Purpose This paper introduces the themed issue and examines a question that tourism research has rarely asked directly: what happens when the drive to make destinations greener meets the obligation to make them open to everyone, and what role technology plays in that meeting. It reads the eight contributions together to show where accessibility, sustainability and technology support each other and where they pull apart. Design/methodology/approach The paper is structured as a guest-editorial viewpoint. It synthesizes the eight articles in the issue, which together draw on systematic and bibliometric reviews, institutional documents, stakeholder interviews, on-site accessibility evaluations and interviews with disabled visitors, more than 600,000 accommodation listings and over 1,300 online visitor reviews, and situates them within the wider literature on accessible, sustainable and smart tourism. Findings Four observations run through the issue. First, accessibility and sustainability are usually studied, governed and marketed as separate agendas and the assumption that they align naturally is seldom tested. Second, technology works in both directions: it can remove barriers, but the same digital tools can quietly create new ones. Third, much exclusion is informational rather than physical, and is therefore cheaper to address than is often assumed, although at historical sites physical barriers remain decisive for many disabled visitors. Fourth, integrating the two goals depends less on technology itself than on governance, procurement and how projects are specified from the start. Originality/value The issue moves the discussion from treating inclusion and sustainability as parallel commitments to treating their interaction as an object of study in its own right. The introduction proposes a research agenda and practical priorities for destination managers, platforms, hospitality operators, heritage site managers and policymakers.
Purpose This study examines how the transformation of small-scale strawberry production into a nature-based agritourism experience contributes to rural women's economic and social empowerment. It addresses how innovation, visitor experience and sustainability are negotiated within a women-led family enterprise in rural Türkiye. Design/methodology/approach The research is based on a field study conducted at Cafe Çilek in rural Türkiye. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with female entrepreneur and her employees, along with direct observations recorded during the study. Findings The study finds that women's entrepreneurship generates income while strengthening solidarity among women, challenging traditional gender norms and diversifying the rural economy. Additionally, agriculture-based tourism activities create opportunities for experiential learning and closer interaction between producers and consumers. Research limitations/implications The study focuses on a single case in rural Türkiye, which may limit generalizability. However, the findings suggest that small-scale rural enterprises led by women can be strategic tools for social impact and economic sustainability. Originality/value The study contributes by conceptualizing the integration of strawberry cultivation, experiential hospitality, family labour and women's solidarity as a potentially replicable rural business model. It shows that nature-based tourism innovation can support women's empowerment when the distribution and sustainability of women's labour are also considered.
Purpose This paper concludes the themed issue “Inclusive and Green Future in Tourism: The Intersection of Accessibility, Sustainability and Technology”. It brings the eight contributions together through a thematic synthesis and sets out an agenda for future research and practice. Design/methodology/approach The paper adopts a thematic synthesis approach. The eight articles were read in full and coded against the issue's guiding question and three derived research questions, and the resulting codes were grouped into six cross-cutting themes, two for each question. The contributions include systematic, bibliometric and thematic reviews, documentary analysis of institutional publications, large-scale content analysis of platform listings and visitor reviews, a stakeholder interview study and an on-site accessibility evaluation combined with interviews with disabled visitors. Findings The synthesis shows that accessibility and sustainability are still handled as parallel agendas in research, institutional discourse and the marketplace and that this separation varies with context. Technology does not resolve the tension on its own; it carries the priorities of those who specify it. A large part of exclusion turns out to be informational rather than physical, although at historical sites physical barriers still keep many disabled visitors away altogether. Whether the two agendas can be brought together depends mainly on governance: on how projects are specified, how information is provided, how physical access is secured and how stakeholders coordinate. Originality/value The paper translates eight methodologically and geographically diverse studies into a shared framework built on three layers of integration (specification, information and governance), resting on a foundation of basic physical access, and a five-point research agenda for scholars, destination managers, heritage site managers, platforms and policymakers.
Purpose This paper examines whether accessibility and sustainability are pursued together or separately in peer-to-peer short-term rental accommodation, and what this implies for platforms, hosts and destinations advancing Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8.9 and SDG 10. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative comparative content analysis covered all 624,581 public listings in twenty-two developed and emerging short-term rental markets. One set of coding rules, with word lists in the main local languages, separated access provision from access barriers and environmental equipment from everyday practice. Guest reviews from Albany and New York City served as depth cases. Findings The platform's amenity vocabulary contains environmental terminology but no accessibility terminology. Hosts mention access barriers far more often than provision, and the two topics rarely appear together. Developed markets mention access about three times as often as emerging markets, which mention environmental equipment twice as often. Disclosure concentrates among professionalized operators without commercial penalty. In both depth cases, guest reviews reported obstacles that listings had not disclosed. Practical implications The binding constraint on inclusive short-term rental accommodation is informational rather than physical, and inexpensive to relieve. An action agenda is offered for platforms, hosts, destination managers and regulators. Social implications Absent access information shifts search cost to the traveler least able to absorb it, touching SDG 10.2, SDG 11.7 and the risk that SDG 12 progress leaves SDG 10 behind. Originality/value This paper offers a comparative analysis across twenty-two developed and emerging markets, introduces the disclosed barrier as an analytical category and reads together SDG targets ordinarily invoked separately.
Purpose This paper explores the use and perception of artificial intelligence in the context of sustainability in nature-based tourism (NBT) destinations, examining the interplay among ecological conservation, visitor experience and community well-being through a Tourism Social–Ecological–Technological Systems framework. Design/methodology/approach An exploratory sequential mixed-methods design synthesized 44 peer-reviewed studies identified via Scopus and Web of Science. Bibliometric co-occurrence mapping in VOSviewer first established macro-level structural clusters, which directly seeded the coding framework for deductive–inductive thematic analysis in NVivo with inter-rater reliability checks. The study integrated findings from both phases to derive the final socio-technical dimensions. Findings The integrated analysis identified three core clusters: sociotechnical sustainability demonstrates that smart and ambient systems optimize mobility, monitor ecological impacts and support visitor management, though realization depends on institutional capacity and data governance; robotics and automation indicates that while autonomous systems improve operational resilience and resource efficiency, they introduce risks of experiential dehumanization, labour displacement and ethical concerns and social-ecological and human dimensions highlights AI’s capacity to foster environmental stewardship and local livelihoods, while cautioning against algorithmic standardization that privileges commodified, image-driven experiences over low-impact, context-specific practices. Originality/value This study is among the first to synthesize AI–sustainability research in NBT through a multi-dimensional Tourism Social-Ecological-Technological Systems perspective, uncovering systemic synergies and socio-technical tensions to guide responsible technological interventions in fragile destinations.
