This study addresses how the aviation sector can create value by fostering innovation in collaboration with start-ups. A novel ‘Key-Success Factors in Aviation-Start-up Collaboration Framework’ is proposed to explain the innovation process, identify key success factors, and generate valuable insights into the aviation sector and start-up partnerships. Drawing on 31 of 80 consolidated key success factors selected from the literature and validated through ten interviews with managers of aviation innovation programs and start-up founders, the proposed framework is structured into three dimensions: (i) antecedents, (ii) governance, support, and development, and (iii) innovation and value creation, and 13 related categories. The data were analyzed with IRaMuTeQ software using a text-based descending hierarchical classification and similarity analysis. Empirical evidence from cases and interviews involved worldwide programs, such as Hangar 51 (IAGi) by International Airlines Group, Plug and Play Travel & Hospitality, Embraer, and JetBlue Ventures (SKY VC). The analysis reveals key success factors for collaborations between the aviation industry and start-ups that drive innovation and value creation. The findings indicate that a successful partnership framework is achievable when open communication is employed and the strategic vision and value propositions of all stakeholders are aligned. Technological advancements have prompted the aviation sector to explore new approaches to innovation and value creation. A promising approach is collaborating with start-ups. However, research on the role of start-ups collaborating with the aviation industry in driving innovation is lacking. This study explores how the aviation sector can successfully co-create or foster innovations with start-ups to drive value creation, thereby contributing to both research and practice.

Weather conditions impact tourism experiences and influence travel decisions. Nevertheless, studies tend to focus on climate change, with limited research investigating how tourism destinations can prepare for and adapt to day-to-day weather variability. The conceptual 'Weather Adaptation Model for Destination Typologies' is proposed, depicting the complex relationship between weather adaptation strategies and managerial interventions. By using a systematic narrative review, this study critically examines the weather-based adaptation strategies available to tourism operators, with emergent findings revealing four key adaptation directions: exiting, protecting, expanding, and sharing. As a result of this review, the 'Weather Adaptation Managerial Toolkit' has been developed, comprising seven tools and measures, offering practical insights for formulating and implementing weather adaptation strategies. Furthermore, policy interventions that destination managers, policymakers, and businesses can leverage to mitigate the impact of weather variability on tourism destinations of various typologies are articulated. The paper underscores the emerging field of collective efforts, sustainability, and strategic adaptation measures to navigate the complexities of weather-related challenges in the context of tourism.

Small island states often promote tourism as a development solution, yet weak governance and unequal political–economic structures frequently allow benefits to leak offshore while environmental costs are borne locally. In Timor-Leste, this risk is acute as the economy confronts the imminent loss of oil and gas revenues following the closure of the Bayu-Undan field in 2025. Despite the prominence of tourism in national policy, policymakers lack concrete evidence on whether marine tourism can deliver high-value growth without undermining fragile marine ecosystems or customary governance systems. This study assesses economic opportunity, marine biodiversity, and conservation effectiveness for marine tourism in Timor-Leste, and it compares ecological outcomes across protected and unprotected sites. Our methods combine ecological surveys, exit-survey economics, and stakeholder interviews. The data collection includes biological observations from four Ataúro Island sites (5,308 individual taxa; 118 fish species) and a purpose-built international passenger survey of 238 visitors conducted at Dili Airport in July 2024, providing current and activity-specific spending data. Marine tourism is found to deliver high economic returns, with SCUBA divers spending an average of US$1,600 over 10 nights, and 90% reporting complete satisfaction. By 2035, forecasts suggest that diving, snorkelling, and whale watching could generate an estimated US$60.64 million (approximately 44% of leisure visitor spending) in an optimistic scenario, or around US$33.00 million (38% of leisure visitor spending) under more conservative estimates. Community-managed Tara Bandu sites exhibit significantly higher predator abundance and far lower coral damage than unmanaged sites (8% versus 27%). The results demonstrate that marine tourism can underpin the country’s economic diversification; however, it must be accompanied by strengthened governance, community authority, the enforcement of spatial protection, and the alignment of investments with ecological sustainability.

This article follows up on the seminal experience written by Weeden, Woolley, and Lester in 2011 where a cruise field trip was undertaken with a group of undergraduate students in the UK. It presents the reflections of students who undertook a cruise field trip carried out in Australia with 24 undergraduate students. While some of the experiential learning findings obtained in this research (n = 22) support what was presented from the smaller sample of the above-mentioned article (n = 8)—facilitation of group cohesion and first-hand understanding of managerial and operational aspects of the cruise sector—new pedagogical opportunities were also identified.

Weather adversity poses a considerable stressor for tourists, shaping their coping strategies and the responses of tourism companies. However, the full extent of this impact remains underexplored. This paper investigates the effects of adverse weather on the tourism sector, with a focus on the adaptive strategies employed by both businesses and tourists. Using a social constructivist approach, we analyse interviews with tourism business representatives and tourists' written narratives through the theoretical lenses of coping and contingency theory. The findings offer a theory-driven integration that captures the nuanced effects of weather on tourism, providing empirical support for the contingency-coping framework.

This paper presents four possible scenarios for tourism education in Brazil for 2032, fostering reflection about the future of tourism higher education. Through a qualitative scenario analysis process, 15 experts were interviewed using a seven-question technique to support the definition of eight future driving forces of tourism education in Brazil (networks, curricula, hybrid education, cross-curricular skills, faculty, internationalisation, higher education structure, and neglected topics). The combination of the two most important and uncertain forces (networks and curricula) and their polar outcomes (network building, academic bubble, customised curricula, and generalised curricula) resulted in four scenarios for Brazilian undergraduate tourism degrees: (1) well-connected standardisation, highlighted academia's external networks with the private and public sectors; (2) student protagonism in the business/academia relationship, proposed curriculum customisation; (3) stuck in the past, carried out the current curricular structure despite contextual changes; and (4) choices within the bubble, proposed tailor-made programmes with curricula designed mainly by the faculty. The four scenarios composed a knowledge-based foundation for what could be the future of tourism education. Regardless of the path of tourism education by 2032, this contribution reflects current tourism education, considering the global structural problems common to the tourism sector.

Flight training is a lengthy and resource-intensive process with additional learning, and teaching techniques are often overlooked. One technique is observational learning, or backseating in aviation training, which can accelerate pilot training. This study aimed to analyze the factors that facilitate and hinder the implementation of backseating in flight schools. The perceptions of students, instructors, and managers were investigated using an ethnographic approach. The results show that recognizing the benefits of implementation and the need for change, no extra financial burden, exposure of instructors to different pedagogies, and involvement of instructors in the decision-making process would facilitate the implementation of backseating. Additionally, factors such as practicality issues for implementation, concern about students' needs, instructors' self-confidence and emotions, lack of follow-up by managers, and regulatory ambiguity hinder implementation. To implement backseating, legislative ambiguity, instructors' confidence and emotions, and their concerns about students' needs should be addressed.

PurposeTourism is integral to the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) and is closely linked to air transport. This paper aims to explore their relationship, emphasising impacts on accessibility, connectivity and collaborative efforts between airlines, destination management organisations and stakeholders. Improved air transport contributes to tourism-led growth, economic development, job creation and cultural exchange. However, environmental challenges prompt innovation with cleaner technologies and sustainable aviation fuels. Design/methodology/approachOpinion piece. FindingsLinking aviation and tourism to the UN SDGs, the paper showcases contributions done to date to environmental, social and economic aspects. The paper suggests a focused strategy for aviation to align more closely with the UN SDGs. Actions such as exploring alternative fuels, prioritising energy-efficient aircraft, addressing local impacts and fostering global collaboration are crucial in addressing gender disparities for a more inclusive future. Originality/valueThis piece examines air transport developments from 1946 to 2020, revealing transformative periods marked by regulatory agreements, technological advancements and sustainability initiatives. The paper also addresses COVID-19 impacts, highlighting vulnerabilities, resilience and lessons for adaptability and sustainability.

PurposeThis paper explores the intricate interdependencies among core components of airline business models (BMs). In the airline industry, where BMs are complex systems, a successful BM requires an orchestrated configuration of various components. However, there is a paucity of research in BM literature pertaining to the interrelationships among key components of airline BMs.Design/methodology/approachEmploying interpretive structural modelling, we gathered input from experts in Iran to assess the driving power and dependency of elements within airline BMs.FindingsOur findings highlight the significance of operating environment conditions and competitive market dynamics as pivotal external components shaping the foundational structure. Value proposition, customer relationship management, and process monitoring are crucial linkage components that drive power and dependency. Notably, capturing value is positioned with the highest dependency.Practical implicationsWe utilised the ISM technique to visualize interdependencies within airline business models, aiding strategic decision-making. Our findings suggest aligning business and operational strategies with market needs ensures effective value creation and capture, maintaining competitive advantage in the airline industry. In addition, our research reveals critical factors affecting value creation and capture, emphasising monitoring the operating environment and competitive market, and strategically managing value propositions and customer relationship initiatives in the airline industry. We advise adapting business models to external changes for sustained growth and recommend regular monitoring of industry trends and customer expectations.Originality/valueFramed within complexity theory, these insights offer valuable perspectives on identifying and situating critical BM components in the airline industry. The practical implications derived from this study serve as strategic tools for airline managers and potential investors to optimise the design of their airline BMs.

Numerous people are employed in tourism and hospitality worldwide, but sexual harassment (SH) is a common problem that management fails to address. Informed by framing theory, this study examines how SH is portrayed in media coverage of tourism and hospitality workplaces, exploring frames used to shape public perceptions and societal dialogues. We conducted a computer-assisted thematic analysis of articles published around and after the #MeToo movement, which gained widespread attention in 2017, empowering survivors to share experiences of sexual harassment and assault. We used multiple tools to examine reported SH incidents within the airline, hotel and spa sectors. Our results reveal a deep and broad under-reporting of incidents and a need for more management awareness and proactive strategies to improve the situation. Although some efforts have been made, SH remains a problem in our social construct of patriarchal dominance, as evidenced by the normalisation of coercive control and persistent sexualization of tourism and hospitality workers in media discourses. As such, our analysis has the following implications: regulators must establish clear boundaries, managers need to acknowledge that SH is an issue and further research in specific areas is needed to ascertain the depth and range of SH within the tourism industry.

Research on tourism and weather has experienced exponential growth, driven by an increasing emphasis on the pervasive impacts of environmental changes. Nevertheless, studies have yet to systematically evaluate the trends and progress in the weather and tourism literature. Consequently, this paper aims to critically examine the complex interrelationships among weather and tourists, destinations, and businesses. Based on a systematic narrative review, this manuscript reveals that studies on tourism and weather predominantly focus on the demand side, emphasising the implications for tourist decision-making, such as destination selection and activity or attraction choice. While recognising weather impact on tourism is apparent in strategic and developmental literature, the response and actionable measures taken by tourism stakeholders towards tourism planning are less well-defined. This manuscript, therefore, proposes an integrative framework that maps the complex interrelationships among weather and tourists, businesses, and destinations. An agenda for future research is also presented.

In the competitive environment of air transport management, airline passenger satisfaction is critical to customer loyalty, operational feedback, financial performance, and regulatory compliance and rankings. Research on airline passenger satisfaction has evolved and matured, shaped by industry dynamics and passenger expectations. However, only some studies have systematically assessed the key drivers and outcomes of airline passenger satisfaction. Consequently, this research provides a meta-analysis of the relationships between the critical drivers of passenger satisfaction and attitudinal and behavioural outcomes within the airline industry. A meta-analysis of 95 empirical studies revealed that perceived service quality and perceived value positively impact passenger satisfaction, with varying effect sizes. Passenger satisfaction had a significant direct and indirect effect on various behavioural intentions and on the willingness to recommend an airline, with gender moderating the relationship between perceived value and satisfaction. Among the perceived service quality dimensions, in-flight service had the greatest effect and was critical to passenger satisfaction. A conceptual model containing mechanisms to achieve affirmative behavioural responses through passenger satisfaction is provided for airline practitioners to formulate long-term success.

This paper analyzes the mutual effects of mindfulness and memorable tourism experiences (MTE) and their consequences. We adopt an innovative approach in which mindfulness is considered an antecedent of MTE. This approach allows us to develop and test a theoretical model using the structural equation modeling technique. That model tests an MTE scale and its consequents, such as personal transformations, subjective well-being, behavioral intentions, place attachment and memory. An electronic questionnaire about MTE in the previous two years was completed by 1,187 respondents. The results indicate that mindfulness negatively impacts MTE, although the literature has shown that mindfulness and travel experiences are positively related. It also confirms that MTEs arouse personal transformations for tourists in terms of learning, abilities, and behaviors. Managers willing to design memorable experiences must provide innovative experiences that can evoke emotions and generate personal transformations.

OBJECTIVE:This study aimed to investigate the self-study methods used by pilots while grounded and their perception of competence decline and confidence upon their return to flying. BACKGROUND:Previously, long absences from flying were managed on a case-by-case basis. Thousands of pilots returning to flying as the pandemic eases have burdened airline training systems. Limited research has been conducted on the decline in skills of airline pilots while operationally absent from the cockpit. Few studies have considered this topic in the context of a pandemic. METHOD:A questionnaire study was conducted with 234 airline pilots who were grounded during the COVID-19 pandemic. RESULTS:Uncertainty regarding sudden and indefinite periods of grounding made it challenging to maintain motivation to self-study. This matter was aggravated by the additional financial and personal stress caused by the state of the airline industry and the outcomes of the pandemic. The participants anticipated a decline in manual flying skills as the worst outcome after being absent from the flight deck. However, these pilots proved quick to recover these skills when they resumed flying. It took significantly more time for pilots to regain proficiency in applying knowledge, procedures and compliance with regulations, situation awareness and workload management. CONCLUSION:The study proposes recommendations for pilots and airlines to harness essential self-study practices in competency areas identified to have significantly declined. APPLICATION:The outcome of this paper guides airlines, pilots and regulators in better understanding how grounded pilots observe skill decline in a broader range of competencies.

Purpose - This study aims to track and integrate past research concerning how tourism might improve natural disaster management, detect thematic research areas and develop an agenda for future research.Design/methodology/approach - Using a systematic literature review methodology, this research synthesises academic papers indexed in the Scopus, Web of Science and EBSCOhost (Hospitality & Tourism Complete) databases. A total of 34 articles published in peer-reviewed English journals were systematically selected for review and analysed using a thematic approach.Findings - This review highlights a growing interest in the potential and value of tourism for disaster management. Eight key themes emerged in the review, including education and information communication about disasters; tourism facilities for disaster preparation; tourism resources in emergency conditions; livelihoods and economic recovery; disaster-related tourism attractions for recovery; destination re-branding and re-framing; community reinvigoration in tourism-driven disaster recovery; and special-interest tourism for recovery. A natural disaster management schematic empowered by tourism highlights tourism industry opportunities to positively impact the entire disaster management process.Originality/value - To the best of the authors' knowledge, this work offers the first systematic review of the research on how tourism might support multiple stages of natural disaster management. This study thus complements and enriches extant literature reviews on the nexus between tourism and disaster management. The framework presents timely guidelines for planners, developers and other key stakeholders to leverage tourism initiatives to improve disaster management outcomes.

Tourists harm the destination's environment in many different ways. Behavioural economics (BE) contributes to the formulation of public and private policies to reduce this harm, and its use is growing in the tourism industry. The nudging agenda is converging with tourism, with managers and policymakers realising that the implementation of nudges leads to lower costs and higher effectiveness of behavioural changes, decreasing the harm produced by tourists. However, little effort has been made to comprehend the relationship between nudges and tourism sustainability. To fill this gap, this paper systematises the literature on nudge interventions in tourism and sustainability studies. Our results present the main disciplinary background used in these investigations, with Anglo-Saxon countries leading research on green nudges. The methodological approach adopted by the nudge studies is limited, and causal evidence is lacking. The thematic analysis categorises the interventions and supports the idea that nudges target both unconscious and conscious behaviours. The preferred interventions are the ones with a low-cost application, such as bed linen reuse. Social norms are the main trigger for developing hypotheses and designing nudges. Our study also presents the mediators and moderators of pro-environmental behaviours (PEBs) and develops a model to design nudges in the tourism industry. Theoretical, managerial contributions and suggestions for future studies are also discussed.

This theoretical paper investigates the potential of social identity theory to promote reconciliation in the context of dark tourism associated with conflicts. While tourism scholars consider an opportunity for leveraging dark tourism in peacebuilding, there must be more evidence of its effectiveness in promoting peace, especially in the reconciliation process. Through a social identity approach, this paper sheds light on the inconsistency of reconciliation in the geopolitics of dark tourism. It develops a conceptual framework of three design dimensions to dissuade animus and promote reconciliation through dark tourism settings of conflicts. The conceptual discussion in this study is of high value for dark tourism stakeholders and governance actors aiming at developing solutions for reconciliation through tourism.