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The purpose of this paper is to examine and provide insights into one of the most influential technologies impacting the tourism and hospitality industry over the next five years, i.e. big data and analytics. It reflects on both opportunities and risks that such technological advances create for both consumers and tourism organisations, highlighting the importance of data governance and processes for effective and ethical data management in both tourism and hospitality.

This paper is based on a review of academic and industry literature and access to trends data and information from a series of academic and industry databases and reports to examine how big data and analytics shape the future of the industry and the associated risks and opportunities.

This paper identifies and examines key opportunities and risks posed by the rising technological trend of big data and analytics in tourism and hospitality. While big data is generally regarded as beneficial to tourism and hospitality organisations, there are extensively held ethical, privacy and security concerns about it. Therefore, the paper is making the case for more research on data governance and data ethics in tourism and hospitality and posits that to successfully use data for competitive advantage, tourism and hospitality organisations need to solely expand compliance-based data governance frameworks to frameworks that include more effective privacy and ethics data solutions.

This paper provides useful insights into the use of big data and analytics for both researchers and practitioners and offers new perspectives on the debate on data governance and ethical data management in both tourism and hospitality. Because forecasts from the UNWTO indicate a significant increase in international tourist arrivals (1.8 billion tourist arrivals by 2030), the ways tourism and hospitality organisations manage customers’ data become important.

This concluding paper filters out meaningful marketing strategies that could be used to re-position and re-establish tourism destinations struggling with negative image. Drawing from a collection of case studies around the world, this paper aims to provide evidence from post-colonial, post-conflict and post-disaster destinations to anchor the overall conclusion of the theme issue.

This paper summarizes key issues faced by destinations plagued with a negative image and identifies adaptive marketing strategies based on existing marketing theories and success stories from struggling destinations.

Destinations with a negative image are mostly post-colonial, post-conflict or post disaster destinations (or all of the three combined), and despite their poor (if no) marketing strategies, they continue to struggle to find their share in the tourism market. This paper highlights four main challenges of such destinations and proposes that adaptive marketing strategies can turn the situation of struggling destinations to a situation of emerging destinations. Marketing strategies that are cited in this theme are based on empirical evidence and they are communication strategy, differentiation and promotion of responsible and health tourism, heritage tourism, cluster tourism and the involvement of destination marketing organisations.

This paper takes a somewhat different approach and proposes adaptive marketing strategies for struggling destinations. These are based on the notion that the consequences of not addressing negative image also impacts on established destinations that have to cope with increased capacity. The value of this paper is that it draws from empirical evidence, each unique in their own right and re-establishes how post-colonial, post-conflict and post-disaster destinations could improve while highlighting their potential and limiting factors.

The purpose is to provide an overview as to how the sustainable development goals (SDGs) are being implemented by countries with different tourism requirements and resources. In so doing, this theme issue presents case studies from across the globe and examines them from academic and practitioner perspectives. The case studies cover: hospitality, tourism agriculture, events, small and medium sized businesses, sport, the African Union as a regional organisation and wildlife tourism. Ultimately, the objective is to encourage countries to implement the SDGs by highlighting the benefits they bring to the economy, society and the environment.

This paper outlines the theme issue approach which draws on a blend of case studies, online sources, literature review and industry reports. This combination of primary, secondary and tertiary data enables a meaningful analysis of the implementation of SDGs in destinations with different requirements and characteristics.

The theme issue findings provide insights on the history, status and progress of SDGs in hospitality and tourism worldwide. Based on reviews and practical evidence, it is clear that many countries have not yet successfully implemented the SDGs, whereas others have made significant progress by embracing sustainable action. The overall observations point towards collaboration between stakeholders, and the scale of organisations as a sine qua non condition for the achievement of sustainability.

The value of this theme issue is that it presents a variety of case studies that demonstrate how different countries have successfully implemented the SDGs and the challenges faced while embracing those actions. Each case presented is unique and the variety of strategies proposed therein serves as guide to practitioners and destination managers. Further, the findings may be applicable to other geographic regions with similar contexts.

This concluding paper offers an overview of the academic and practitioner approaches to the issue of well-being in the luxury yachting sector of tourism, highlighting the significance of the theme issue. The paper proposes a Model of Luxury Yachting Research illustrating the relationship between the areas directly affecting well-being and suggests that the Model can serve as a road map for further research in the field.

This paper argues that luxury yachting could be considered as a form of tourism which contributes to the well-being of a wide range of stakeholders relevant to the sector, and not only to those who experience their holidays on board luxury yachts. It builds on the range of contributions in this theme issue, using a synthesis of the knowledge generated from this publication.

The paper argues that luxury yachting as a specific and unique sector of tourism, which presents itself as a meta economic sector, is representative of the evolution of global finance and the global economy. Additionally, luxury yachting can act as a transformative societal force which positively encompasses and impacts its relevant stakeholders and sectors. The synthesises of the articles presented in this issue identifies four main areas of further academic enquiry in the field.

The value of this paper is that it presents luxury yachting as a prism which enables the investigation of the issue of well-being in the context of luxury tourism. This theme issue has addressed the well-being aspect of the luxury yachting tourism and, by doing so, has emphasised the significance of luxury yachting as a field of research which is ripe for extensive academic investigation. The outcomes of the issue have informed the Model of Luxury Yachting Research, a road map which is offered as a guide for further research in the field of luxury tourism.

The tension between individual and collective well-being is at the core of the macromarketing perspective, and transformative luxury research (TLR) has recently begun to consider this in the context of luxury consumption. This conceptual paper reviews TLR in the setting of the tourism and hospitality industry.

The study is based on a literature review in the field of marketing and tourism management.

The authors propose a TLR–management model (MM), which identifies the link between TLR and well-being, as well as four elements that are important for the success of luxury innovations: risk; trust; ethics and ambidextrous management practices. Further studies will be able to apply this conceptual model in diverse luxury markets to develop more industry-specific versions of it but should always maintain the model’s focus on individual and collective well-being to ensure that it supports the growth of transformative luxury in the future.

The research has highlighted the benefits (individual and community well-being) of transformative research in the field of luxury products and services, but also the requirements (taking risk, trust and ambidextrous management) to achieve this transformative stage.

The study provides a guideline to be followed by the luxury yachting industry to reach its transformative potential.

Begging is undoubtedly an ancient phenomenon but when explored from the tourism perspective, it is relatively new. Begging has existed across several historical periods, but with sophistication and savviness, it has developed into a lucrative form of tourism business. While previous studies have reasonably explored the beggar–tourist interaction in several socio-economic contexts, the present one attempts to research an unusual aspect of these encounters which is termed as “black market tourism.” In the current study, black market is explained as a clandestine but visible market where tourism transactions take place within three important stakeholders, namely, the beggars, the tourists and shopkeepers. The transaction is found to have some aspects of illegality, but ultimately, serves the manifest function of yielding money and growing the underground network. This triangular interaction is therefore of relevance to understand the functioning of this black market involving those key stakeholders. With this notion as foundation, this study aims to empirically and conceptually explore the phenomenon of black market tourism which is derived from the beggar–tourist– shopkeeper encounter in an important city of India called Hyderabad. The specific location of the study was Chaar Minaar, a popular tourism city with ancient monument and shopping places in Hyderabad (India). Tourism in India is undeniably infused with the notions of color and culture, but how this colorful context gradually developed into a colorless black market tourism economy is worthy of study.

From a methodological point of view, this conceptual paper draws on unobtrusive research methods (written records, non-participant observations, informal interviews and occasional photography).

Findings show that begging is developing into a lucrative industry without costly investment and beggars operate in a cartel. The black tourism market is found to be an emerging underground tourism economy with established stakeholders, who are rapidly progressing and growing their network. The network is seen to be increasingly attracting educated and young professionals.

The research is explorative and provides a consistent and empirically based starting point for research on black market tourism involving beggar–tourist and beggar–shopkeeper interactions in Indian cities. The sample being very limited, it is important to stress the limited possibilities to generalize the findings of this study to other destinations. Moreover, the assumption that the background of the local researcher might have influenced the interpretation of primary data need not be neglected, thus suggesting a further examination to confirm validity of the results.

The study provides information not only to destination managers interested to diversify the tourism product, but also to policymakers who are fighting against begging in the city of Hyderabad. The beggar experience can be used to attract more tourists seeking authenticity, provided that the process is improved by adding in some level of professionalism. For instance, beggars could be trained to perform decently in a town hall where tourists are invited to attend cultural shows. To some extent, this study may also help empowering beggars to become part of the tourism ecosystem. This is important, as modern society has disempowered economically disadvantaged members of the community (Hutton, 2016). Ultimately, the study attempted to show that disempowered members of the community are not always passive and powerless. They can create business out of another business (a re-invented form of beggarism that has potential to generate money from tourism).

The study has a social aspect as it takes the involvement of three stakeholders, namely, the tourists, the beggars and the shopkeepers. The study shows how begging transactions affect the three stakeholders and it sheds light on its overall impact on Hyderabad, as a tourism destination.

To the best of authors’ knowledge, no tourism study (academic and non-academic) has so far considered the beggar–tourist encounter from a black market perspective. The findings offer new information on a reinvented form of beggarism and unveils that this black market is a well-entrenched system operated by an educated pool of people and professionals. Ultimately, the study attempts to show that disempowered members of the community (beggars) are not always passive and powerless. They can create business out of another business (a re-invented form of beggarism that has potential to generate money out of tourism).

This introductory paper aims to provide an overview of the significance of the theme issue.

The article explains why luxury yachting can be considered as a form of tourism which contributes to the well-being of stakeholders in the sector.

Luxury yachting (tourism) can be considered as a meta economic sector because luxury yachting is a representative of the evolution of global finance and economics. Luxury yachting is also a transformative sector of activity which positively spills over to other sectors and stakeholders, contributing to the well-being of a large community.

The value of this paper is that the paper presents luxury yachting as a prism which enables the investigation of other topics. For this reason, the article refers to luxury yachting as a meta-sector of the economy and a field of research.