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At a time when many people are experiencing stress, burnout, and strain at work, a relaxing vacation becomes increasingly important. Remote locations such as Bali, the Maldives, or the Caribbean have experienced a steady increase in popularity: exotic dishes, turquoise water, and white sandy beaches are often tourist magnets. While the corona crisis is changing the name of the game at this point, those destinations may attract travelers seeking remote destinations catering to the individual rather than the group. In response, new luxury resorts have emerged in recent years fostering global travel with its set of positive and negative impacts on the environment, the economy, and communities. In light of a global climate emergency, is luxury tourism in remote destinations compatible with sustainable development? This chapter, exploratory by nature, concludes that if there is one hope, it is that sustainability becomes the sine qua non of luxury tourism in the near, post-corona future.

Remote communities often face a range of problems related to distance, service provision, high costs, and economic uncertainty. Many of these problems are structural and a direct result of their location on a periphery. In recent decades many remote settlements have looked to the tourism sector to supplement existing local economies. Numerous tools variously described in the literature as theories, models, and frameworks have been suggested as approaches for assisting local economies develop tourism. In searching for solutions, it is not unusual for researchers to advocate a standalone theory, model, or framework as a preferred approach. However, this method ignores the complexity of the real world and that solutions usually require a multidimensional approach based on combining various theoretical tools. This paper proposes an open architecture approach that utilizes a number of theories and models that can be selectively and collectively used to assist remote settlements develop a tourism sector. This approach was tested in Cooktown, Australia. One outcome was the identification of a range of deficiencies in the strategies currently used by the destination.

While the number of tourists worldwide is expected to reach 1.8 billion people by 2030, tourism destinations try to meet demand for increasing tourism. However, some tourism destinations are experiencing a maturity period of destination life cycle intensively. During these mature periods, while they meet the demand above their tourism carrying capacity, they encounter some problematic issues. In tourist destinations such as Venice, Barcelona and Paris, the negative feelings developed by the local people towards overtourism or tourists result in serious problems like negative destination images, tourism phobia, etc. In these destinations, to prevent the negative consequences of overtourism, destination stakeholders should develop solutions to these problems. There are many solution techniques for the problems which cause overtourism. One of them is the different tourism types which have been developed as an alternative to mass tourism. These alternative tourism types can be handled as a method for solving problems revealed through excess demand in tourism destinations at risk. For example, some tourism destinations which have both beach tourism and nature-based tourism types can bring nature-based tourism activities to the forefront with promotion and marketing activities and therefore, the tourism demand could be balanced between these tourism types. In this context, firstly, comprehensive literature review of overtourism and alternative tourism will be conducted in this study. And then the different types of tourism such as ecotourism, cultural tourism and responsible tourism will be discussed in detail and their relation in reducing the negative consequences of overtourism will be investigated theoretically via secondary data. Therefore, alternative tourism potentials will be investigated and tried to present the managerial suggestions for the development of different alternative types of tourism. As a result, it has been seen that, alternative tourism not only contributes to the growth of tourism in both popular and remote destinations but also makes sure that destinations get their fair share in income distribution of the country.

Geographic periphery regions are the focus of sustainable regional development research, with ongoing discussions on core–periphery relationships to address economic disadvantage and remoteness. However, periphery regions face challenges due to the high efficiency of core regions. Tourism provides an alternative economic landscape, revitalizing stagnant sectors and driving strategic exploration. The Sino-Russian border, spanning 4,209 km, represents a periphery where tourism plays a vital role. This chapter views Sino-Russian cross-border tourism through the lens of the core–periphery model, suggests two conceptual models of developing experiential cores in the cross-border areas of geographic peripheries, and argues for peripheries' potential to become sustainable experiential cores post COVID-19.

This chapter examines aspects of working backpackers in Cairns in Far North Queensland, Australia. Using the push pull model, the study examines both the destination supply and demand sides of the working holiday making backpacker market to determine the degree to which the two are aligned. A qualitative approach, utilizing interviews with hostel managers and focus groups with backpackers, revealed that the working holiday backpacker market to Australia has changed in recent years as the “push” or motivating factors of backpackers have shifted. At the same time the attributes or “pull” factors of Cairns as a destination have not changed sufficiently to meet these changes. The study found that destination communication, product, and services contributed most significantly to the gap between the push and pull elements of the model and recent events appeared to have further exposed these gaps. Strategies to address these issues were explored and the implications for other regional destinations were discussed in light of these gaps. The study also identifies areas for further research including using the results to provide the basis for quantitative studies into the “push” and “pull” factors identified in the research and measuring the impact of the identified gaps on other outlying regional destinations.

The aim of this research is to explore the relationship between destination supply-side factors, visitor demand-side factors and the role of local government authorities in supporting the drive tourism market with effective interventions. A mixed methods approach was used to gather qualitative data from 14 destination stakeholders, which informed the development of a survey of 397 drive tourists to the Atherton Tablelands, in the far north of Australia. The findings identified stakeholder concerns about fragmented regional promotions by different regional entities, weakened destination branding and infrastructure needs. Drive tourist surveys indicated that although the destination provides a competitive tourism experience, there were concerns about the availability of information. This research highlights the danger of destination disunity, and the theoretical and practical contributions of the learning destination concept to understanding the importance of destination-wide, stakeholder collaboration, although it may be difficult to implement.

Saas-Fee/Saastal is a successful destination in the Swiss Alps. Even though the region has a long history as a destination, it rapidly developed in the post-war period and is still continuously investing in further offers and activities. Despite the rapid growth, the four villages, particularly the upper village of Saas-Fee, have preserved the picturesque quality of the destination. An analysis of the actor and organizational networks reveals a strong concentration of decisionmaking power among a very few actors, typically the local elite. The case discusses a series of challenges and processes in light of the highly focused group of very influential actors.

People have unconscious motives which affects their decision-making and associated behavior. The paper describes a study using thematic apperception test (TAT) to measure how unconscious motives influence travelers' interpretations and preferences toward alternative tours and hotels. Using the TAT, the present study explores the relationships between three unconscious needs: (1) achievement, (2) affiliation, and (3) power and preferences for four package tours (adventure, culture, business, and escape tours) and for seven hotel identities (quality, familiarity, location, price, friendliness, food and beverage, and cleanliness and aesthetics). The present study conducts canonical correlation analyses to examine the relationships between unconscious needs and preferences for package tours and hotel identities using data from 467 university students. The study scores 2,438 stories according to the TAT manual to identify unconscious needs. The findings indicate that (1) people with a high need for affiliation prefer an experience based on cultural values and hotels that are conveniently located, (2) individuals with a high need for power indicate a preference for high prices and good value for their money, and (3) people with a high need for achievement prefer a travel experience with adventure as a motivation. The study findings are consistent with previous research of McClelland (1990), Wilson (2002), and Woodside et al. (2008) in exploring impacts of the unconscious levels of human need.

This chapter explores in-depth the particularities of the luxury travel industry during the coronavirus pandemic. The chapter begins with a literature review on the concept of the experience referred to as luxury travel, followed by a brief overview of the measures adopted globally in the tourism sector for the prevention of COVID-19. Due to the impact of the crisis, high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) have changed their motivations, preferences and behaviour. To meet the new demands prompted by the pandemic, the luxury travel industry has adopted a wide range of strategies that have been classified into three groups: (1) reducing new moments of friction; (2) experiencing protection and (3) building new memorable experiences. A selection of examples from the luxury travel industry illustrates each category. The chapter ends with a case study that describes the strategy adopted by Fiji to respond to the pandemic. The manner in which Fiji has tackled the pandemic may be inspiring for other tourism-dependent destinations as Fiji has been able to protect the health and safety of the inhabitants of its islands while preserving the local economy, which relies on tourism.