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Among the diverse challenges to the sustainability of China’s rich tangible cultural heritage, climate change, associated with increased temperatures, altered precipitation regimes, and the augmented frequency and magnitude of extreme events, is regarded as one of the most prominent. However, there is a diverse range of rapidly emerging environmental and socio-economic hazards that threaten cultural heritage in the country but have thus far received scant attention in this context. Without adequate attention and intervention, the sustainability of the country’s historic urban heritage is highly vulnerable. Anthropocene threats to this important legacy include climate change, sea level rise, land subsidence, water and air pollution, rampant urbanization, and tourism. Suzhou, situated in the low-elevation Yangtze River delta within one or two meters of current sea level, lies in the heart of one of the fastest socio-economically developing and urbanizing regions in the world and is especially vulnerable to the range of threats. As one of the jewels in the crown of China’s architectural heritage, Suzhou represents a model case in which to consider the conflicting interests of socio-economic development and environmental and cultural conservation in the context of rapidly changing environmental conditions. In this review, we consider the diverse risks to the sustainability of Suzhou’s cultural heritage posed by these circumstances, highlight key problems, and prioritize the most urgent issues requiring attention. In recognizing the spatial and temporal nature of these multiple challenges, we highlight the need for integrated approaches to safeguard the sustainability of such valuable resources. Moreover, considering the imperative of accelerating progress towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals and reflecting on current theories of sustainable management of urban cultural heritage, we outline the potential policy and practice implications for the conservation of Suzhou’s historic buildings, canals, and gardens. Full article

Access to housing in Athens during the first postwar decades protected a broad range of low-means social groups and enhanced their social mobility. Eventually, the city’s housing market was dominated by neoliberal policies, producing a very different social effect. Since the mid-2010s, the changes in the housing market were also interconnected with the rise in demand for housing (some of it related to tourism and other forms of ‘external’ demand for accommodation), the boom in the construction sector, the change in property taxation, the increase in housing prices, and the need to improve built properties. The analysis of three different datasets in this paper confirmed that the unregulated city’s housing market is following the spatially differentiated demand and reproducing socio-spatial inequalities. It also confirmed that the few policy initiatives developed since the early 2010s have not faced the housing needs of the most vulnerable groups because they were weak and because these needs were not their primary target. Athens seems to be one of the most unregulated cities in Southern Europe, where housing policies are far behind the needs and issues raised by increasing inequalities, and difficulties for vulnerable groups look like unavoidable outcomes. Full article

Human activities exert considerable influence on ecosystem health, a cornerstone for fostering sustainable regional growth, largely through their effects on land use transformations. This study integrates a system dynamics (SD) model with the patch-generating land use simulation (PLUS) model and the VORS (vigor–organization–resilience–ecosystem services) model to simulate the spatiotemporal dynamics of land use/cover change (LUCC) and assess ecosystem health in the Chengdu Metropolitan Area (CMA) from 2020 to 2035. These projections were conducted under three distinct scenarios: the ecological protection scenario (EPS), the natural development scenario (NDS), and the economic development scenario (EDS). The findings indicate the following: (1) Under EPS, NDS, and EDS, both cultivated land and grassland areas decline, and construction land expands by 40.68%, 54.76%, and 75.01%, respectively. (2) Across all three scenarios, ecosystem health demonstrates improvement, and it shifts from “poor” to “moderate.” (3) Ecosystem health levels in the CMA demonstrate significant spatial heterogeneity; they exhibit “low” levels in the central city, while generally stable levels are observed throughout the surrounding region. These results offer a strong scientific foundation for cultivating sustainable land management strategies and protecting ecosystem health in the CMA. Full article

This study investigates the attitudes of local residents regarding the impacts of sustainable tourism development in two national parks in Montenegro: Skadar Lake National Park (NP) and Durmitor National Park (NP). The aim is to identify the key factors that shape these attitudes and to discern the differences in perceptions between the residents of these two areas. The research is based on the assumption that socio-demographic characteristics, such as gender, age, and level of education, significantly influence attitudes toward sustainable tourism development. Data were collected through a questionnaire covering various attitudes toward tourism. Analyses were conducted using multiple regression analysis, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), and Pearson’s correlation, with careful verification of all key statistical assumptions to ensure the validity of the results. The findings reveal significant differences in perceptions between residents of NP Skadar Lake and NP Durmitor. Respondents from NP Durmitor generally rated tourism’s positive and negative aspects higher than those from NP Skadar Lake. On the other hand, NP Skadar Lake residents exhibited more enthusiasm for tourism promotion and engagement in tourism development processes. It was concluded that socio-demographic characteristics, particularly education and age, influence attitudes toward tourism. These findings provide a basis for formulating recommendations to improve tourism development, considering local communities’ specific needs and perceptions in both national parks. Full article

The deep integration of the digital economy and the tourism industry has reconstructed the ecological pattern of the industry, and the tourism industry urgently needs to explore ways to improve resilience in the post-epidemic era to cope with uncertainties and risks. Relying on the FIIF framework, this study uses the statistical data of 30 provinces in China to verify the path configuration of the digital economy on the resilience improvement of the tourism industry and the synergistic effect between various variables, aiming to reveal the multi-configuration effect of the digital economy, driving the resilience improvement of the tourism industry, analyzing the regional differentiated path selection mechanism, and providing a theoretical framework and practical guidance for the resilience improvement and digital transformation of the tourism industry. The results show that (1) the variables of “digital infrastructure” and “digital innovation expenditure” constitute the necessary conditions for the high-resilience level of the tourism industry, and “digital talent shortage” and “digital innovation investment” are the key factors for the formation of low-resilience configuration. (2) There are three configuration paths for high resilience, which are manifested in the two types of “digital infrastructure and digital innovation driven type” and “digital infrastructure and digital industry driven type”. The low-resilience configuration has three paths and has an asymmetric relationship with high-resilience configuration paths. (3) The tourism industry’s resilience configuration in the eastern and central–western regions shows significant differences. Full article

This article explores the development process of a sharing platform in the tourism industry, drawing on a longitudinal case study of a sharing-based business in adventure tourism in Sweden. The purpose is to explore how sharing business models emerge through processes of ideological narration—the strategic use of stories to shape and sustain a business. Over a two-year period, empirical data were collected through in-depth interviews, participant observations, and document study. The findings suggest that sharing business models are developed in processes of ideological narration designed to attract labour, capital, and users to a digital platform. Four master narratives are identified—sharing, sustainability, shared identity, and profit-making—narratives grounded in conflicting ideological logics. The dominance of these narratives shifts over time, reflecting different priorities and challenges encountered at various stages of a sharing business model’s development. This dynamic highlights the fluid and multi-faceted nature of narratives in shaping and sustaining sharing businesses in the tourism industry. Full article

Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) models with weight restrictions (WRs) have proven valuable for benchmarking and target setting. Although the DEA literature has explored the incorporation of managerial preferences and value judgments regarding the relative worth of inputs and outputs, as well as the establishment of targets in benchmarking contexts, little attention has been devoted to target setting under restricted DEA models. Moreover, despite the significant advances offered by minimum distance models for target establishment, limited research has addressed benchmarking improvement plans that integrate expert opinions and prior knowledge. Some studies have examined minimum distance models constrained to the efficient Assurance Region (AR) frontier, primarily by extending the concept of closest targets under WR. In contrast, this paper develops improvement plans that deviate minimally from the closest target projection obtained from the original, unrestricted DEA model—termed the reference target. This reference target is considered an acceptable “peer” since it requires the least effort for a decision making unit (DMU) to reach optimal performance before incorporating WR. To this end, we developed a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) model under the assumption of Variable Returns to Scale in DEA. The proposed approach is illustrated through an application to benchmarking the tourism performance of localities in Córdoba, Argentina. The results reveal realistic and achievable improvement plans for the analyzed localities, ensuring that both global efforts are managed and expert-imposed restrictions are satisfied. Full article

Urban mass tourism and rural depopulation increasingly threaten heritage sites worldwide, leading to socio-economic and environmental challenges. This study adopts a holistic approach to sustainable tourism planning by examining 84 cultural and natural heritage sites in and around Safranbolu and Amasra, two cities in Türkiye that are listed on the UNESCO World Heritage List and the Tentative List. Inspired by historical travelers’ itineraries, it proposes an eco-cultural tourism route to create a resilient heritage network. A participatory methodology integrates charettes within Erasmus+ workshops, crowdsourcing, various analysis methods while engaging stakeholders, and AI-powered clustering for route determination. The study follows a four-stage framework: (1) data collection via collaborative GIS, (2) eco-cultural route development, (3) stakeholder participation for inclusivity and viability, and (4) assessments and recommendations. Results highlight the strong potential of heritage assets for sustainable tourism while identifying key conservation risks. Interviews and site analysis underscore critical challenges, including the absence of integrated site management strategies, insufficient capacity-building initiatives, and ineffective participatory mechanisms. Moreover, integrating GIS-based crowdsourcing, machine learning clustering, and multi-criteria decision-making can be an effective planning support system. In conclusion, this study enhances the sustainability of heritage and tourism by strengthening participatory eco-cultural development and mitigating mass tourism and abandonment’s negative impacts on the heritage sites. Full article

Integration with rural tourism is an important way to achieve the sustainable development of ecological farms. Existing literature on the integration of agriculture and tourism lacks discussion from the microscopic farm level, making it difficult to capture the complex mechanisms of the integration of ecological farms and rural tourism. This paper attempts to address this problem by exploring the driving factors of the integration of ecological farms and rural tourism. The research aim of this paper is to construct a theoretical framework for driving the integration of ecological farms and rural tourism. We first conducted research on farms in four ecological agriculture demonstration zones: Ziquejie in Loudi, Hunan Province; Heshi in Shilin, Yunnan Province; Rongjiang in Dali, Yunnan Province; and Youxiqiao Village in Hunan Province. We interviewed 64 stakeholders in ecotourism and used grounded theory methods to construct a model and propose hypotheses. On this basis, a measurement scale was designed, and data was collected from 1041 Chinese ecological farms (ecological farm operators) using a structured questionnaire. The partial least squares structural equation model (PLS-SEM) was used to model and analyze the data to test the constructed model. The study found that higher market demand, regional economic level, intrinsic development needs, intrinsic resource endowments, technical support, and resource integration can promote the integration of ecological farms and rural tourism. Market demand and intrinsic development needs constitute the generative force of agritourism integration, while resource integration and intrinsic resource endowments constitute the development force of agritourism integration, and technical support and the regional economic level constitute the supporting force of agritourism integration. Full article

Women’s entrepreneurship in the tourism industry plays a vital role in promoting economic growth, advancing gender equality, and encouraging innovation. Female entrepreneurs contribute to the diversification of tourism services, job generation, and the revitalization of local economies. This study employs data from the Web of Science database to examine research on tourism and female entrepreneurship over the past two decades. The primary goals are to explore emerging trends, publishing patterns, and the geographical regions most active in this area of research, as well as to identify the key journals, authors, and keywords shaping the field. The bibliometric analysis uncovers the progression of academic studies and highlights regions with significant research activity. While female entrepreneurship is a driving force for economic development and gender equity in tourism, persistent obstacles, such as limited research in certain areas and barriers to women’s participation, remain. This work underscores the increasing significance of women’s contributions to tourism and offers a framework for future studies and policies aimed at fostering gender equality and sustainable economic development. Full article

Traditional villages, as repositories of cultural heritage and natural landscapes, have gained increasing prominence in the tourism industry. However, balancing authenticity preservation with visitor satisfaction remains a critical challenge. This study employs a combined Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP)–Scenic Beauty Estimation (SBE) approach under the theoretical framework of 4E theory (Entertainment, Education, Aesthetics, and Escapism) to comprehensively evaluate visitor satisfaction in traditional village tourism landscapes. Eight nationally designated tourism-oriented traditional villages in Anhua County, China were selected as case studies. Findings from the AHP analysis reveal that aesthetic and escapism experiences are the most influential dimensions in shaping visitor satisfaction, while entertainment and educational experiences, though secondary, remain integral to a well-rounded tourism framework. The SBE evaluation corroborates these results, highlighting that seasonal characteristics, stress relief, and cultural landscape diversity significantly enhance visitor experiences. Conversely, deficiencies were observed in social interactivity, satisfaction with educational experiences, and fulfillment of aesthetic needs, indicating areas for improvement. A strong positive correlation between AHP and SBE scores (Pearson correlation coefficient = 0.867, p < 0.01) underscores the alignment between expert-driven evaluations and visitor perceptions. These insights suggest that integrating expert-based hierarchical analysis with empirical visitor assessments provides a more robust and multidimensional framework for sustainable tourism management. Recommendations include enhancing social interactivity, optimizing educational components, enriching aesthetic experiences, and ensuring the preservation of vernacular landscapes to foster sustainable, experience-driven rural tourism development. Full article

Many ancient canal towns are distributed in southern China, serving as popular tourist destinations. However, these towns experience intense summer heat, with poor thermal comfort in their street spaces. Studying the thermal comfort of historical districts is therefore crucial for promoting tourism development. This research focuses on the Xiaohe Street Historical District, employing ENVI-met software v5.7 for the simulation analysis. Targeting waterfront spaces in ancient town historical districts, nine simulation scenarios were established to systematically compare the thermal environmental impacts of different widths, locations, and configurations of waterfront spaces. The key findings include the following. The waterfront space width shows a positive correlation with thermal environment improvement—wider spaces yield a more significant enhancement. However, when the width exceeds 5 m, a further expansion to 7 m shows a limited impact on the temperature, humidity, and wind speed, with diminishing returns. Distributed versus concentrated layouts of waterfront spaces show negligible differences in temperature and humidity regulation, but concentrated arrangements significantly enhance the street-level wind speed. Thus, under equivalent total width conditions, concentrated large-scale waterfront spaces are recommended. Installing shading facilities in waterfront spaces can effectively reduce the site temperature by over 2 °C. Aligning waterfront spaces with ventilation corridors substantially improves the wind speed, thereby enhancing thermal comfort. Through quantitative analysis, this study provides a scientific basis for optimizing thermal environmental design in canal-side historical districts. The findings offer practical guidance for similar renovation projects in canal historical districts. Full article

This article explores the methodological framework and examines the learning and scientific outcomes of a workshop activity centred on the innovative integration of digital heritage approaches with design thinking methodologies. The workshop was developed in the Italian central Apennines and it investigated the design implications of working on heritage contexts in marginal areas using innovative digital tools, as well as the impact of this approach on the community. The activities engaged international students and professors, employed a multidisciplinary, transdisciplinary, and trans-scalar approach encompassing field research, data processing, dialogue, and collaborative visioning. The findings are both methodological and thematic. Methodologically, the workshop introduced a novel approach to architectural education by integrating digitalization in the design process and by fostering an urban vision that bridges research with local needs. Thematically, the outputs explore new uses for “potential spaces”, sustainable mobility, heritage-led strategies, and tourism, emphasizing community involvement. The workshop’s originality lies in its cognitive, narrative, and design processes, where digital data are part of the creative process. Despite the workshop’s compressed timeline, it successfully fostered creative thinking and practical solutions, demonstrating the value of intense, interdisciplinary collaborative visioning for heritage regeneration. The workshop’s broader implications include potential spin-offs into future community engagement and knowledge-transfer activities, highlighting its social and practical relevance. Full article

This study analyses the intricate connection between tourism and economic growth, emphasising significant gaps in existing literature. The study utilises a comprehensive framework encompassing tourism-led economic growth (TLEG) and economy-driven tourism growth (EDTG), highlighting the bidirectional dynamics at play. This study utilises a panel quantile ARDL regression model to analyse regional disparities and varying levels of economic and tourism development. Results demonstrate that European nations with robust tourism sectors exhibit more significant recoveries, whereas Asia–Pacific countries face heightened pressure to leverage tourism for economic stabilisation. This study demonstrates the heightened sensitivity of GDP to tourism in economic downturns, emphasising the sector’s critical role in sustaining growth during difficult periods. Long-term implications favour a strategic focus on structural factors over cyclical ones, promoting innovation, infrastructure development, and investment in human capital. This study recommends economic policies that utilise tourism’s strengths, enhance resilience, and promote diversification to achieve sustainable prosperity during economic challenges. Full article

It is necessary for the allocation of resources to be more efficient, and making more adequate operational strategies to realize productivity change is contributed to by the kind of output sources in the hotel’s production process. This study tries to propose hotel productivity change models from overall and disaggregate perspectives by using the Luenberger productivity index based on directional distance function. Empirical findings briefly show that the overall productivity change of ITHs in Taiwan has a growing trend and is driven from a technical change rather than an efficiency change. Moreover, the disaggregate hotel productivity growth comes from the service of hotel facilities, but improving the performance of the catering service is more important to a hotel’s overall performance. Individual ITHs can grasp the contribution of disaggregate hotel productivity growth on the overall productivity change, maintaining or developing competitive advantages in the hotel’s operation and management. Therefore, the viewpoint of this study can not only be used to examine the hotel issues but also be applied to other issues in the hospitality and tourism industry that target overall and disaggregate productivity growth. Full article