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This research aims to establish an index system and a grey comprehensive evaluation model for analyzing the sustainability of urban tourism.

The sustainability evaluation of urban tourism is regarded as a multi-level and multi-index evaluation problem in this study. The evaluation index system of urban tourism sustainable development is constructed based on the ideas of holism and systems thinking. Then based on grey system correlation analysis theory, a new evaluation model is proposed to effectively solve the complex and uncertain problems in the sustainability evaluation system of urban tourism. An actual example of the five cities (Nanjing, Zhenjiang, Changzhou, Wuxi and Suzhou) in Southern Jiangsu Province of China is adopted to demonstrate the feasibility and practicability of the proposed model.

The grey comprehensive evaluation model can effectively convert the complex indices into comprehensive optimal membership degrees which are easy to be understood. The empirical study on the urban tourism sustainable development of South of Jiangsu found that: Suzhou, Nanjing and Wuxi were in the basic stage of sustainable development; Changzhou and Zhenjiang were in the preliminary stage of sustainable development. The social responsibility fulfillment of urban tourism in five cities fails to reach a satisfactory level, especially Zhenjiang and Changzhou remain in a low level in fulfillment of social responsibility.

Due to the difficulty of data collection, the authors can only use the data on 2010 to do a static evaluation in this study. If the authors can have more data on different years, it is feasible to develop a dynamic evaluation model to analyze the evolution law of the sustainability of urban tourism.

The evaluation results provide the necessary support to assist the tourism management departments of the five cities with their policy making.

This study not only supplements the evaluation modelling methods widely used in the area of tourism management, but also promotes the development of the grey systems theory itself.

Mass tourism in urban settings has proven to be economically significant in many parts of the world. To date, however, the academic debate on sustainable tourism has focused primarily on the ecological and socio-cultural sustainability of tourism in rural and coastal, rather than urban, settings. This paper aims to review the emerging debate on sustainable urban tourism, its complexities and challenges, and questions how urban destinations that are striving to become sustainable cities, can leverage benefit from the implementation of sustainable policies and practices to achieve tourism ‘destination’ competitiveness.

The paper uses a qualitative, exploratory research approach using in-depth interviews to seek responses from key stakeholders on their views and experiences of sustainability in the context of an urban destination. Thematic analysis is used to analyze and present the findings.

This study concludes that destinations need to be viewed in their broader regional context. Rather than be viewed solely as destinations that are ‘kind to the environment,’ sustainable urban destinations need to demonstrate a deeper commitment to all stakeholder groups, and especially local residents, to provide a fair and desirable ecosystem for achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

This paper reflects on the potential relationship between ‘urban sustainability’ and the ‘destination competitiveness’ of an urban tourism destination. This then will provide the platform for sustainability to truly contribute to future destination competitiveness.

The purpose of this paper is to question the extent to which Sub-Saharan African cities are progressing towards promoting pro-poor economies through pro-poor tourism (PPT). It specifically examines how African cities are resilient towards attaining sustainable urban tourism destinations in light of high urbanization.

The methodological framework is interpretive in nature and qualitative in an operational form. It uses meta-synthesis to evaluate the causal relationships observed within Sub-Saharan African pro-poor economies to enhance PPT approaches, using Accra, Ghana, Johannesburg, South Africa, and Harare, Zimbabwe, as case studies.

Tourism development in Sub-Saharan Africa has been dominantly underpinned by neoliberal development strategies which threaten the sustainability of tourism in African cities.

The study is limited to three Sub-Saharan African countries. Further studies may need to be done in other developing countries.

It argues for good governance through sustainability institutionalization which strengthens the regulative mechanisms, processes and organizational culture. Inclusive tourism approaches that are resilient-centered have the potential to promote urban tourism in Sub-Saharan African cities. These findings contribute to the building of strong and inclusive Institutions for Sustainable Development in the Sub-Saharan African cities to alleviate poverty.

These findings contribute to the building of strong and inclusive institutions for sustainable development in the Sub-Saharan African cities to alleviate poverty.

The “poor” are always within the communities, and it takes a community to minimise the impact of poverty among the populace. The study is conducted at a pertinent time when most African government’s development policies are pro-poor driven. Though African cities provide opportunities of growth, they are regarded as centres of high inequality.

Food not only satisfies the need and nourishes positive experiences but also enhances involvement with the cultural, social and environmental attributes of a destination. As urban tourism is embracing sustainable consumption practices (SCP), this study aims to explore tourist’s responsible behaviour by embracing traditional gastronomic delicacies. More specifically, it pinpoints the driving forces behind why people choose traditional gastronomic delights.

The study adopted the triangulation method involving the grounded theory approach (GTA) attained through a series of focus group discussions followed by the survey method taking an emerging economy’s perspective (India and Bangladesh). This study accords equal importance to both the demand and supply perspectives of gastronomic tourism and its stakeholders.

Critical dimensions such as travel motivation, tourist expectations, socio-economic perspectives, mindful consumption, sustainable marketing efforts and community awareness were identified as major influencers towards traditional gastronomic delicacies.

The present study bears significance to the urban developers, policymakers, marketers, regional tourism bodies and tour operators in promoting urban gastronomic cultures through marketing traditional delicacies for sustainable development of the evolving gastronomic industry in India and Bangladesh.

This study makes a novel attempt in exploring critical dimensions in an evolving gastronomic industry by blending an innovative qualitative research methodology like GTA supported by the empirical validation process (quantitative). It proposes a theoretical framework for further advancement of gastronomic and urban tourism towards a SCP.

This paper aims to determine the significance of tourist walkability on three community-based tourism sustainability indicators, namely, the economic, social and environmental benefits and costs impacting community’s quality of life through the lens of the triple bottom line approach with the institutional theory.

This study views institutions as either enabling or restricting the sustainable community-based tourism because institutions influence resource integration and value assessment by the beneficiary. Moreover, institutions also lead the co-creation of sustainable community-based tourism among various stakeholders. Drawing on this conceptualisation, the notion of sustainable community-based tourism is filtered through the lens of institutional theory. Thus, this work approaches sustainable community-based tourism as a dynamic process of co-creating a tourist destination formed by different actors’ and institutions within the ecosystem of the tourist destination. Meanwhile, the triple bottom line benefits and costs experienced by the overall community would produce net effects on the residents’ perceptions of sustainable tourism.

This paper classifies both tangible and intangible costs and benefits because of tourist walkability and its triple bottom line trade-offs experienced by tourists and residents. This paper penetrates new grounds by reviewing the triple bottom line impacts of tourist walkability on residents’ quality of life. Government policies as mediating variable and national culture and individual personalities of tourists and residents as moderating variables were discussed. A conceptual framework named Tourist Walkability Sustainable Tourism Impact on Residents (TWSTIR) is proposed. Finally, a Sustainable Community-based Tourism Strategic (SCBTS) model which is based on the two dimensions of intensity of tourist walkability and residents’ quality of life is proposed.

Research limitations may include a lack of assessment on political, technological and legal issues, and therefore, future research is warranted in these three areas. Some emotions and attitudes of the residents may not be captured since the Gross National Index (Gross National Happiness) may have its inherent blind spots.

This paper would be of interest to the scholarly world, as its original idea and concluding research agenda are burrowing into a new sub-field of tourism research. In view of growth and degrowth of sustaining community-based tourism, the SCBTS model is presented to provide directions for tourism policymakers and entrepreneurs to formulate and implement appropriate strategy for the tourist walkability activity per se and investment in the accompanying infrastructure.

This paper also presents the sacrifices and inequities in the communities and the relevance of government policies, national culture and individual personalities of tourists and residents, in which the attention of tourism policymakers and the communities that thrive on the travel and tourism industry should not be neglected.

The idea and discussion of this paper is original. This paper burrows into a new sub-field of tourism research. Tourist walkability needs more attention from the scholars, as this tourist activity can have positive and negative effects on residents’ quality of life. The TWSTIR framework is developed to discuss the relationships of tourist walkability, triple bottom line concept and residents’ quality of life within the sustainable community-based tourism scope. The SCBTS model is presented for tourism policymakers and entrepreneurs to perform appropriate strategy for the tourist walkability activity and investment in the accompanying infrastructure.

Cities and the tourism industry are closely related. Cities are destinations that serve for the welfare of the people and the tourists visiting the city. The tourism sector, on the other hand, uses the environmental and sociocultural resources of the cities, ensures that these resources are transferred to the future by protecting them, and contributes to the economic development of the cities by creating employment. Several urban models have been created within this framework to make urban tourism viable. Eco-city tourism is one of these urban design concepts. Eco-city tourism aims to protect cities from sociocultural, economic, and environmental factors while promoting their growth. Eco-city tourism, which includes a number of practices such as prevention of pollution, protection of biological diversity, consumption of renewable energy, production of local products, employment, and protection of cultural values, is easily implement in cities in an integrated manner with smart technological systems. Smart building and smart energy systems for energy saving, mobile applications, Wi-Fi, big data, Internet of Things (IoT), and cloud computing are among the smart technological systems used in the tourism sector.

The revitalisation of tangible and intangible urban heritage can foster social cohesion and drive creativity and innovation in a changing global environment. Recognising its potential for economic development, many local municipalities are putting forward efforts to revitalise these areas. However, this has caused these sites to face new pressures, such as gentrification, demographic shifts and commercial exploitation. Therefore, a sustainable redevelopment of urban heritage sites that strikes a balance between the economic, environmental and social dimensions is needed. To plan and manage this balance, a strong and clear indicator to measure the sustainability of urban heritage is required. The study systematically reviewed through Scopus indexed journals the dimensions to develop sustainable indicators of urban heritage sites and highlighted the gaps for future research. It identified the existing studies and explored publications, research methods, challenges and suggestions to develop the indicators.

The study applied Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) 2020 Statement. The Boolean search was in Scopus indexed journals for papers related to indicators in sustainable urban heritage sites.

Most of the literature highlighted the interconnected relationships between the indicators for the sustainability of urban heritage sites: social, economic and environmental dimensions. It further revealed that for a more robust management of sustainable monitoring tools, it is crucial to include governance dimensions. Plus, technology is the intertwined aspect for the four dimensions, with culture identified as the centre for sustainability of urban heritage sites.

The paper only focused on secondary data using literature review papers that recommend gaps for future research. Possible future research includes alternative, niche literature reviews and the implementation of indicators in regional urban heritage sites.

It created a new insight into the dimensions recommended to develop sustainable indicators for urban heritage sites.

The purpose of this paper is to suggest a shift in the tourism marketing paradigm away from economic profit priorities toward sustainability. The sustainability approach adopts a holistic, integrated view of marketing, considering social equity, environmental protection, and economic livability. The paper seeks to examine the evolving model for the tourism marketing environment.

The paradigm shift naturally occurs by tracing the evolution of marketing approaches from production, sales, and a consumer orientation toward marketing alternatives such as societal, causal, green, responsible, and relationship marketing. Adapting a living system theory to tourism marketing, a sustainable tourism marketing model integrates tourism into a larger holistic context and focuses on marketing a quality of life for all stakeholders in the system.

While alternative approaches to tourism marketing include societal consideration such as tourism impacts and environmental segmentation strategies, this paper considers the triple bottom line as more sustainable objectives in tourism marketing and adopts an integrated view on tourism marketing.

The model suggests a paradigm shift that needs to be explored further.

The paper illustrates how tourism marketing can be integrated into more sustainable urban marketing strategies.

Instead of viewing tourism as a separate for profit industry, the model suggests an integration of tourism into a holistic, sustainable, quality of life marketing approach of living communities.