PurposeThis study aims to examine the impact of perceived supervisor support (PSS) on turnover intention (TI) through the mediating roles of job embeddedness (JE) and job satisfaction (JS), within the context of the theme park industry. It aims to provide a more comprehensive understanding of how PSS influences employee retention by testing both direct and indirect pathways. Design/methodology/approachA quantitative analysis was conducted using survey data from 200 employees at a major USA theme park. Structural equation modeling was performed using AMOS to test the proposed hypotheses. FindingsResults indicate that PSS has significant direct effects on JE, JS and TI. Furthermore, the study identifies two distinct mediation pathways – PSS → JE → TI and PSS → JS → TI – as well as a serial mediation pathway (PSS → JE → JS → TI). These findings underscore the multifaceted mechanisms through which PSS influences TI. Practical implicationsThe results stress the need to equip supervisors with the appropriate tools to support and motivate their employees to achieve a more stable and committed workforce. Originality/valueThis study contributes to the literature by addressing the unique context of theme park employees and providing insights for industry leaders. It highlights the importance of fostering strong leader-member relationships and fulfilling employees’ psychological needs to improve JS and reduce TI.

Regenerative tourism closely aligns with the principles of place-making, contributing to the revitalization of ethnic heritage landscapes and the communities that inhabit them. This study commentary explores the intersections of immigration and tourism development in Toronto, highlighting the significant role that multicultural diversity plays in rebuilding communities disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The discussion offers a critical analysis of Toronto's current tourism policy, evaluating the extent to which regenerative principles are integrated into its strategic framework. It emphasizes the transformative potential of multicultural place-making in reshaping tourism through community-driven resources and regenerative urban development. By adopting a place-based lens, the study addresses existing gaps in understanding the importance of immigration histories to multi-ethnic urban environments and their capacity to foster urban regeneration.

This study argues that when overall tourism impacts are positive, residents' quality of life (QOL) increases, thereby positively affecting their attitudes towards tourism initiatives. The study also identifies several other important relationships that have been ignored in the literature. First, QOL may be a crucial push factor for community commitment, which in turn can trigger support for additional tourism development. Second, communication with tourists may moderate the links between QOL, community commitment, and tourism support. Data were collected from 468 residents living in Manavgat, Turkey and analyzed using structural equation modeling and Hayes's PROCESS macro. The findings show that as the perception of the positive effects of tourism increases, opinions about the QOL will also be optimistic. Importantly, QOL strengthens both tourism support and community commitment. Additionally, community commitment mediates the link between QOL and attitudes towards tourism development. Finally, community commitment increases support for tourism, which is stronger for residents who communicate more with tourists.

This paper analyzes the role of Canadian online news media in framing travel during the pandemic. The article applies Altheide’s concept of the problem frame to reflect how news media contribute to the emergence of a highly rationalized problem that, in turn, generates a discourse of fear. While the impacts of COVID-19 on tourism have been extensively examined within tourism scholarship, less attention has been devoted to the impact of news media. Because travel and the pandemic are heavily intertwined, discourse analysis can help process media narratives, furthering our understanding of their role in influencing perceived risk of travel. A critical discourse analysis of over 100 online news articles was conducted using thematic analysis to uncover themes in Canadian media sources and to explore how the media have framed travel during the pandemic. The role of online news media in promoting fear was communicated through the themes of anxiety, antitrust, avoidance, and animosity. The role of the media in producing the problem frame in the context of travel was examined as well as its implications for perceived travel risk and tourism demand. The power dynamics between media, government, and the citizens it serves are also discussed.

The increasing popularity and accessibility of virtual reality (VR) presents an opportunity for destination marketers to leverage its strengths to attract visitors. However, VR's benefits over more traditional media formats remain unclear. This paper reports results from two experiments that compared the impacts of consuming destination marketing material through VR with other media formats. The measured impacts include destination image, perceived advertising effectiveness, and behavioral intentions. Further, the dual experiments allowed for a comparison between different VR content styles (i.e. active vs. passive). Results show that more active VR content largely outperformed other media formats, but with a more passive style of VR these benefits were mostly muted. The findings have direct theoretical and practical implications relating to VR tourism marketing.

At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, we explored a range of very different possible outcomes for destinations that rely heavily on their entertainment sector (Dubois & Dimanche, 2021). Several months later, this article seeks to revisit those outcomes, while also highlighting the ongoing recovery efforts and evolving strategies of entertainment-dependent destinations (EDDs). To do so, we reconnected with the panel of respondents from various destinations (i.e., Las Vegas, Nashville, New Orleans etc.) to take stock of both new challenges and opportunities, as well as emerging factors impacting their respective markets. Our results show that while EDDs are facing a brighter situation, the overall recovery trajectories, permanent effects, and future outlooks remain still very much uncertain.

Despite its undeniable popularity, the concept of placemaking continues to suffer from a lack of clarity, valid performance indicators and robust data to attest of its effectiveness. Still to this day, understanding what placemaking actually does to people and, in turn, makes them want to do, all the while accounting for its contribution separate from other contextual factors, remains both a practical and scientific challenge. Hence, this experimental study investigates the impact of placemaking on affective and cognitive evaluations, self-congruity, and behavioral intentions across five very different built environments. Results show that environments ‘augmented’ through placemaking generate significantly more positive responses, be it in terms of emotions, perceptions, identification, or intended behaviors. In the process, the study sheds light on the underlying mechanisms by which behavioral intentions are induced through placemaking.

The luxury segment of the hospitality sector has been growing worldwide. Luxury hospitality is about providing a unique experience for guests, and this type of experience requires having employees who understand the luxury culture and are trained at the highest level. Luxury hotels compete for the best talents, but the current pool of candidates for customer-facing and managerial positions within these establishments is limited. The purpose of this study was to identify skill gaps in Canada’s luxury hotels. Primary data were collected from in-depth semi-structured interviews with twenty luxury hotel managers and analyzed with NVivo 12. Respondents agreed about the skills required for brands to succeed in the luxury market, but they lamented the lack of qualified talents and the difficulty of training and retaining qualified collaborators. The results of the study point to the need to address the luxury skill gap in the hospitality sector, particularly in Canada. Recommendations to address this problem are proposed.

This study examined the relationship between negative tourist-to-tourist interaction (NTTI) and tourist emotions, intention to recommend, and revisit intention, based on the stimulus-organism-response paradigm and service-dominant logic. It also investigated the moderating effect of optimism in the relationship between NTTI and tourist emotions to highlight the importance of optimism in tourist behavior in COVID-19 times. Data were collected through a survey form from 256 domestic tourists visiting Pamukkale travertines and archaeological site, one of Turkey's leading attractions. The research hypotheses were tested using Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling. The data analysis revealed that NTTI significantly affects tourist emotions. Unpleasantness had a negative and significant effect on intention to recommend, while joy had a positive and significant effect. Besides, joy and positive surprise affected revisit intention positively and significantly. Joy and unpleasantness mediated the relationship between NTTI and intention to recommend. Finally, optimism moderated the relationships between NTTI and joy and NTTI and positive surprise.