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This study aims to determine the level of satisfaction of secondary housing tourists in Vilcabamba.

The analysis of satisfaction of this tourism segment in a destination is essential for the different economic agents when evaluating various policies. The analysis is based on the answers provided to 16 items in a questionnaire administered to a representative sample (281 respondents). The authors have used the fuzzy logic to reduce ambiguity in the answers associated to subjective views of human beings who express themselves linguistically. A method based on the degree of similarity to ideal solutions has been used to obtain a classification of relevant satisfaction items.

The results indicate that the ideal solutions segments are represented by multicultural characteristics of second home tourists and the number of years they have been visiting Vilcabamba. The authors find that foreign tourists are more satisfied than Ecuadorians. Analyzing the most critical factors, it is seen that accessibility to the destination, socio-cultural environment and quality of water achieve a high priority.

Second home tourists’ satisfaction has been studied with a limited set of 16 attributes, and some attributes also have a multidimensional nature, so a further study analyzing the scale will be needed in the future.

The present study fills an existing gap in the literature of secondary housing tourism where the existing previous research has been mainly focused on retirees’ secondary housing tourism. The study provides interesting insights into local and national authorities, as well as other economic agents, to designing strategies and planning processes of the destinations for secondary housing tourists.

Yet, this is not a book on the tourism industry; nor is it on the changes induced by it, or on how it has been analyzed by social science disciplines, but on the social nature of tourism. Together, all the case studies reflect an effort to understand global and mobile dynamics and the production of collective memories and cultural identities in the Mediterranean region through ethnographic examples from different areas (such as Andalusia, Crete, Istria, Costa Blanca, Marseille, Mallorca, Lesvos, and Marrakech). However, this context of global mobilities cannot be understood apart from the constant presence of tourists in the Mediterranean coasts. Tourism has been the driving agent of the essence and orientalizing images of most of Mediterranean territories during the last 100 years (Tzanelli, 2003). Labor immigrants, tourists, and new residents from various nationalities and with different personal motivations converge and share with locals the same locations, and create new places that mushroom all over the territories, be it urbanizations, private beaches, or even detention hotels. Besides, the increasing voting relevance of these new social categories through their participation in local and regional elections is adding value to their role as social agents in the political sphere (Chueca Sancho & Aguelo Navarro, 2009; Janoschka, 2010). The practices and the meanings that give sense to daily life (culture) seem to blur traditional dichotomous notions such as leisure/labor, locals/residents, and nationals/foreigners.

The Spanish region commercially branded as Costa Blanca has long been a popular destination for millions of holidaymakers from both northern Europe and Spain itself (Gaviria Labarta, 1974; Moreno Garrido, 2007). However, from the 1960s onward, these Mediterranean shores have also attracted thousands of people from northern Europe for other purposes, some as more or less permanent residents, and others as seasonal peripatetic visitors, traveling back and forth between their first, second or third homes (Aledo, 2008). In many ways, the increase in second home visits and long-term stays in areas such as Mediterranean Spain parallels well-known developments of seasonal and full-time retirement and other migration in North America to what has been termed the Sunbelt states (Mings & McHugh, 1995). The situation in Europe, however, is more complex, due, for instance, to the crossing of national borders, a variety of spoken languages, and possibly also for greater cultural differences. Certain parts of such flows are related to perceptions of diminishing distances and to the progress of internationalization processes in societies in general, where tourism and other long-distance mobilities are not only an outcome, but also a crucial catalyst.

This viewpoint paper aims to provide reflections on the role of second homes in the tourism and housing markets together with future lines of research during and after the first outbreak of the COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic. The authors aim to review the epistemological evolution of the term “second homes” because of the pandemic, as well as to unfold possible short-, medium- and long-term effects that could place second homes at the center of tourist activity and of the tourist rental market profitability.

This paper is based on published research studies about the definition of the term “second homes”, as well as media sources related to their role during the current situation of the first outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the early stages of the pandemic, second-home owners migrated from crowded cities to low-density areas, being vectors of transmission of the virus. Now, a potential shift in tourist preferences could position second homes at the center of tourist activity as soon as travel restrictions are reduced. This could intensify existing processes of commodification of housing, empowering accommodation platforms and situating the potential for profiteering around the tourist rental market. Parallely, international interests in migrating from crowded cities to low-density areas could also be triggered.

This viewpoint is presented as the confinement measures associated with the new pandemic are being de-escalated in most of the western countries. It is expected that sharing it will provide insights to researchers and practitioners to better plan their research around secondary housing. Its role should be analysed from different perspectives: in the spread of the virus to low-density areas to anticipate mitigation actions in future outbreaks; in the recovery process of (domestic) tourism; in the processes of commodification and financialization of housing in tourist areas; and their impacts on local residents.

This case is mainly about the development journey of Tujia, a unicorn in China's accommodations-sharing sector, as well as the development status of the sector. On December 1, 2011, Tujia.com—China's first medium- and high-end vacation apartment booking platform—was formally launched, and it announced the first round of capital injection in less than half a year after its launch. It completed D and D+ round of financing on August 3, 2015, securing $300 million with an estimated value exceeding $1 billion. The completion of this financing round meant that Tujia formally entered the $1 billion club composed of “unicorn” Internet companies. In June 2016, it announced the strategic M&A of Mayi; in October 2016, it announced its strategic agreement with Ctrip.com and Qunar.com for the M&A of their apartment and homestay businesses. The completion of these transactions manifested the matrix with the four major platforms Tujia, Mayi, Ctrip, and Qunar. Since then, Tujia has become the absolute pacesetter in China's online accommodations-sharing sector.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the emerging practices of the “tourism of the ordinary” in the wider frame of post-socialist transformation of Serbia’s capital city – Belgrade. By sourcing the inspiration in cultural studies and classics of the studies of the ordinary, focus is directed to the patterns of tourism consumption of practices, places and people that do not fall in the category of tourism attraction. The attention is drawn to New Belgrade (Novi Beograd in Serbian), residential part of Belgrade built predominantly after the Second World War. New Belgrade lacks proper tourism infrastructure, commoditized attractions and consumerable tourism experiences on a large scale. Nevertheless, this part of the city is slowly becoming explored by tourists individually or in organized walking or cycling tours. Visits to New Belgrade are most often connected to alternative or hip visitors and have the allure of both urban exploration and cultural practice, as the tours are offered by specialist architectural organizations or individual guides. By introspecting the case of New Belgrade, this paper attempts to address the prospect that ordinary exist only in relation to the attraction and that its appeal comes from the fact that what is ordinary to someone is attraction to another.

As far as specific approach is concerned, some archival and librarian materials have been analyzed in order to map the territory that is being researched (New Belgrade) and to frame the significance of potential heritagisation (Harrison, 2013) on the built environment and its territory. Further, relevant websites and both primary and secondary resources have been consulted. This mostly refers to the websites of Tourist Organization of Belgrade (TOB) and the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments in Belgrade as two most relevant bodies connecting the urban fabric of the city and its tourism valorization.

In this paper, the authors have tried to demonstrate how tourism of the ordinary might be conducted in urban environment that lacks no tangible resources, whose physical physiognomies are not insignificant and which, in another, alternative tourism regime might be considered attractions. However, in the specific set of characteristics spanning from contested past to ambiguous contemporary valorization, New Belgrade remains an uncharted part of the city for much of the mainstream tourism, leaving its charms for very few visitors, most often engaged in interest of the “ordinary.”

Although Belgrade is experiencing steady rise in numbers regarding tourist arrivals, length of stay and on-site expenditure, New Belgrade is nowhere to be seen on the map of tourism offer, as per Belgrade’s Tourism Organization. TOB’s official web page, at the time this piece is written, in the section Attractions, mentions nothing regarding New Belgrade. Among 13 entries – 12 are historic sites of more than a century behind them and one is a lake and outdoor destination.

This study aims to examine the main factors and the related impacts that have caused a negative shift in the social perception of tourism among residents of Barcelona. Namely, it contextualises the recent evolution of the impacts and the social perception of tourism among the city’s residents; analyses the relationship between the social perception of tourism and different tourist, real estate, demographic and economic factors; and lastly, it identifies the social impacts that majorly influence the negative perception among residents in every neighbourhood.

This study applies quantitative and qualitative techniques to a selection of five neighbourhoods of Barcelona. First, the character of the neighbourhoods was analysed, and external statistical information was later provided to understand the state and evolution of the factors that shape perceptions of tourism. Secondly, representatives of the community movements were interviewed in-depth. This consecutive qualitative approach enabled the comprehension of how these factors shape the residents’ perception.

The results showed that residents generally shared similar perceptions despite variations among neighbourhoods. Perceived negative effects included not only the most direct consequences of tourism such as anti-social behaviour and congestion of public spaces but also indirect ones such as population displacement and the weakening of social structures.

This study’s innovation lies in linking objective statistical data that describe the reality of a tourist neighbourhood (housing prices, number of available beds, family income, etc.), to the subjective perceptions of its residents. Thus, it is possible to identify the perceived impacts of tourism (which have an impact on the local population’s satisfaction), and relate these to the true evolution of tourism variables in the neighbourhood. This contrasted reading between perception and reality is important for future initiatives for the regulation of tourism in the city.

This study aims to examine the process of tourism gentrification from China tourists, a major source market, in two neighbourhoods in Hong Kong: one that has been long exposed to tourism and one that is just being discovered by tourists. Through a series of in-depth interviews with local residents and community leaders, complemented by non-participant observation, the paper tracks the commercial, social and cultural changes that have occurred or are occurring in these two places.

This study evaluates the process of place change through tourism gentrification in two neighbourhoods in Hong Kong that are at different stages of the process. An ontological approach is adopted using an interpretivist paradigm involving in-depth interviews and on-site observations, supplemented by secondary data. These data were complemented by non-participant observation.

Both the places have been transformed due to the influx of mainland Chinese tourists. Some impacts felt by both communities have much in common, such as congestion and shop dislocation, while others are more location specific. Even though the degree of tourism gentrification is different, locals from both locations tend to hold negative perceptions towards tourists, although of different strengths. All have also noted the traditional social cohesion is not as strong as before.

The paper argues that tourism gentrification exists on a continuum as neighbourhoods move seemingly inextricably from local-centric nodes to tourist-centric nodes. Apart from enlightening the theory of tourism gentrification, it provides insights to the local leaders on proper tourism development by balancing the social and economic benefits.

This paper aims to show how the effect of vacation home tourism can be quantified within the Tourism Satellite Account (TSA). TSA is a statistical standard recommended by international organizations such as UNWTO, Eurostat and OECD, that measures the economic importance of tourism in the same way as the system of national accounts.

The research focuses on the analysis of a conceptual framework for the statistics of vacation home tourism as it is reflected in the international statistical standards 2008 International Recommendations on Tourism Statistics (IRTS) and Tourism Satellite Account: Recommended Methodological Framework (TSA: RMF). In addition, the analysis is exemplified by some TSA country results referring to vacation homes/second homes. In these illustrative examples calculations are made in a simple manner to show that vacation homes are a component of the main TSA aggregates – internal tourism consumption and tourism value added.

Computing the share of vacation homes reveals that the figures obtained vary from country to country, providing an index for the “level of economic importance of vacation homes”. However, the level of economic importance of vacation homes depends heavily on the measurements each country decides to include in their TSA in relation to vacation homes and consequently the international comparability of data could be affected.

It was possible to calculate the contribution made by vacation homes to TSA aggregates only in those countries where the figures relating to this aspect of the economy were published/disseminated.

Computing the contribution of vacation homes to the main TSA aggregates produced quantitative results, showing that vacation homes do make a contribution to the tourism economy.

This paper aims to investigate the economic impacts of the current coronavirus disease, which is globally known as (COVID-19) pandemic, on small businesses in the tourism and hospitality industry, including food and beverages (F&B) industries in Malaysia during and after the enforcement of the Movement Control Order (MCO) and conditional (CMCO) with the emergence of new business models.

In this paper, the implemented methodology involved a secondary qualitative research design based mainly on the existing literature, the World Health Organisation (WHO) reports, the government’s documents, in addition to online sources and observations regarding local business experiences.

The findings revealed that implementing effective strategies of recovery, shaping resilience solutions and supporting policies such as the National Recovery Plan, which is backed by the government played a pivotal role in avoiding the turndown of small businesses.

This critical review is submitted as an original research paper, which aims to provide important perspectives regarding the COVID-19 pandemic impacts on the tourism and hospitality industry in Malaysia. This paper serves as a scholarly platform for further in-depth studies on various resilience solutions of small businesses.