, which is why it can be used to empower these communities by making the economy more inclusive, sustainable, and directly participatory. In this chapter, the potential of blockchain is discussed in relation to four key areas, namely, the potential of blockchain to decentralize tourism value and empower local stakeholders; the ability of blockchain to enable incentives to drive sustainable and responsible tourism; blockchain’s capabilities to drive direct booking platforms to support local engagement; and combining the insights from the above objectives to create a Tourism community-based blockchain framework. The chapter, using qualitative literature review, case studies, and grey literature, identifies successful cases like community tokens and the use of smart contracts to enhance value retention, transparent, and automated payments and allows ethical data processing. It is proposed to have an inclusive, adaptive, privacy, and democratic governance framework, which will be supported by a phased roadmap of implementation and impact assessment. The proposed study can be used as a practical guide to using blockchain to create resilient, equitable, and sustainable local tourism ecosystems while achieving a more transparent and community-based tourism future by overcoming technological, social, and regulatory obstacles.

Pages: 12

Digital technologies have become essential tools for museums to enhance their operations over the last five years. Digital transformation has accelerated significantly following the COVID-19 pandemic. Technological adaptability is one of the biggest problems museums have faced in recent years. Museums must reinvent themselves by developing new ways to deliver content to their audience or even employing technology components to create new content, embracing new technologies, and keeping up with the industry’s overall technological pace. Visitors have become increasingly selective about the experiences they have. They primarily want to feel emotions, learn, and create happy memories to share with friends and family, as well as more than just basic utilitarian worth. Therefore, it would seem logical to anticipate that museums will go beyond simply collecting, researching, and exhibiting to involve their patrons in immersive experiences. This study develops a theoretical framework for museum management in the era of digitalization. The theoretical framework will help to develop a relationship between existing theories concerning the current technological advancements and their role in museum management. A comprehensive literature review has been conducted to identify the various technological advancements in museum management and to determine the future of empowered tourism communities.

Pages: 18

Good management of the resources is a notable aspect of sustainable tourism development, especially when there is increased tourist influx, degradation of the environment, and scarcity of resources. In this chapter, public-private partnership in smart resource management within a tourist destination is explored. It points out that the role of synergies among government entities, private enterprises, and the local community could result in innovative, technology-supported, and efficient use of resources. Using global case studies, the chapter investigates the collaborative models, policy frameworks, and digital tools that were capable of resolving water scarcity, waste management, energy consumption, and infrastructure-stress-related issues. The outline of main challenges (governance barriers, deficits of trust, and financial restraints) as well as policy recommendations for building strong, inclusive, and smart destination management systems is discussed in the discussion as well. Such an approach ties in with broader sustainable development goals and helps location tourism destinations to be more adaptive, competitive, and environmentally friendly in a long-run perspective. The chapter combines secondary data insights (UNWTO, OECD, and WTTC) with worldwide case studies to reaffirm the causal relationship between astute partnerships and quantifiable sustainable results.

Pages: 20

This chapter adopts a bibliometric and thematic analysis approach to investigate the transformative impact of Virtual Reality (VR) on tourism marketing. A systematic review using PRISMA guidelines yielded 27 high-quality studies, revealing five key thematic areas: destination image and visitor intentions, immersive experiences and tourist engagement, VR marketing strategies, psychological and emotional impacts, and technological acceptance and system quality. The findings show that VR has significant potential for improving both cognitive and emotional aspects of destination image, resulting in higher visitation and satisfaction levels. It has been demonstrated that highly immersive VR experiences that are vivid, interactive, and multimodal in character play a vital role in the creation of intense tourist engagement and pre-travel excitement. Nevertheless, VR efficacy is affected by the quality of content, user personality, and the situation, thus emphasizing intentional VR usage. The psychological literature emphasizes that VR can produce powerful emotional reactions and heighten presence, but too dreamy experiences can affect the real travel behavior negatively. Other important factors that the study finds contribute to successful VR integration are technological acceptance and quality of the system, whereas such crucial determinants of long-term effectiveness are efficiency, enjoyment, and cultural appropriateness.

Pages: 22

In today’s digital tourism economy, local entrepreneurs increasingly use online platforms not just to sell services, but to tell their stories, build trust, and connect with visitors. This chapter explores how digital spaces such as Instagram, YouTube, Airbnb, and local tourism apps support community-based tourism by enabling small business owners to share their voices and build sustainable ventures. From a communication studies perspective, it examines how narrative strategies, digital presence, and online engagement play a crucial role in the growth of these local enterprises. The chapter is grounded in theories of participatory communication and media ecology, which help explain how local actors engage with and reshape digital strategies. Drawing on these frameworks, the chapter argues that effective communication on digital platforms is not merely about content creation, but about cultivating relationships, cultural recognition, and confidence in communities that have often been less explored in global tourism. To explore these dynamics, the chapter adopts a qualitative research design, combining in-depth focus group discussions and content analysis of their online communication practices. It also includes brief case studies from diverse geographies to offer comparative insights into how communities adapt to and negotiate the pressures of platform-driven visibility. The chapter looks at ways in which the structure of major platforms and their algorithms may affect the visibility of local businesses. By highlighting both the opportunities and the challenges digital platforms present for inclusive tourism, this work advocates for more locally grounded and culturally aware communication practices that can help level the field in the platform economy.

Pages: 14

It is mainly digital marketing that has changed the travel decision-making process, but very little research has been done on its role in shaping travel intentions among Generation Y and Z in regional contexts like Haryana, India. This study fills this research gap by investigating the impact of social media, influencer-generated content, and interactive platforms on tourism decisions made by young travel consumers. Descriptive, cross-sectional survey methodology was used to conduct a survey of 364 respondents, and the regression analysis was applied to assess the relationship between the exposure of the consumers to digital marketing and the intention to travel. According to the findings, influencer marketing and platform engagement would positively and significantly influence travel plans, while content quality and ad-exposure frequency found no significant influence. These findings thus contribute to the literature on tourism marketing, providing two kinds of practical implications: for policymakers, emphasis lies on the need to incorporate authenticity and engagement into digital campaigns with regard to regions’ tourism strategies, and for industry stakeholders, superiority lies with influencer collaboration and in-depth engagement with platforms rather than sheer advertising frequency. Collectively, the study asserts the strategic importance of digital marketing not only for drawing and keeping young digital-native travelers but also for regional tourism development.

Pages: 13

The global tourism industry is undergoing a profound transformation through emerging technologies. This chapter explores how mobile apps, AI, blockchain, and AR/VR shape community-based tourism (CBT). Such tools enable local co-creation, heritage preservation, and equitable development. Using a multidisciplinary framework, we assess opportunities and risks of tech-driven CBT in five global case studies. Findings show that when governed inclusively, digital tools can improve visibility, resource management, and stakeholder trust. However, disparities in infrastructure, skills, and data access remain challenges. A community-centered governance model is proposed to align technology with sustainable development.

Pages: 23

This chapter aims to demonstrate how AI-on-AI systems enhanced with synthetic data can support companies operating in the tourism sector in simultaneously developing their innovation capabilities, corporate foresight, and risk management. The chapter presents the concept of EWS and the role of AI-on-AI solutions, in which two AI models collaborate: one focuses on forecasting and early risk detection, while the other is utilised for strategic simulations and decision support. The application of AI functions as a tool for proactive decision-making and resilience through strategic simulations and EWS. Three case studies empirically confirm the effectiveness of the concept. AI can only reach its full potential when it is applied in a strategically integrated, ethical, human-centred, and transparent way. The chapter also addresses the usability of synthetic data as a tool for both data protection and innovation. The approach presented may contribute to a sustainable, resilient, and competitive vision for the future of tourism, while strengthening the role of local communities and businesses in the digital transition. The conclusions highlight the importance of responsible AI use for sustainable and inclusive development. The chapter concludes with recommendations for future research directions and a summary of the chapter’s key messages.

Pages: 26

The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in Asia’s fast-growing tourism landscape has prompted a paradigm change in the design, production, and consumption of cultural experience. This chapter analyzes critically the ethical infrastructures that mediate AI-enabled experiential tourism in Asian contexts, which draws attention to interaction between intelligent systems-with conceptual shifts-and the custodianship of cultural integrity. If anything, while AI promises hyper-personalized, data-driven, “personalized” experiences, there is now a host of loose ethical questions that surround the upheaval that tourism is going through resulting from this kind of evolution within the industry of tourism. These include but are not limited to the question of authenticity (what is it anymore?), questions around the commodification of heritage, around algorithmic bias, and even around socio-economic displacement. With a multi-theoretical frame of vision, the study employs systems ethics, post-humanism, and digital anthropology for interrogation of the socio-cultural consequences of AI implementations in tourism. The chapter explores the role of AI ethics governance, regulatory asymmetries, and indigenous knowledge frameworks in the responsible tourism technologies. The chapter introduces a conceptual model of Ethical Resonance (a model that relates to the alignment between AI deployment, cultural preservation, stakeholder inclusivity, and technology transparency). This chapter contributes a culturally grounded ethical framework that redefines AI-tourism not as a technological upgrade, but as a moral architecture for safeguarding Asian heritage.

Pages: 18

The metaverse represents a transformative frontier in digital innovation, driven by advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI), Natural Language Processing (NLP), and sentiment analysis. This chapter explores the pivotal roles these technologies play in shaping the metaverse, highlighting their applications in scientific inquiry, education, and social interaction. AI powers dynamic environments, enabling personalized experiences and data-driven insights, while NLP fosters seamless communication and inclusivity. Sentiment analysis offers a deeper understanding of user emotions, enhancing engagement and well-being. Despite its immense potential, the metaverse faces challenges such as data privacy, algorithmic bias, and sustainability. Addressing these issues through responsible development can unlock the metaverse’s ability to revolutionize global collaboration, innovation, and knowledge sharing. By integrating cutting-edge technologies with ethical practices, the metaverse has the potential to create immersive, inclusive, and impactful digital ecosystems.

Pages: 18

Purpose: The study provides a comprehensive bibliometric examination of the research landscape at the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and community-based tourism (CBT). It aims to identify publication trends, intellectual foundations, and emerging conceptual frameworks that shape this rapidly evolving yet nascent topic. Design/methodology/approach: The analysis is based on 41 Scopus-indexed documents published between 2005 and mid-2025. Using VOSviewer and Biblioshiny (an R package), the study employs co-citation, keyword co-occurrence, and conceptual structure mapping to identify influential references, author networks, thematic clusters, and intellectual trends. Findings: Results reveal a recent surge in academic interest, with notable growth since 2022. The co-citation analysis highlights foundational studies in anthropomorphism, immersive technologies, and AI service interaction. Conceptual mapping reveals six key clusters, encompassing technological and economic optimisation, sustainability, smart tourism systems, theoretical foundations, regional behaviour studies, and stakeholder-driven CBT models. These findings reflect a multidimensional knowledge structure and growing convergence between AI and sustainable, inclusive tourism practices. Research limitations: This study is limited to English-language publications indexed in Scopus and primarily focuses on bibliometric methods. Future research could incorporate additional databases and qualitative content analysis to deepen theoretical insights. Research and practical implications: The findings offer theoretical guidance for advancing AI-CBT scholarship and provide valuable insights for tourism policymakers, destination planners, and technology developers. The identified clusters highlight critical themes for designing AI-enabled, community-centred tourism models that align with sustainability and stakeholder engagement goals. Originality: This study aims to carefully outline the evolution of ideas about AI in CBT using bibliometric techniques and to identify critical areas in digital tourism research that have not been fully explored yet.