In the cross-cultural context of aging in ethnic minority regions along the frontier, the body serves as a central medium for power struggles and the reconfiguration of local identities. An ethnographic study of the Dai village of Mandiu in Yunnan reveals that sojourners systematically integrate into local life through 'body performances' such as square dancing and tai chi, while the local Dai residents maintain their cultural identity and engage in implicit resistance through 'body habitus' in rituals and daily labor. The clash between these two bodily orders has not only reshaped the sensory geography and spatial rights of the village, but has also sparked a micro-politics centered on 'bodily belonging' and 'the right to define place.' Through ongoing interaction between hosts and guests, and through 'negotiated bodily practices' such as collaborative dance routines and tending the vegetable garden together, a 'third bodily space' that transcends binary oppositions is constructed, giving rise to an 'embodied identity' grounded in shared bodily memories. This analytical approach to 'body politics' suggests that only by returning to the scale of the body can we gain a profound understanding of the cultural shifts and the logic of identity reconstruction brought about by senior residential tourism.
This study examines the intersections of gender, labour, and tourism within the homestay economy of Nongjrong, Meghalaya, focusing on the commercialization of women's domestic and caregiving labour within a matrilineal society. Drawing on feminist political economy perspectives and qualitative fieldwork conducted in Nongjrong village, the paper explores how women's work within homestays operates across a gendered work continuum where productive and reproductive labour overlap. The findings show that women remain central to homestay tourism through cooking, cleaning, caregiving, guest management, and emotional labour. However, despite their significant contributions, this labour often continues to be viewed as an extension of domestic responsibility rather than recognized as skilled economic work. The study further reveals that financial decision-making and tourism-related income are frequently mediated through male family members, tourism intermediaries, and digital networks, reflecting the persistence of patriarchal economic practices within a matrilineal context. The paper contributes to feminist political economy debates on labour, care, and tourism within contemporary rural societies.
Drawing on complexity theory, this research develops a relational perspective of authenticity that captures the dynamic and interdependent nature of experiential elements. Empirically, the study analyzes ten creative tourism experiences conducted in Brazil, Portugal, Spain, and the Netherlands, based on interviews with tourists and experience providers. We show that authenticity emerges through specific experiential dynamics related to creativity (freedom, guidance, and atmosphere), learning (playfulness, novelty, challenge, and cultural context), and participation (collaboration, design, music, and extroversion). These elements interact in non-linear ways, shaping how tourists construct meaningful experiences. By conceptualizing authenticity as a relational and dynamic phenomenon, the study advances theoretical debates on authenticity in tourism and identifies key design elements that can support more integrated and meaningful creative tourism experiences.
Thailand's tolerant social climate and the visibility of transgender women (often called 'ladyboys' in English or 'kathoey' in Thai) shape the way many Chinese international students encounter gender diversity. This study uses a cross-sectional survey from October 2025 of 214 Chinese students in Thailand to examine whether attending kathoey cabaret shows is linked to their attitudes toward Thai transgender women. It also compares attitudes in two contexts: commercialized performance settings and routine daily interactions. Results show that while a stronger initial interest in attending a kathoey show is linked to more favorable attitudes, having actually attended one does not, on average, predict more positive views than not attending. More frequent encounters with kathoeys in everyday life, however, predict more positive attitudes, while contact limited to performances does not. Overall, kathoey cabaret shows seem limited as mechanisms to improve Chinese students' attitudes toward kathoeys. These findings reinforce the importance of contact quality over frequency in intergroup contact theory and suggest that broader social context may influence attitudes more than the presence of specific optimal conditions.
In an accelerated society, why has tourism degenerated from 'leisure' into 'tasks'? The rise of 'Special Forces Style Tourism' (SFST) provides a typical case for examining the phenomenon of tourism alienation in an accelerated society. Based on social acceleration theory, this study uses semi-structured interviews to examine the accelerated mechanism of alienation in SFST across three dimensions: motivation, behavior, and experience. At the motivation level, the sense of time scarcity instrumentalizes leisure time and generates efficiency-oriented experience demands; desynchronized anxiety drives individuals to follow trends, transforming tourism from 'I want to go' to 'I have to go.' At the behavior level, individuals race against time and replace embodied experience with physical presence. At the experience level, short stays at multiple attractions lead to the 'shrinking of the present' of experience, making it difficult to form a continuous life experience. Meanwhile, tight itineraries make individuals' physical rhythms dominated by acceleration logic, cause physical feelings give way to efficiency goals, and ultimately result in physical and mental exhaustion. This study extends acceleration theory to the field of youth tourism, deepens the theoretical understanding of leisure alienation in an accelerated society, and provides theoretical insights for exploring meaningful tourism practices within an accelerated context.
Ethnic restaurants are multi-sensory interactive spaces providing immersive experiences related to ethnicity. However, how customers experience and perceive ethnicity through food experiences has not yet been explored in detail. With Siqinama Mongolian restaurant as a representative case and the 8-step ZMET method to guide data collection, the formation of customers' ethnicity perception from sensory experiences is addressed with the embodiment theory. Visual and gustatory senses of food, ornamentation, performances, and services are found as key stimuli to acquire ethnicity perception in aspects of ethnic character recognition, emotional perception, and cultural perception. Contextual interaction approaches, such as association, interaction and knowledge integration are identified as connecting factors transforming sensory experiences into ethnicity perception. Results deepen the understanding of ethnicity perception formation at ethnic food places. The analytical framework incorporating five sensory experiences and contextual interactions proved its suitability. The applicability of ZMET method in tourism research is demonstrated. Practical implications are then proposed for operators to enhance customers' ethnicity perception through their dining experiences.
Spaces have emotional effects on people. This study is designed to be evaluated objectively through a field study focusing on the relationship between sense, emotion, and space. Therefore, two spaces that have deeply influenced societies and have a place in society's memory were chosen for the field study. Since the feeling of pain is a strong emotion, it was deemed appropriate to choose two places among the dark heritage tourism areas. These places are two different museums, called Sinop Prison Museum and Ulucanlar Prison Museum, which were built as prisons but are used as museums today. Since the memories related to these museums occupy a wide place in social memory, the emotional experiences of the visitors are also intense. Twelve visitors who voluntarily participated in this study were taken to both museums. Afterwards, the researcher conducted separate interviews with each visitor regarding their emotional experiences in the museum and transcribed them. The space and emotion relationships obtained from the interviews were coded and collected under the heading of the five senses they are related to. Based on the obtained findings, inferences have been made regarding the spatial arrangements necessary for a museum space to affect the visitor more emotionally.
Almost every era produces technological concepts that have a significant impact on tourism development. Stakeholders are increasingly aware of the metaverse as a potentially key technology for tourism, even if they do not fully understand it. This paper systematically reviewed 109 articles (2022-2025) and aims to address six research questions: (1) What is metaverse tourism? (2) What are the common research methods used in metaverse tourism research? (3) What are the common theoretical foundations of the metaverse in tourism? (4) How is the metaverse tourism experience realized? (5) What are the advantages and disadvantages of metaverse in tourism? (6) What are the future research agendas for metaverse tourism? The findings of this study present a clearer concept of metaverse tourism, providing insights into research on metaverse tourism (e.g. theoretical foundation, methodology) and practical knowledge for tourism managers and stakeholders.
Inclusive tourism has increasingly been positioned as a mechanism for addressing social exclusion and widening participation in cultural life. In this commentary, we critically engage with (Minnaert, L. (2025). Inclusive heritage tours and social reconnection. Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change, Advance online publication) discussion of inclusive heritage tours as tools for social reconnection and wellbeing among socially excluded individuals. While we acknowledge the article's important contribution in foregrounding emotional and psychological barriers to cultural participation, we argue that inclusion cannot be achieved through access alone. Drawing on perspectives from inclusive tourism, cultural representation, and community engagement, we suggest that product-led approaches risk oversimplifying complex experiences of exclusion. Instead, meaningful inclusion requires flexible interpretation, emotional safety, co-creation with communities, and sustainable institutional support. By extending Minnaert's argument, this commentary contributes to ongoing debates within tourism and cultural change scholarship about equity, voice, and the ethical responsibilities of heritage tourism.
This study examines how Papua's Christianization history and Indigenous cultural practices shape local responses to halal tourism. It proposes strategies that are sensitive to local conflicts in order to balance economic benefits with social harmony. Employing an interpretive qualitative approach, we engaged four stakeholder groups, tourism policymakers, Papuan People's Assembly (Majelis Rakyat Papua-MRP), industry practitioners (ASITA/PHRI), and religious leaders through purposive sampling. Data analysis followed constructivist grounded theory, revealing four key themes: (1) Cultural-Historical Barriers; (2) Policy Ambiguity; (3) Adaptive Solutions; and (4) Regional Differentiation. The findings challenge mainstream halal tourism's assumption that universal standards work everywhere. Instead, we introduce 'contextual halal tourism,' a framework that prioritizes Indigenous voices and locally-suited adaptations. By showing how historical memory and cultural identity shape responses to religious tourism, this study offers a practical guidance for culturally sustainable development in diverse regions. It directly challenges the 'one-size-fits-all' approach that currently dominates halal tourism literature.
The aim of this study is to assess the influence of destination attractiveness factors, the availability of boarding houses and social infrastructure, shopping accessibility, financial capacity, and travel predisposition on the willingness of older adults to remain economically active and to engage in tourism activities, including within rural areas. The sample comprised 421 elderly individuals from China, with 70.8% falling in the 61-70 age range and 49.4% reporting an income between 410 and 684 US dollars. The analysis evaluated the impact of destination-related factors, personal characteristics, family-related factors, and social factors on the willingness of older adults to remain economically active and undertake tourist trips, including the potential selection of rural areas. The results confirm the significant influence of factors that determine the attractiveness of a destination, such as environmental cleanliness and the availability of elderly care infrastructure, as well as the impact of older tourists' income levels in choosing a vacation destination. The practical implications include recommendations for tourism companies and policymakers aimed at enhancing the accessibility of rural tourism through targeted investment in accommodation facilities tailored to the needs of older individuals.
This paper investigates whether pilgrims' accounts of meaningful experiences on the Camino de Santiago reveal systematic place-meaning associations along the route. Drawing on 543 open-ended experience reports from German-speaking Camino pilgrims, we employ qualitative content analysis with a two-level hierarchical coding system that distinguishes place-bound experiences from spatially unbound encounters. The analysis yields a recurrent five-part typology of place-meaning associations: Santiago de Compostela is associated with completion and biographical confirmation; the Cruz de Ferro with ritual release; Finisterre and Mux & iacute;a with dissolution and openness; churches and chapels with consolation; and natural landscapes with decentring and awe. Cross-tabulations by gender, age, and pilgrimage experience reveal no significant variation in these patterns, while route-level comparison shows that certain place types are exclusively bound to the Camino Franc & eacute;s. The most frequently reported experience category, interpersonal encounters, is by contrast spatially unbound. We evaluate three competing explanations for the observed convergence: emergent place-making through material-ritual affordances, reproduction of circulating pilgrimage scripts, and retrospective narrative convention. The paper proposes the heuristic concept of convergent place-making to describe recurrent place-meaning associations that arise at the intersection of embodied practice, material environments, and cultural repertoires.
'Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)' is an international cooperation initiative proposed by China. Tourism is expected to play an important role in strengthening the psychological bond between Chinese people and residents living in the BRI countries. In this paper, the authors conduct an empirical study to examine if tourism can play such a role or not by comparing changes in attitude from before to after the tourism contact between Chinese tourists and Vietnamese residents. It is revealed that (1) contacts via tourism between Vietnamese residents and Chinese tourists significantly influence not only their experience quality, satisfaction, happiness, willingness for repeated visitation, destination's word-of-mouth, and local residents' cultural identity, but also their psychological distance and willingness for further interaction; (2) regarding Chinese tourists, their visits to Vietnam and interactions with the locals help to eliminate their negative stereotypes of Vietnamese residents, and produce a more favorable impression, and strengthen their willingness to engage in further interactions; and (3) regarding the Vietnamese residents, they obtain a more objective perception of Chinese people through direct contacts with Chinese tourists. Impressions of Chinese people in the minds of Vietnamese residents become more positive, and the willingness to further interact with each other is enhanced.
Tourism routes, understood as formal stakeholder networks connected through shared products and objectives, have become central to destination development and heritage valorisation. However, routes vary considerably in their products, organisational structures, territorial scope, memberships, and goals, raising questions about how these characteristics influence their success. This study examines how route characteristics shape critical success factors (CSF) through five European examples. Semi-structured interviews with 31 key participants, supported by document analysis, were analysed using qualitative content analysis. The findings show that structure, territory, and goals exert the strongest influence on CSF. Regionally operated routes place greater emphasis on personnel characteristics, while network-based routes prioritise product value. Clearly defined goals have a substantial impact on route activities and performance assessment. The study develops exploratory hypotheses and identifies directions for future research on tourism route development.
With the rise of the 'urban escape' trend, the cultural appeal of rural homestays has become a key factor influencing tourists' behavioral intention. This study aims to investigate tourists' revisit intention to rural homestays from a cultural perspective based on the flow theory and symbolic interaction theory, and 633 questionnaires were analyzed by using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). This study, focusing on young Chinese tourists, reveals that three cultural dimensions of rural homestays (folk culture, architectural culture, and host culture) not only directly enhance revisit intention but also exert partial mediation through experience value. Place identity positively moderates the impact of experience value on revisit intention while reinforcing its mediating role, demonstrating a moderated mediation effect. These findings systematically explain the synergistic mechanism among cultural elements, experience value, and place identity in shaping revisit intention, providing theoretical and practical insights for sustainable rural tourism development.
This study examines how red tourism, a form of heritage tourism in China promoting revolutionary ideals, shapes corporate philanthropic behavior. Using data from the Chinese Private Enterprise Survey and provincial counts of designated red tourism sites, we find that red tourism intensity is positively associated with corporate philanthropy. This relationship is stronger for firms led by high-status entrepreneurs and weaker for firms with political connections. These findings enrich the literature on tourism spillovers, informal institutions, and CSR in transitional economies. These insights have implications for policymakers aiming to harness tourism for societal benefits beyond economic development.
This paper introduces case studies applying open schooling educational approach to heritage, tourism and sustainability. The core purpose is to demonstrate how this approach can lay the foundations for active citizenry and human wellbeing. Open schooling is a dynamic model that exceeds traditional classroom limits. It prioritizes flexibility, inclusivity and adaptability, leveraging diverse resources to engage learners in real-world issues. Rooted in the Care-Know-Do pedagogical framework, this method fosters problem-solving skills and encourages direct action. It views education as integral to local community development and functions as a collaborative effort involving schools, universities, businesses, experts, and civil society. Through participatory methods, open schooling facilitates the co-creation of knowledge and skills which are then applied to address societal challenges. Two distinct projects were implemented on two Greek island landscapes - Tinos and Corfu - selected due to their different geographic and tourism characteristics compared to the mainland. Both projects utilized research methods encompassing learning, creative and practical-experiential parts. The results showcase an open schooling method tailored to the unique island landscape, highlighting critical needs for sustainable development and community wellbeing, and ultimately leading to the proposal of a new collaborative sustainable development model.
Understanding Generation Z's expectations for digital tourism marketing requires examining how young consumers evaluate brand authenticity, sustainability, and ethical responsibility in an increasingly technology-driven landscape. This study investigates the perceptions and expectations of 40 university students regarding the future of digital tourism marketing through a sequential three-round focus group design, enabling progressive deepening of collective sense-making across rounds of exploration, evaluation and prioritisation. The analysis reveals three foundational pillars shaping Gen Z's engagement with tourism brands: ethical communication grounded in authenticity and transparency, AI-driven personalisation, and user-generated content as a central trust mechanism. Notably, Gen Z consumers demand commitment from brands, preferring visual and dynamic communication formats while expressing concern about emerging risks such as greenwashing, data privacy violations, and the dehumanisation of service interactions. Rather than explaining why these trends occur, the study contributes a mechanism-focused account of how Gen Z collectively negotiates ethics, conditionally accepts AI-personalisation, and allocates trust within platform-mediated UGC ecosystems.
