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By embracing the entire community of travellers, despite their capacity, tourism destinations that have the opportunity to appeal to the art of inclusive tourism policies in the Center of Portugal, are analyzed, showing the importance for a tourist destination to adapt these policies to the notoriety of the destination brand.

This paper offers a practical viewpoint based on the state-of-the-art of public policies relating to inclusive and accessible tourism in the Center of Portugal and their impacts on the destination branding.

Taking into account the territorial specificity of the Center of Portugal, the asymmetries of development and cohesion, Tourism Center of Portugal (TCP) has sought to develop projects and actions in partnership with the different actors in the territory that promote territorial cohesion, integrated and sustainable development and the attractiveness of the inland region.

All the projects developed to support accessible and inclusive tourism, in which TCP is an active part, create a network of tourist services to become destinations more accessible and inclusive for everyone.

Inclusive and accessible tourism is little explored by DMOs. In this paper, the case of the Center of Portugal region is presented, highlighting a series of unprecedented initiatives that are being developed, aiming to provide the destination with unique points of differentiation.

It is important to design accessible destinations for disabled tourists. However, to attract this market segment, it is also important to efficiently communicate online the accessibility provided. This paper aims to analyse the online communication of physical accessibility conditions designed for disabled tourists, to discuss the existence or non-existence of a design–communication gap in tourist destinations.

The authors analysed the physical accessibility of a selection of touristic spots in Porto, Portugal. The online communication regarding the physical accessibility of these spots’ informative websites was also analysed. Subsequently, a content analysis of these same websites was conducted to ascertain whether accessibility conditions for disabled tourists are disclosed in line with the physical and online facilities observed.

The destination websites’ online contents targeting disabled tourists are generic and do not inform about all the accessible facilities provided by the touristic spots analysed.

The authors found a gap between the accessible destination design and its communication in destination websites. This situation creates a barrier for people with physical disabilities and it is particularly concerning, considering that this market segment seeks for information in online sources to plan trips and does not find on the internet all the information about the accessible facilities provided. This fact may hinder the positioning of destinations as inclusive places and impair accessible tourism competitiveness. A better online communication of the accessible destination design is recommended.

为残疾游客设计出无障碍旅游地是非常重要的。然而, 为了吸引这部分游客市场, 有效地在线宣传提供的无障碍条件也是非常重要的。本论文分析为残疾游客提供的无障碍设施的在线宣传, 以讨论旅游地是否存在设计-宣传差异。

本论文分析了葡萄牙波尔图城市游客景点的无障碍设施。本论文还分析了这些景点网站对于无障碍设施的描述。本论文采用文本分析方法, 对这些网站内容进行分析, 验证是否为残疾游客提供的无障碍设施如网上宣传介绍一直。

研究结果表明, 景点网站针对残疾游客的内容太过笼统, 并没有介绍景区提供的全部无障碍设施。

本论文展示了无障碍旅游地设计与其网站宣传之间的差异。这将对残疾人造成障碍, 尤其是那些通过在线信息来确立旅游计划的游客, 他们无法在网络上找到全部关于提供的无障碍设施的信息。这将阻碍景点定位为全包容性旅游目的地, 影响其无障碍旅游竞争力。本论文推荐无障碍景点设计应该有一个更好的在线宣传。

This article aims to provide a critical review of the articles included in this special issue and highlight their findings and contribution to events, festivals and destination management research.

The article critically reviews methodologies, findings, themes and conclusions offered by each article included in this special issue.

The articles in the special issue identify the latest thematic trends in events, festivals and destination management research and propose conceptual frameworks for event and festival life cycle trajectories. They build on previous research confirming how accessible tourism and a balanced event portfolio can increase the sustainability and competitiveness of the destination. Based on sound methodologies, they offer specific theoretical and practical implication for the successful planning, marketing and management of events, festivals and destinations. They provide suggestions on how event innovation, participatory sport events, mega sport events, food and wine festivals and meetings, incentives, conferences and events (MICE) can assist in the marketing and branding of the tourism destination.

The articles in this special issue lay the foundation for future research in events, festivals and destination management. Articles in this special issue apply various research methods and analysis, indicating the growth of event and festival research. Research methods and analysis techniques used in the special issue include content/theme analysis, case studies, qualitative studies and questionnaires. The research articles and methodologies used in this issue should help both researchers and industry practitioners.

This study highlights key findings, theoretical and practical implications and contributions of the articles included in this special issue. It provides a holistic view of events, festivals and destination management research and suggests areas for future research.

Worldwide approximately 200 national economies are competing in the destination market. In 2006, global government and capital expenditure exceeded US$1,480 billion making destination branding an important concept that still remains fragmented and unplanned. Dubai, an emirate of the UAE in the Middle East has been chosen as a case study to explain some elements of successful destination branding. This paper aims to apply a framework developed by Balakrishnan to explain areas of caution when competing in an international market where success is also partially dependent on the macro‐environment.

The framework was developed by reviewing literature on destination, place, corporate, product portfolio and service branding. The framework was tested using case study methodology. Secondary research was primarily used to develop the case.

There is a strong fit with the model suggesting that destinations can use this as a basis for continuity in strategy even as governments change. Based on the analysis and review; a checklist for destination branding strategy was recommended.

Since, this study depends on secondary research there is some limitations as data in this region is not easily available.

Destination branding differs in challenges vis‐à‐vis product and service branding. This paper depicts steps essential for creating a successful branding strategy which can be applied in a real world context to maximize returns for the destination.

Smart tourism is a destination management approach that requires the buy-in of a myriad of stakeholders. Its many audiences and complexity demand the creation of meaningful brands to effectively position and communicate smart tourism initiatives. The purpose of this paper is to explore how smart tourism branding strategies have been implemented to communicate relevant values, benefits and attributes to industry stakeholders through institutional websites.

Based on a semiotic analysis of two smart tourism-related sites (destinosinteligentes.es and smarttourismcapital.eu), the research interprets the brand-related visual and verbal signs.

The findings highlight how brand elements embedded in websites communicate a brand identity and facilitate particular interpretations of smart tourism. Both brands use similar signs to promote a techtopian vision of smart destinations but employ different strategies to motivate stakeholder buy-in.

Smart tourism is currently largely embedded in overall smart city initiatives and finding tourism-specific examples online is difficult. However, the two selected websites reflect the brands of multiple destinations and permit a detailed analysis of meaning making. Future research can focus on how brand-related signs are perceived by different stakeholders.

Identifying the strategies and shortcomings of current smart tourism brands informs future smart tourism branding efforts and effective communication with smart tourism stakeholders.

Semiotics is a relevant but underutilized method to understand how smart tourism initiatives conceptualize “smartness.”

Purpose: This study links SDG goal 9 of industry, innovation strategies and another infrastructural environment to branding relating to destination and interactive marketing. Digital marketing tools with various applications aim to offer hi-tech services to customers in interactive marketing services, namely multiple goods and services, data and innovative techniques in the tourism and travel sector. Exploring the study would add to the existing literature supporting interactive marketing procedures and destination branding. Branding relating to destinations fosters tourists around the globe facilitating economic growth and development and supporting the local economies.

Need for the Study: It is observed from the literature that very few studies have been identified across the globe from various researchers on the interactive marketing and destination branding that ensures brand loyalty and reassesses the intent of the tourists just before the epidemic pandemic in the form of COVID-19. Artificial Intelligence, as part of information technology, offers various interactive marketing services in the form of different social media marketing strategies, attractive websites for tourists and travel providers and image building on destination branding. This study would help fill the marketing gap, which results in branding relating to destination, brand loyalty and reassessing the intent of various tours and travel plans just before the pandemic.

Methodology: The study focused on the literature, demonstrating the stimulus organism methodology and examining the impact of potential marketing strategy, which is interactive focusing on the destination branding, loyalty relating to the brand and also procedures to revert with the intent that would motivate and facilitate the customer’s confidence showering the loyalty relating to the brand in the travel and tourism sector.

Findings and their Practical Implications: The study revealed that the marketing relating to interactive methodologies in the hi-tech digital approaches ought to be carried out to create opportunities for prospective tourists willing to get information about various tourists destinations with the help of various marketing techniques such as different social media applications, easy access of websites for accessing the tourist destinations and relevant information, accessing images pertinent to the tourism destinations with the ease of chat box and providing suitable audios and video sources to the potential customers.

The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, the author examines how the destination brand Mexico is using international sporting events as part of its branding strategy to deal with the challenges faced by destinations and to overcome some of its weaknesses. Second, the author assesses the positive and negative consequences of such strategy. The investigation tries to fill a gap in terms of understanding and assessing opportunities and challenges experienced by the sport industry in emerging markets.

The author used a case study research strategy, relying on documentation, archival records, and personal interviews with experts as sources of evidence. Given that most research efforts have focused on developed countries, this research approach was exploratory and descriptive.

The thematic analysis revealed the presence of five major themes related to the process of hosting and using Formula One (F1), National Football League (NFL), Major League Baseball (MLB), and National Basketball Association (NBA) games as part of a brand strategy. These five major themes were labeled: brand strategy challenges and opportunities, balancing short- and long-term goals and benefits, tension between stakeholders from different destinations, social issues, and areas of improvement.

The findings shed light on the challenges and opportunities that hosting international sport events bring to a destination brand with an emerging economy such as Mexico. The opportunity to host these types of events comes from the expansion strategies of well-known sport brands such as F1, NFL, MLB, and NBA.

Understanding the multifaceted images of tourism destinations is critical for effective destination marketing and management strategies. Traditional approaches, including conceptualization of destination images or analysis of their antecedents and consequences, are commonly used. This study aims to advocate the inclusion of visitors’ latent profiles based on cognitive images to enrich the evaluation and formulation of destination marketing and management strategies.

The analysis focuses on Serbia, an emerging destination, that attracts an increasing number of first-time, repeat and prospective visitors. Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were used to test the potential dimensions (tangible and intangible cultural destination; infrastructural and accessible destination; active, nature and family destination; sensory and hospitable destination; and welcoming, value for money (VFM) and safe destination) of the cognitive destination image factors scale while subtypes (profiles) were obtained using latent profile analysis (LPA).

The cognitive image component encompasses the perceived attributes of a destination, whether derived from direct experience or acquired through other means. The study identified the following profiles: conventional destination; sensory and hospitable destination; welcoming, VFM and safe destination; secure and active family destination and accessible cultural destination, which are presented individually with their sociodemographic assets.

The main contribution of the paper is the application of a novel method (LPA) for profiling visitor segments based on cognitive destination image. From a theoretical perspective, this research contributes to the extant body of literature pertaining to the destination image, thereby facilitating the identification of discrete latent visitor segments and elucidating noteworthy differences among them concerning a cognitive image.

This paper aims to contribute to the event legacy discourse by exploring the nexus between event legacy literature and destination competitiveness by focusing on disability sport events or parasport and addressing an identified gap in the research literature.

This is achieved through conducting a systematic review of disability sport events literature; performing an audit of international disability sport events; developing a typology of disability sport events; and outlining a research agenda drawing upon these previous steps. The typology is then placed in context to the destination competitiveness framework to provide direction for both host organizing committees and tourism destination managers. The research framework reflects the complexity of disability sport events with specific reference to the social impact of disability sport events for destinations.

Despite calls for increased research into accessible tourism and events, the potential social legacy for communities and destinations from disability sport or parasport events remains absent from most sport, event and tourism literature. The findings and resultant typology from this study provide an interdisciplinary approach to value add to the disability sport event and destination management sectors. The combined understanding of both sectors creates an opportunity to leverage further events through marketing accessibility as a competitive advantage, seizing opportunity for international and national disability events, and the subsequent event accessible tourism and general accessible tourism that improved destination accessibility provides a host city or precinct.

The disability sport event typology and a research agenda that supports future research are outcomes of this research.

These insights are beneficial to both researchers and practitioners interested in leveraging the opportunities from disability sport events to support sustainable destination development and competiveness that reflect the needs of a population with diverse access needs, including our ageing population, those with temporary disability and parents with young children.

This research lays the groundwork to support the desired social legacy for future host communities. From a theoretical perspective, given the paucity of research on disability sport, the typology offers a means to evaluate and monitor the impacts of various types of events from the perspectives of sustainable development, tourism, accessibility, community engagement and public policy. The addition of understanding destination competitiveness and the underlying criteria for accessible destination development provides opportunities to further leverage disability sport event beyond the event itself for ongoing accessible events, tourism and disability employment opportunities.