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The youth travel market is an important market segment in terms of size and growth rates. Youth travelers, however, differ in their travel motivations from other market segments. Therefore, in order to attract and satisfy youth travelers it is necessary to match their travel motivations with their perceptions of destinations. Based on an empirical study (N=2.128) among German Youth Travelers a methodology is presented which enables tourism managers to link travel motivations with perceptions of the destination. A two‐dimensioned matrix assesses the degree to which motivations and perceptions correlate. This analytical tool then forms the basis for the formulation of marketing strategies. The results of the empirical study presented in this paper show clear differences between travel motivations in summer and winter tourism and between perceptions of the Alps as a summer and winter destination.

Travel motivation has received considerable attention in the tourism literature. Although motivation is only one variable explaining tourist behaviour, it is regarded as one of the most important. Hence, nature‐based tourism resources as non‐market goods or destination goods have their own economic value, which is frequently neglected. This paper seeks to examine this issue.

The Delphi study among tourism experts attempts to quantify the value and significance of nature and landscape for tourists’ travel motivation for vacations in the Tirol at present and in the future.

The survey shows that particularly in the summer season Nature/Landscape is the most important theme for summer vacation in the Tirol today and will be even more in 2020. Therefore, it clearly is one of the most essential travel motives in the eyes of the experts. Nature‐based vacation has a strong significance and value for the Tirol, with Nature ranging among the top three strengths in the Delphi survey.

The Tirol provides very good prerequisites with regard to nature and experts see high importance in natural resources in 2020 in winter and summer alike. This indicates that tourist providers have to continue producing nature‐based products, offers and attractions in order to meet the challenges of the market.

The current findings add to a growing body of literature on travel motivation and the findings will enhance the understanding of the significance and value of non‐market goods for travel decisions.

Co-operation activities play a central role for the development of a tourism destination, and require a co-operative approach among numerous different actors to manage and market a tourism destination. This paper aims to describe the characteristics of leadership networks in tourism destinations and their impact on destination development.

The paper discusses network relationships of destination leaders, as in their collectivity, leaders shape and influence the destination's core services, strategic orientation and innovation capability. The research is based on the examination of relevant literature and a quantitative survey conducted in five selected tourism destinations in the Tirol, Austria.

The article discusses leadership networks in community-structured destinations, providing insights into its organizational structure and dynamic behaviour. Moreover, the paper illustrates the network characteristics and its influence on the development of the tourism destination. Thus, implications for destination management can be derived.

Discussions on leadership have usually been limited to firms and have not yet fully embraced the network and destination level. The originality of the paper is to provide insights in destination leadership and networking activities of leaders within destinations by means of a quantitative approach and thus adds to the growing body of literature on the functionalities of destination leadership networks, their structures and mechanisms.