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Wars destroy the tourism cities by causing damages to their cultural and natural attractions. However, the post-war cities have great upward potentials to develop through careful and integrated tourism planning. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to identify the perspectives of local stakeholders on tourism development in a post-war city.

The study used qualitative methods in collecting and analysing the data while closely referring to pertinent literature. Interviews, observations and focus-group discussions have been the main data collection tools and content analysis was performed with NVivo (v.12) to analyse the data.

Analysis of interviews, focus group discussion findings and observations highlighted the availability of a plethora of tourism potentials within post-war Jaffna that include, both cultural and natural attractions: Hindu Kovils and Buddhist temples, colonial heritage, traditional cuisines and way of life, beaches, flora and fauna and sceneries. The study further identified a lack of professionals, absence of a master plan, remoteness, poor infrastructure and absence of tourist activities as main obstacles for tourism development in Jaffna. Finally, implications are forwarded based on stakeholders’ perspectives to promote post-war city tourism in Jaffna.

Wars are not common, and post-war tourism cities are rare. The present study is focused on a destination where the war has ended, causing much damages to the destination. The study evaluates the tourism potentials and challenges based on stakeholders’ perspectives and forwards implications for city tourism development despite post-war empirical glitches, which have rarely been addressed in the tourism literature.

This study aims to investigate the social and affective impacts of inviting residents of a socially divided, post-war city to “play tourist” for a day, exploring their own backyards with a new intentionality and perspective.

This qualitative research within a transformative worldview uses a creative, place-based approach of role-playing based upon principles of participatory action research.

While each tour was unique, participants’ insights reflected three common themes: shifts in observations and perceptions of place arising from the intentionality of the “tourist” lens, a sense of freedom created by the touristic research opportunity, and the varying abilities of tourism experiences to help build empathy or awareness in a post-conflict setting.

The inventive research approach allows for a unique examination of local tourism-styled explorations, a subject of growing interest that has largely been overlooked in literature, while paying special attention to ways in which a history of conflict may manifest in contemporary urban tourism experiences.

Cross-cultural differences must be taken into consideration for tourism development. The purpose of this study is to shed light on the importance of cross-cultural differences in a location which is emerging from a dark period after a prolonged war caused by ethnic differences.

While the existing tourism models deal with the impact of cross-cultural differences, it is difficult to apply them in certain situations, such as postwar Sri Lanka. The study therefore adopted an inductive, qualitative approach where information has been obtained from all stakeholders.

The conflict in Sri Lanka in the North and East has been interpreted differently by many individual stakeholder groups. This study reveals how economic development can bring communities together. The project elaborated in this study represents an investment of over US$6m. Given that the location of Jaffna was a focal point of the 26-year long civil war from 1983 to 2009, the risk of failure would have been extremely high.

The study ascertained qualitative perceptions from a cross-section of perspectives: the investor, local residents and employees. The project is shown to be a viable example of how to address socio cultural differences in the creation of a profitable venture.

Selecting the methodological approach is a critical decision as it largely determines the effectiveness of the research. Encapsulating the research approach as a chapter in a thesis is often a challenge to many young researchers, despite the abundance of guides on PhD thesis writing and on the various approaches to research methodologies. However, most guides are descriptive and fail to provide appropriate illustrations of a methodology chapter especially in qualitative research. In a qualitative methodology chapter, key factors are the assumptions, theoretical lens, and worldviews on the topic, making qualitative methodology chapter less definite, more subjective and lacks a conventional model. This chapter addresses the need for qualitative research samples and aims to advance the understanding of writing a qualitative research methodology chapter by providing essential guidelines. The guidelines are drawn from an actual qualitative research methodology chapter of a PhD thesis in the field of tourism and social cohesion.

This study aims to investigate the complex relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) dimensions and customer loyalty. In particular, this study suggested an intervening process through customer perceived value, which makes banking customers more loyal.

Using a randomised sample of 261 respondents from the Northern Province of Sri Lanka, this study empirically investigates the role of CSR in enhancing customer value and loyalty. The collected data, the study model and hypotheses were assessed by partial least squares structural equation modelling.

According to the results, CSR practices that are both strategic and stakeholder-driven have a positive effect on customer loyalty in the banking industry. Further, customer perceived-value positively impacts customer loyalty. Besides, customer perceived-value mediates the association between CSR practices and customer loyalty.

This study is limited to the banking industry. Thus, future studies can replicate the same research in different sectors like retail, tourism and hospitality, insurance and microcredit institutions, garments, textiles, etc.

This study suggests specific dimensions of CSR that need to be emphasised while the banking industry designs its loyalty programs.

The notion of customer value has been suggested as a mediating mechanism between diversified CSR perspectives and customer loyalty. Thus, this study proposes a comprehensive framework for enhancing customer loyalty to banks via CSR practices and customer value creation.

This paper aims to provide answers to the question: “What are the key innovative strategies needed for future tourism in the world?” At the outset, this paper redefines the word “innovation” in the context of the hospitality and tourism industry. It then captures the essence of 13 proceeding papers on innovative initiatives in 17 countries and presents concluding remarks to this Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes (WHATT) theme issue on innovation (v. 11 n. 2, 2019).

This paper draws from a wide spectrum of innovation types, concepts, strategies, suggestions and solutions written by 24 authors, who cumulatively have valuable and diverse experience in managing, operating, teaching, researching and consulting on innovation.

Innovation is relevant to all macro- and micro-level aspects of all industries. In conclusion, to identify common elements in all 13 papers, the author presents a shorter definition: “Innovation is the art of implementing new ideas to improve productivity, products and services, while enhancing customer satisfaction, revenues and profitability”. In addition, he emphasizes that innovation needs vision, mission and passion!

This research contributes to the emerging research theme of innovation in the hospitality and tourism industry and extends/re-defines the word: “innovation”.

There are significant practical implications in terms of industry approaches to use innovative strategies across the world.

Readers who are interested in international best practices of hospitality and tourism would benefit from this paper.

This paper aims to explains how rural communities in Sri Lanka are responding to the challenges of high unemployment and low household income in a post-conflict society and to explore the possibilities for engaging rural communities in sustainable tourism development as part of their response.

The paper outlines how the South Asian Academy for Good Governance (SAAGG) is using action learning to enable participants to better utilize the resources available to them. It also draws on discussions with community leaders about harnessing this approach to industry training and the resource challenges arising from the Government's strategy for in-bound tourism.

The following are outlined: a framework for self-directed development in rural communities; why rural communities with a long tradition of subsistence farming are reluctant to participate in tourism development; and a community-driven approach to sustainable tourism that could yield benefits for the whole community and at the same time, preserve the traditional way of life.

The paper highlights: an approach to capacity building that assists in the creation sustainable micro enterprise; and the need for innovative thinking and action to mobilize rural communities in support of Sri Lanka's drive to become a leading Asian tourist destination.

The study provides an example of sustainable development that could be replicated by rural communities in other locations. It also identifies the pivotal role of rural community members in providing an authentic tourism experience for international tourists and poses some questions about the best way(s) to engage with this group.

Indigenous culture and traditional ways of learning are drawn on to explain how subsistence communities can develop and implement a business approach that enables them to achieve greater self-reliance and financial independence. The paper also draws on the views of community leaders who are actively involved in facilitating community-based learning and development.

This paper aims to provide a backdrop for the Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes (WHATT) theme issue on tourism in Sri Lanka.

This paper is written in the context of a strategic question: “how might post-war Sri Lanka develop inbound tourism?” A narrative approach is taken to cover a period of 46 years.

26 years of war affected tourism in Sri Lanka resulting in low demand, low prices and a reputation as a cheap destination. Turnaround came when the war ended in 2009. In 2012 Sri Lanka passed two milestones in its tourism history by emerging as a “million tourist destination” and a “billion dollar export income earner”. Sri Lanka is now aiming to attract 2.5 million tourists by 2016.

Tourism in Sri Lanka has the potential to emerge as a major export income earner. To further develop tourism, Sri Lanka must develop a long-term tourism master plan with inputs from all stake holders. Authors suggest that such a master plan is needed to achieve a target of 4.5 million tourist arrivals by 2024.

This paper learns from the past and plans for the future. A former Chairman and a former Director of the national tourism authority of Sri Lanka joined hands with an international hospitality and tourism educator to co-write this paper to advocate for a holistic plan in further development of tourism in Sri Lanka.

The political crisis related to two main factors internal to the public revenue system, namely financial markets and the commercialisation of the state, and three related external factors, pertaining to the pandemic, popular discontent and inequality. The emphasis on financial markets since the mid-1990s expanded the commercialisation of the state while neglecting public accountability and government oversight. The efforts to shore up public finances through the tax system is increasingly undermined by the global tax architecture, enabling financial secrecy and illicit financial flows.

The pandemic revealed the significance of women’s work, paid as well as unpaid care work. The pandemic also exposed the limitations of a domestic economy, based on export-oriented development, over-reliant on tourism and remittances from migrant workers. Combining with the on-going dengue epidemic, the pandemic highlighted the urgency of climate adaptation. Meanwhile, the popular discontent conveyed an accumulation of grievances linked with cultural discrimination, political misrepresentation as well as economic maldistribution. The participation of new middle-class segments in the protests foregrounded new tendencies significant for strengthening the labour movement as well as working-class parties in their demands for redistribution, reframing democracy as well as citizenship.

This study aims to integrate the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and the value-belief-norm (VBN) theory into a meta-analytic framework to synthesize green consumption literature.

By integrating the findings from 173 studies, a meta-analysis was performed adopting several analytical methods: bivariate analysis, moderation analysis and path analysis.

VBN- and TPB-based psychological factors (adverse consequences, ascribed responsibility, personal norms, subjective norms, attitude and perceived behavioral control) mediate the effects of altruistic, biospheric and egoistic values on green purchase intention. Further, inconsistencies in the proposed relationships are due to cultural factors (i.e. individualism-collectivism, power distance, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity–femininity, short- vs long-term orientation and indulgence-restraint) and countries’ human development status.

The authors selected papers published in English; hence, other relevant papers in this domain published in other languages might have been missed.

The findings are useful to marketers of green offerings in designing strategies, i.e. specific messages, targeting different customers based on countries’ cultural score and human development index, to harvest positive customer responses.

This study is the pioneering attempt to synthesize the TPB- and VBN-based quantitative literature on green consumer behavior to resolve the reported inconsistent findings.