Search Results (540)

Based on the stimulus–organism–response (S–O–R) framework, this study explored the psychological spillover mechanism through which tourism experiences in Museum Agglomeration Areas (MAAs) enhance city image and influence behavioral intentions. Structural equation modeling (SEM) based on survey data yielded several key findings. First, information visibility, content visibility, and the quality of amenities and the operational environment played critical roles in shaping tourists’ internal states, including perceived experiential value, affective response, immersion, and satisfaction. In addition, the social atmosphere emerged as an important factor in enriching these evaluations. Second, accessibility and connectivity were identified as factors that reduce friction along the visitor journey, thereby enhancing experiential continuity and immersion. Third, experiential value and immersion were found to be the primary mediators among the internal-state variables, transmitting the effects of environmental stimuli to city-level perceptions and behavioral intentions, such as revisit and recommendation intentions. These findings suggest that the competitiveness of MAAs lies not merely in spatial agglomeration itself but also in their ability to provide engaging and meaningful content, maintain safe and enjoyable operational environments, and develop integrated circulation and information systems. By conceptualizing MAAs as sites of district-scale tourism experiences, this study extends the application of the S–O–R framework to a multi-site urban cultural context and clarifies how differentiated internal states mediate the spillover from district experience to city-level perceptions and behavioral intentions. Rather than proposing a fundamentally new theoretical framework, the study offers a context-specific refinement of the organism layer and provides empirically grounded implications for design and operational strategies in culturally clustered urban districts. Full article

This study examines how perceived tourist comfort in museum agglomerations influences tourist satisfaction, museum agglomeration vitality, and the cultural sustainability of urban tourism, focusing on Jongno-gu, Seoul, based on the experiences of Chinese tourists. Moving beyond facility-centered evaluations of individual museums, the study conceptualizes museum agglomerations as continuous tourism environments shaped by movement, guidance, congestion, waiting, rest, and overall usability. Four latent constructs—Tourist Comfort, Tourist Satisfaction, Museum Agglomeration Vitality, and Cultural Sustainability of Urban Tourism—were tested using structural equation modeling. The results show that Tourist Comfort significantly enhances both Tourist Satisfaction and Museum Agglomeration Vitality, while Tourist Satisfaction further strengthens Museum Agglomeration Vitality. In addition, both Tourist Satisfaction and Museum Agglomeration Vitality have significant positive effects on the Cultural Sustainability of Urban Tourism. Tourist Comfort also exerts an indirect influence on cultural sustainability through the mediating pathways of Tourist Satisfaction and Museum Agglomeration Vitality. These findings contribute a demand-side, cluster-level explanation of how museum districts become experientially activated for tourists, while also indicating that the results should be interpreted as case-based evidence for Chinese tourists in Jongno-gu rather than as a universally generalizable model. Full article

Tourist congestion and load imbalance during peak periods pose critical challenges to the safe operation and experience assurance of large scenic areas. To address the limitations of traditional management approaches in capturing the dynamic and stochastic nature of tourist flows, this study develops a dynamic visitor guidance modeling and analysis framework based on a Timed Petri Net. The proposed model provides a formal representation of tourist movements, scenic spot load evolution, and guidance decision mechanisms within a scenic area. Under unified parameter settings and controlled random conditions, multiple visitor guidance strategies with different information coverage scopes are designed, and minute-level simulation experiments are conducted using the Huangshan Scenic Area as a case study. The simulation results show that, compared with unguided tourist flows, the proposed strategies significantly reduce average load levels, alleviate spatial load imbalance, and enhance TS. Using mean–standard deviation analysis, distributional analysis, and dynamic evolution analysis, differences among guidance strategies in terms of load control, visitor experience, and operational stability are systematically evaluated. Furthermore, a quantitative relationship model between tourist satisfaction and scenic area load is constructed, revealing a consistent inverted-U pattern. Robustness tests under multiple random seeds indicate that the main conclusions are not sensitive to specific stochastic realizations. Overall, the simulation results suggest that dynamic visitor guidance may improve load control, visitor experience, and system stability by optimizing the spatiotemporal distribution of tourist flows, thereby providing simulation-based quantitative insights for peak-period management in large scenic areas. Full article

This paper presents a study on green value co-creation behavior in the relationship to tourists’ behavior, including perceived green empowerment, experience value, satisfaction and brand advocacy, specifically considering the role of perceived greenwashing in these relationships based on Service-Dominant Logic. A quantitative study using the structural equation modeling analysis technique was conducted with customers of tourism businesses in Vietnam. The result of the study shows that green value co-creation behavior has a positive effect on perceived green empowerment, experience value, satisfaction and brand advocacy. In addition, the study also shows the positive effect of perceived green empowerment, experience value and satisfaction on brand advocacy. Perceived greenwashing reduces the impact of green value co-creation behavior on perceived green empowerment, experience value and satisfaction. The research results provide empirical evidence confirming the important positive role of green value co-creation and the barrier role of perceived greenwashing in achieving positive outcomes on customer behavior of tourism businesses. At the same time, the study provides useful information for managers in increasing perceived green empowerment, experience value, satisfaction and brand advocacy through customer green value co-creation activities, based on honest and standard green practices. Full article

This study investigates how AI-driven personalization shapes traveler satisfaction in a post-adoption tourism context, with particular attention to the mechanisms and boundary conditions through which personalization is associated with experiential outcomes. Using an integrated post-adoption framework, the study conceptualizes AI-driven personalization as an experiential input influencing satisfaction through trust formation, perceived value, and individual readiness to engage with technology. Survey data were collected from 347 tourists with direct experience of AI-enabled tourism services in Kosovo. The relationships were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The results show that AI-driven personalization is positively associated with traveler satisfaction. It enhances trust in AI-powered systems, and trust is positively associated with perceived value. Perceived value mediates the relationship between trust in AI-powered systems and traveler satisfaction, highlighting value appraisal as a central post-adoption mechanism. AI-driven personalization is also indirectly associated with traveler satisfaction through a sequential mechanism, in which trust precedes perceived value in the experiential evaluation process. Technology readiness moderates the relationship between perceived value and traveler satisfaction, indicating heterogeneous experiential responses to AI-enabled tourism services. The study contributes to tourism and hospitality research by demonstrating a sequential relational–evaluative mechanism through which AI-driven personalization is associated with traveler satisfaction, shifting the focus from adoption-based explanations toward post-adoption experiential pathways. It further clarifies the role of trust as a relational mechanism preceding value formation and identifies technology readiness as a boundary condition shaping satisfaction outcomes in an emerging destination context. The findings also offer practical guidance for designing AI-enabled services that strengthen trust, enhance value perceptions, and align personalization strategies with varying levels of traveler technology readiness. Full article

Online reviews are widely used to evaluate tourism performance, but it remains unclear whether platform ratings adequately reflect the underlying tourist experience. This study uses 67,744 cleaned Ctrip reviews from 112 A-level scenic spots in Liaoning Province, China, to examine what online reviews reveal beyond conventional satisfaction metrics. The final analytical sample comprises 106 threshold-qualified attractions with at least 100 reviews, supplemented by six highly reviewed sub-attractions that were listed separately on the platform but belonged to officially recognized A-level scenic systems. We combine topic modelling, sentiment analysis, and a rating–sentiment analytical framework to identify experiential dimensions, emotional patterns, and attraction-level sentiment risk. The results reveal a five-dimensional structure of tourist experience, including accessibility and ticketing, natural landscape imagery, cultural heritage interpretation, service-process quality, and overall affective appraisal. Positive sentiment is concentrated in landscape, heritage, and holistic appraisal themes, whereas negative sentiment is more prominent in accessibility and service-process dimensions. Quadrant-based analysis further shows that favourable ratings may coexist with relatively negative textual sentiment, suggesting that platform ratings and review-text sentiment do not fully converge. To extend review-level evidence to the attraction level, the study develops an attraction-level sentiment-risk indicator that captures the concentration of sentiment-negative reviews within each scenic spot. The findings suggest that online reviews function as a dual-channel evaluative system and can support sustainable destination management through more sensitive monitoring of operational friction and experiential risk. Full article

Southern Europe is a climate change hotspot, with rising temperatures threatening the region’s tourism industry. While existing research has focused on supply-side adaptations and macro-level demand shifts, this study examines the demand side—tourist experience and adaptive behaviors at the micro-experiential level, with implications for broader discussions of resilience and adaptive capacity. The study analyzed 6466 TripAdvisor reviews from 11 open-air heritage sites in Italy, Greece, Spain, and Malta, linking reviews to site-relative thermal exposure tertiles and applying dictionary-based text matching with mixed-effects models. Under hotter conditions, tourists were significantly more likely to mention heat, thermal discomfort, and coping resources such as shade and drinking water, with co-occurrence patterns indicating that discomfort and relief-oriented infrastructure are narrated together. Yet overall satisfaction ratings remained uniformly high and statistically unaffected by temperature, revealing a paradox wherein experiential strain intensifies while evaluative scores stay stable. These findings suggest patterns consistent with behavioral and cognitive adaptive responses, whereby positive evaluations are maintained despite heightened thermal stress, and indicate that narrative-based indicators may capture experiential shifts that conventional satisfaction metrics miss. Full article

Sustainable coastal destinations offer a variety of natural and cultural activities that form a construct of motivations that influence tourist behavior regarding their willingness to return to and recommend the destination. In this sense, the present study aimed to achieve the following objectives: to identify the motivations that drive tourist demand in sustainable coastal destinations, to establish which motivations predict tourist satisfaction in coastal destinations, and to determine which motivations predict tourist loyalty in coastal destinations. There are behavioral variables to consider, such as the intention to return, willingness to recommend the destination, and propensity to speak positively about it. The study was carried out in Montañita (Ecuador), a major surfing city in Latin America with extensive potential for water sports. A total of 380 valid surveys were collected on-site for quantitative analysis. Multiple regression and exploratory factor analysis were among the methods used. The final results showed five motivational dimensions linked to tourism in coastal areas, including nature and culture, sun and sea, recreational and sporting activities, novelty, and social interaction. Among all these factors, social interactivity and novelty stood out as the elements that had the greatest impact on visitor loyalty and satisfaction, followed by the sun and beach component. The findings will serve as input for destination managers to develop sustainable management guidelines and are also a contribution to academic literature. Full article

The rapid growth of digital tourism platforms has intensified information overload and decision complexity for both locals and travelers, while operators struggle to differentiate their offerings and sustain profitable, data-driven e-commerce models. This paper presents Doroob, a big data and artificial intelligence (AI)-driven, context-aware recommendation system that integrates traditional recommender techniques with real-time facial emotion recognition (FER) to enable intelligent tourism commerce. Doroob combines three AI-based recommendation strategies: smart adaptive recommendation (SAR) collaborative filtering, a Vowpal Wabbit-based context-aware model, and a LightFM hybrid model. It trained on datasets built from the Google Places API and enriched with ratings adapted from MovieLens. FER, implemented with DeepFace and OpenCV, analyzes short video segments as users browse destination details, converts emotion scores into 1–5 satisfaction ratings, and stores this implicit feedback alongside explicit ratings to support adaptive, emotion-aware personalization. Experimental results show that the context-aware model achieves the strongest top-K ranking performance, the hybrid LightFM model yields the highest AUC of 0.95, and the SAR model provides the most accurate rating predictions, demonstrating that combining contextual modeling and FER-based implicit feedback can enhance personalization, mitigate cold-start, and support data-driven promotion of local tourist services in intelligent e-commerce ecosystems. Full article

Agritourism is an expanding form of experience-based rural tourism, yet limited empirical research explains how experiential marketing shapes perceived value and satisfaction in authentic farming contexts. Drawing on Schmitt’s Strategic Experiential Modules and the Memorable Tourism Experience (MTE) framework, this study develops and tests a structural model linking agritourism experience, perceived value, and satisfaction. Survey data from 398 visitors across twelve certified agritourist communities in Taiwan were analyzed using CFA and SEM. Results show that agritourism experiences significantly enhance perceived value and directly increase satisfaction, with perceived value exerting a strong mediating effect. From a sustainability perspective, the findings underscore the distinctiveness of agritourism, where authenticity, natural variability, and human–land interactions generate experiential outcomes not replicable in constructed tourism spaces. The study advances experiential marketing theory and offers practical guidance for rural tourism development, thereby supporting sustainable rural development by fostering long-term tourist engagement and local economic vitality. Full article

Background: Tourists often travel within their own country or abroad for business, leisure or to receive planned healthcare. However, they are often not prepared for unexpected medical emergencies that occur far from home. Seeking emergency healthcare during travel may pose various barriers and challenges to tourists. Aims: This systematic review aimed to identify the challenges and barriers tourists face while seeking emergency healthcare during travel. Methods: A comprehensive search was performed in PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science and ScienceDirect from 1st January 1995 to 31 October 2025. The review included studies focusing on tourists who sought emergency healthcare abroad. Due to the methodological heterogeneity of the studies making meta-analysis impossible, a narrative synthesis of the results was conducted. The review protocol was registered with PROSPERO (ID CRD420251156975). Results: From 608 initial titles (603 from database searches and 5 additional from similar articles), 10 studies were selected—5 cross-sectional and 5 retrospective. Most (7/10) were conducted in Asian countries, while others were conducted in Europe (1), the U.S.A. (1) and multiple countries (1). The participant number ranged from 37 to 2333. All studies included both genders, apart from one that focused exclusively on pregnant women. The most common challenges identified were language and cultural barriers, limited access to healthcare services in terms of appropriateness and timeliness of care and financial and insurance coverage issues. Conclusions: The findings underscore that tourists face multiple barriers when seeking emergency healthcare abroad, resulting in negative tourist travel experiences. Once identified, specific strategies should be adopted to improve accessibility and the overall quality of care for tourists. Full article

Homestay tourism is increasingly recognised as a pathway to sustainable tourism development, especially in community-based destinations. This study examines the roles of local community attitudes and environmental sustainability in shaping perceived value and tourist satisfaction within Nigerian homestay tourism. Using a cross-sectional survey design, data were collected from 386 homestay tourists across south-western Nigeria and analysed with Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM). The results reveal that local community attitude significantly boosts tourists’ perceived value, while environmental sustainability positively influences both perceived value and tourist satisfaction. However, perceived value does not strongly predict tourist satisfaction, and the moderating effect of community attitude on the relationship between value and satisfaction appears weak. This study contributes to the literature by integrating and extending the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) beyond behavioural intention, demonstrating its relevance to understanding the formation of value–satisfaction in community-based tourism. It also challenges dominant tourism assumptions by showing that perceived value may serve as a supporting rather than primary determinant of satisfaction in rural homestay settings. In practice, the findings suggest that homestay operators and policymakers should focus on environmental sustainability practices and on enhancing experiential service quality, rather than relying solely on value-for-money propositions. By providing context-specific evidence from sub-Saharan Africa, this study advances sustainable tourism scholarship and offers strategic insights for inclusive rural tourism development. Full article

Climate change has intensified the need for adaptation in urban environments, yet its integration into historic urban squares, where recreational activities were heavily concentrated, has remained underexplored. In this context, the study examined the square located between Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque, which is also defined as an urban recreation area and a focal point of culture-based tourism, during periods of extreme weather conditions and high flows of both local (n = 152), and international tourists (n = 236), evaluating it through different spatial activity typologies. A total of 388 participants were surveyed at 25 survey points within the square, while meteorological parameters were obtained from meteorological stations. The findings showed that the lowest level of heat stress across all typologies corresponded to “slight heat stress,” while user responses varied according to spatial characteristics. In movement spaces, the absence of shading elements increased both heat stress and shade demand, whereas in stationary spaces, the presence of trees reduced heat stress but preferences for lower air humidity persisted even under shaded conditions. Sky openness was not identified as a direct determinant of thermal sensation, with meteorological and perceptual factors proving more influential. PET explained approximately 65% of the variation in MTSV among tourists, compared to 55% among local residents. Across typologies, only increases in air temperature negatively affected thermal satisfaction. Moreover, tourists perceived the square more holistically and reported higher satisfaction compared to locals, whose environmental demands were distinct. These results highlighted the importance of spatial activity typologies in shaping thermal experience and underlined the necessity of design strategies that extended beyond heat-mitigation measures. Holistic and flexible approaches that accounted for user profiles, activity types, and intensity of use were found to be essential for improving thermal comfort in historic urban squares with diverse spatial configurations. Full article

Small islands in developing countries often face infrastructural limitations, environmental fragility, and heavy economic dependence on tourism, making smart and sustainable innovation crucial. This study investigates what international tourists value in a destination to perceive it as a “smart island,” applying the smart city paradigm to the context of small island developing countries. A structured survey was conducted with 420 international tourists from diverse nationalities, using a five-point Likert scale to assess the importance of smart tourism attributes. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlations, t-tests, and regression analyses were performed to identify significant predictors of overall satisfaction with smart tourism experiences. This study provides empirical evidence that international tourists primarily perceive destination smartness through core digital and infrastructural features rather than advanced technological sophistication. Real-time information systems emerged as the strongest predictor of perceived smartness, followed by free Wi-Fi access, sustainability-related technologies, and smart transport systems. The findings further reveal that demographic and cultural factors influence technology preferences, while immersive tools such as augmented reality play a secondary role. Overall, the results indicate that, in Small Island Developing Countries, smart tourism should be understood as a strategic approach to improving accessibility, connectivity, sustainability, and destination resilience rather than merely adopting high-end technologies. Full article

This study examined the psychology-driven decision-making dynamics of Millennial solo travellers in Asia, with a comparative focus on Thai and other Asian tourists. While the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) is widely applied in tourism research, prior studies may not fully address the attitude-mediated construct–intention gap, stage-based intention–behaviour variation, and post-intention outcomes. To extend this perspective, the study proposes the I-SMART Cognitive TPB Model, integrating temporal bias, loss aversion, narrative-driven information, Social Exchange Theory, the four-stage tourism life cycle, and post-intention marketing behaviours. Survey data from 800 respondents (400 Thai, 400 Asian) were analysed using structural equation modelling. The findings indicate that narrative information may play a stronger role in shaping attitudes among Asian travellers, whereas Thai travellers appear more influenced by time-based motivation. Pre-trip factors emerged as key contributors to intention formation in both groups, while post-intention patterns diverged: intention linked more strongly to satisfaction among Asian travellers and to revisit tendencies among Thai travellers. Theoretically, the study offers an integrated cognitive–behavioural model that complements TPB by incorporating bias-driven and stage-based mechanisms. Practically, the findings provide guidance for designing digital infrastructure, time-sensitive policies, and storytelling-driven marketing strategies tailored to Millennial solo travellers. Full article