Though invasive, wild pigs (poaka) were fundamental to the survival of both M & amacr;ori and P & amacr;keh & amacr; during colonisation, and they remain an essential source of kai (sustenance) today. Utilising a Whanganui case study, 24 participants, semi-structured interviews, and thematic analysis guided by Kaupapa M & amacr;ori principles, describe hunters' interests in pig hunting. Hunting enhances wellbeing, providing food and economic security, fulfilling cultural aspirations, social, spiritual, environmental, and recreational experiences, and deepening connection to place. From a biosecurity perspective, hunters contribute to pest management when they hunt poaka. Conservation programmes that consider contributions from hunters maximise nature's benefits to people and vice versa.

This research note offers a four-step reflexive framework for integrating yoga darsana (loosely translated as philosophy) into interpretivist tourism methodologies by situating researcher's positionality, articulating yoga's dvaita/dualist ontology, applying epistemic tools typically associated with yoga philosophy in data collection, and engaging in reciprocal hermeneutic dialogue. Based on reflection on an in-depth study of yoga tourism in Rishikesh, India, using insider-outsider positioning, multilingual interviews, and cultural tokens of reciprocity, the framework demonstrates how dialogical discourse deepens data collection and interpretation. This note offers transferable insights for scholars working in Indigenous, cross-cultural, or niche tourism contexts, ensuring research outcomes are meaningful, reflexive, and relevant to the lived realities of yoga tourism participants.

Food heritage-based networks (based on food heritage and food communities of practice) are at the core of gastronomic tourism. This paper examines the complex process of networking between 15 farmers and nine hotel managers in the Italian Dolomites area of the Valle del Primiero and Vanoi. Research undertaken over 20 months included focus groups exploring the development of a collaboration between these two sets of actors and the emergence of a food heritage-based network (cheesescape). Considering the implications for gastronomic tourism, the study found that this collaborative process represents a fundamental step in developing an internal awareness ("heritage realisation") for food communities of practice. This subsequently empowers local communities in relation to their role within the gastronomic offerings of the territory and supports emerging new food heritage-based networks between different actors of the destination ("rural recomposition"). Gastronomic tourism thus becomes an opportunity to valorize local heritage, and members of the local communities become protagonists in promoting their culture, heritage, traditions and place identity.

This conceptual paper examines the transformation of yoga, an ancient spiritual and cultural practice, into cultural tourism experiences. Applying cultural transmission theory and the learning concept therein, it presents a revised perspective of yoga tourism. The paper elucidates three key aspects: a) the transmission of yoga in an environmental (both physical and social) entity, b) the incorporation of yoga as a learning process within the framework of cultural transmission theory, and c) the redefining of the diverse learning processes of yoga into cultural products, services, and experiences. In addressing these points, this paper explores the effect of consumerism in yoga tourism, integral to its complex contemporary manifestation.

Currently we know little about how visitors perceive invasive species, nor how this may vary across visitor cohorts. Previous research suggests that visitors to natural areas have a low awareness of the impact of invasive species. This note reports on a survey of domestic and international visitors (n = 231) in New Zealand, investigating their awareness of invasive wild conifers and attitudes toward their control. Awareness of the wild conifer problem was generally low, especially among international visitors. There were significant differences between domestic and international visitors, and among visitors of different nationalities for how wild conifers were perceived. International visitors, and particularly those from China or other Asian countries were more accepting of wild conifers in the landscape and less supportive of eradication. The findings have implications for management of invasive species, which requires the support of all stakeholders, including tourists, recreationists and their associated sectors.

Research on the link between tourist experience and psychological well-being has mainly focused on holiday contexts that are (1) physically remote from tourists' everyday lives, and (b) in which wellness enhancement is not the primary focus. Accordingly, there are gaps in the literature regarding the psychological well-being impacts of virtual wellness travel, wherein tourists do not physically leave their homes, and wellness is a primary focus of the experience. Given the increasing rates of mental ill-being and growing recognition of the need to support psychological well-being across diverse populations, this conceptual study explored how virtual wellness retreat experiences may influence psychological well-being. This conceptual paper suggests new directions for tourist well-being research by exploring wellbeing in relation to the emerging phenomenon of virtual wellness retreats. The authors propose that retreating online may enhance psychological well-being by: engaging people in simultaneous experiences of relaxation and adventure; offering a wide range of alternative wellness services; fostering environmentally sustainable practices; affording a sense of community; and facilitating meaningful co-created experiences that are more likely to endure due to the home context. The paper concludes with a conceptual model to guide future research, and a discussion of future avenues to investigate the nexus between technology, sustainable wellness tourism, and psychological well-being.

The role of Twitter hashtags in creating destination images is under-researched, and there is limited understanding of their usefulness in destination promotion. This paper examines the destination image of Rishikesh, India, based on an analysis of relevant tweets during the decade 2009–2019. The hashtags of resident, domestic and international Twitter users (about Rishikesh, India) were compared with the images of Rishikesh promoted by the relevant Regional Tourism Organisation (RTO: Uttarakhand Tourism) to identify and analyse any similarities or differences in the destination image promotion. The findings suggest that ‘yoga’ and ‘Ganges’ were the most prominent images associated with Rishikesh. However, the efforts of the RTO regarding promoting Rishikesh also focus on hashtags featuring adventure. This adventure image is also used by Indian Twitter users, whereas the residents and international Twitter users were less likely to use adventure-related hashtags that much. However, though residents, Indian and international Twitter users used almost similar natural landscape-related hashtags, RTO uses them unsubstantially. The results emphasise the importance of, and potential for, selected experiential and interpersonal hashtags when promoting destination images via Twitter, thus maximising the potential for destination marketing through this platform. At last, a hashtag strategy for destination promotion is also proposed based on the findings of this paper for focused exposure and increased searchability.

Whilst there is an increasing literature about managing local Indigenous values in land-based settings for visitor experiences there is limited knowledge around how Indigenous values contribute to tourism development in marine environments. This paper explores how Indigenous knowledge and practices are integrated into scuba diving tourism development. In-depth face-to-face conversations with 49 Indigenous tourism stakeholders in Misool, Raja Ampat, Indonesia were conducted. Following narrative analysis, findings revealed five features of Misoolese knowledge and practices of the local communities: locating and attracting marine species, reading the signs of nature, respecting sacred sites, fish taboo, and marine sasi, a form of traditional marine resource management. The findings make a theoretical contribution as they explain how integrating Indigenous knowledge into successful tourism development can be achieved. It is argued that these Indigenous practices are instrumental for culturally sustainable tourism development in marine environments.

The tourism sector has a role in environmental stewardship, including the responsible representation of tourism destinations. However, tourism stakeholders may, willingly or unwittingly, through uninformed or irresponsible promotion, support the perpetuation of environmental problems. We explore how tourism stakeholders portray a serious environmental problem in New Zealand - invasive species - using the case of Russell lupin. Lupins are an example of a 'charismatic' but highly invasive weed that tourism stakeholders may perceive as contributing to destination attractiveness. We document how 17 regional/national tourism organisations portray this invasive species in their Instagram accounts, employing an analysis of the imagery and accompanying commentary of 94 exhibits. We found overwhelming evidence of lupin being represented both by tourism organisations and their audiences as a highly desirable landscape feature. Where negative impacts were alluded to, these were embedded within a broader positive narrative underplaying the seriousness of the ecological threats. Uncritical acceptance and incorporation of invasive species as destination attractions may complicate future efforts for control or eradication. Tourism organisations have a role in sustainable destination management that includes the need to responsibly re-present environmental problems in their promotion activities to foster awareness and action among their audiences and visitor markets.

Tourism, one of the world largest economic sectors, moves a substantial body of individuals and materials about the world and is implicated in the spread of invasive plants and is itself impacted by biological invasions that can degrade touristic landscapes and affect destination communities. Tourists constitute not only an immediate biological threat, but through their landscape and biota preferences also constitute a substantial economic and ecological force that has implications for invasive plant management in destinations. Tourists and the tourism industry are therefore significant stakeholders in invasive plant introduction, spread, and management. This paper discusses an onsite survey ( n = 231) of domestic and international visitors in New Zealand, a destination where invasive species are an important ecological and economic issue. Findings show that visitors have a low understanding of the presence and level of threat of invasive plants and express preferences for some plants that are highly invasive. However, there were substantial variations across the international sample, with visitors from Asian and European ethnicities expressing significantly different attitudes toward a range of invasive plants. Asian visitors were more likely to show preferences for some plants that were seriously invasive and to be more accepting in general of invasive plants within landscapes and less supportive of invasive species eradication. These findings suggest that attitudes toward invasive plants and their management may be culturally determined, which poses challenges for managers aiming to generate awareness and support from across diverse tourist cohorts for invasive species control. There are also challenges for gaining support from the tourism industry for invasive plant control programs where particular “charismatic” or attractive invasive plants may contribute to touristic landscapes and visitor itineraries.

Tourism has been implicated in the spread of invasive species, not only through physical means but through invasive species being perpetuated in destinations as part of the tourism landscape. This study reports on a survey of 238 domestic and international tourists visiting the south of New Zealand, with a focus on their knowledge of and attitudes to the management of two invasive plants: wild conifers and Russell lupins. Both plants have profound ecological, economic and environmental impacts but are also increasingly a part of the tourist landscapes in the study region. The survey found significant differences between domestic and international visitors in their levels of ecological knowledge about the invasive plants, with domestic visitors having greater awareness. However, there were also significant differences between international visitors according to origin and ethnicity, with Asian visitors showing lower awareness and also lower willingness to support eradication of the invasives, even after being provided information on the ecological impact of the species. Participants also responded differently to the two species, being less willing to support eradication of the attractive Russell lupin, compared to wild conifers. There are implications for management in terms of the messaging that may be required for different visitor groups around invasive species control. The study also points to the challenge of developing support for the management of charismatic plant species such as Russell lupin that are now firmly located within the tourism domain.

For many Indigenous communities who live in mountain regions around the globe, the histories of mountain park development have often facilitated dispossession from ancestral territories. Diverse Indigenous communities share similar experiences, where park interests have conflicted with Indigenous lands. However, colonial practices of park management are consistently being rethought. Canada and Aotearoa/New Zealand are examples where new designations of parks are now emerging to support management practices that assert Indigenous knowledge and land rights. Guided by Indigenous methodologies and supported by secondary literature, the analysis of policy documents, and community-based research with Indigenous communities in Canada and Aotearoa/New Zealand, this article highlights grassroots Indigenous-led park management practices that move beyond colonial frameworks. This research indicates the potential of protected areas to strengthen the livelihoods of Indigenous Peoples and mountain ecosystems by demonstrating how colonial histories can be reconciled and conservation policies integrated to support the sustainable development of mountain regions.

OBJECTIVE:The current research aimed to compare clinical outcome measures of two National Eating Disorder (ED) Day Services at the Maudsley Hospital from before the COVID-19 lockdown, when treatment was face to face, with after the lockdown when treatment moved online.METHOD:Clinical outcome measures collected as part of the admission and discharge process were compared from the beginning and end of treatment for patients treated either via face-to-face or online delivery. Twenty-nine patients' data were analyzed (89% of them female, 11% male, 89% from White ethnic backgrounds, 11% from BAME ethnic backgrounds and a mean age of 25.99 years). Additionally, the mean change in outcome measures was also compared between the two groups (pre-lockdown face to face and during lockdown online).RESULTS:Treatment delivered face to face led to significant improvements in body mass index (BMI) but not in Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDEQ) Global and Work and Social Adjustment Scale (WSAS) Total scores. In contrast, treatment delivered online led to significant improvements in EDEQ Global and WSAS Total scores but not in BMI. Neither one of the delivery modalities created significantly larger mean changes in any of the clinical outcome measures than the other.CONCLUSIONS:Both face-to-face and online delivery of eating disorder day treatment show some success. Suggested improvements for using online delivery of treatment include implementing additional support opportunities, adapting the online format to improve communication and commitment and using a hybrid model of specific face-to-face elements with some online treatment.