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Innovation and Sustainable Development in the Hospitality and Tourism Industry

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Tourism, Culture, and Heritage".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 3 April 2025 | Viewed by 839

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
1. Research Center in Economics and Business Sciences, UAL, Lisbon, Portugal
2. Higher Institute of Business and Tourism Sciences, Porto, Portugal
Interests: sustainability; management; marketing; project management; education; tourism
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Guest Editor
Director of the Research Center in Economics & Business Sciences, UAL, Lisbon, Portugal
Interests: tourism management; sustainability; corporate finance; regulatory economics

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, emergence of disruptive technologies and increasing digitalization, war in Ukraine, global energy crisis, and soaring inflation are profoundly changing the pace of world progress and dramatically affecting the tourism sector. How can the tourism and hospitality industries thrive given these unprecedented challenges? In the face of the low productivity and efficiency that generally characterize the hospitality sector and many tourism businesses, opportunities for sustainable growth and development depend heavily on the ability to foster innovation. This effort intensifies as we consider the conservation of natural resources and ensure social benefits for people and communities, pro-social behavior, and destination social responsibility. This Special Issue focuses on how organizations can address the current challenges facing the tourism sector and explore innovation as a driver for sustainable tourism development, namely at the product, process, and management levels. We invite papers that can contribute to fostering innovation and competitiveness to achieve sustainable tourism development. We welcome interesting and innovative insights into this wide-scope topic related to different hospitality configurations and tourism businesses, including but not limited to nature, cultural, accessible, adventure, and wellbeing tourism. We also welcome different methodological approaches, namely theoretical and empirical research, case studies, cross-cultural studies, and qualitative studies. Interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research is encouraged.

Dr. José Magano
Dr. Mário Coutinho dos Santos
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • sustainable tourism
  • tourism product innovation
  • tourism process innovation
  • tourism management innovation
  • digital innovation
  • destination social responsibility
  • pro-social tourist behaviour
  • pro-environment tourist behaviour
  • sustainable tourism innovation policies

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

20 pages, 4005 KiB  
Article
Understanding Customer Experience for Sustainable Innovation: An Integration of Conscious and Unconscious Perspectives of Theme Hotel Guests
by Hui Liu, Qu Xiao and Hua Wang
Sustainability 2024, 16(13), 5274; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16135274 - 21 Jun 2024
Viewed by 599
Abstract
Psychological and neuroscientific research reveals that individuals perceive the external world through two distinct systems: the conscious rational system and the unconscious experiential system. This paper examines the formation of customer experiences in theme hotels from both conscious and unconscious perspectives, aiming to [...] Read more.
Psychological and neuroscientific research reveals that individuals perceive the external world through two distinct systems: the conscious rational system and the unconscious experiential system. This paper examines the formation of customer experiences in theme hotels from both conscious and unconscious perspectives, aiming to foster innovation and sustainable development in the hospitality industry by enhancing the emotional connection between customers and theme hotels. Employing a dual-perspective framework, the study utilizes semi-structured in-depth interviews to investigate the conscious perspective and the Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique (ZMET) for the unconscious perspective. This paper selected five mid-to-high-end theme hotels located in first-tier cities in China and interviewed 20 guests who had stayed at these hotels. Findings indicate that while both perspectives initiate from the same triggering process, they differ significantly in their modes of information processing and experiential manifestations. Key differences between the two perspectives are evident in three main areas: the malleability of memory, the complexity of emotions, and the directionality of behavior. These insights not only broaden the theoretical understanding of customer experience but also contribute to the sustainable growth of the hotel sector by proposing innovative approaches to enhance customer experience. Full article
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