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This study examines experiences and enjoyment of national parks in the context of Tanzania.

A cross-sectional design with quantitative and qualitative methods is applied. The study area is Nyerere National Park in Tanzania. Data collected from fully completed structured questionnaires by 360 domestic tourists are subjected to descriptive statistics and Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modeling analysis. Content analysis is used to analyze qualitative data.

The findings have revealed that there is a significant relationship between direct experiences and enjoyment of southern national parks among domestic tourists.

The suggestion is for future studies to explore a longitudinal approach to determine the patterns of domestic tourists in reference to experiences and enjoyment of national parks so as to improve domestic tourism.

The practical implication is for the government, private sector and tourism stakeholders to improve infrastructure and conduct regular surveys and tour guide training.

This study examines experiences and enjoyment of national parks in the context of Tanzania and, specifically analyzes the relationship between direct experiences and enjoyment of southern national parks among domestic tourists in Tanzania guided by types of tourists’ theory.

The aim of this article is to examine in depth the digital nomad lifestyle and its effects in the context of tourism and to create a perspective for the future by taking into account the findings of the articles in the thematic issue.

The theme question is examined through a review of the main findings and outcomes of this issue.

The digital nomad lifestyle stands out as an alternative form of tourism to traditional tourism models. Digital nomads are interested in cultural heritage and are effective in destination marketing just as social media influencers are. Gastronomic preferences and security perceptions of digital nomads play an important role in destination selection. Although digital nomads start out with a desire for independence and freedom, they want to come together with their peers in order to meet their social needs.

This article will serve as a significant resource for understanding the digital nomad lifestyle and for predicting future tourism trends.

The main aim of this study is to determine the effect of tourists' gastronomic experiences on food consumption emotions and experiential value. This research also examines the effect of emotions and experiential value on behavioral intention.

A questionnaire survey was distributed to foreign tourists visiting Istanbul, Turkey. Using survey responses from 491 tourists, structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test the hypotheses.

In the current study, the results showed that tourists' gastronomic experiences positively and substantially influenced their experiential value and food consumption emotions.

In this study, the model created by Quan and Wang (2004) about the role of food in touristic experience is supported by empirical results. In the current study, the stimulus–organism–response (S-O-R) paradigm was adopted as the theoretical underpinning and was used to develop a holistic research framework. The findings of the research provide certain practical implications for how destinations can design, market and offer gastronomic experiences.

The research on tourists' gastronomic experience and food consumption emotions is limited although numerous studies on tourists' emotions have been conducted. This study is also one of the first to empirically evaluate the tourists' gastronomic experience with the emotional (food consumption emotions), cognitive (experiential value) and behavioral dimensions via S-O-R paradigm.

This study aims to further an understanding of hospitality employees’ perceptions of their customers in the context of service encounter by utilizing the concepts of contact hypothesis and cultural distance in a multi-ethnic environment. The study compares perceptions of Chinese immigrants working in restaurants of their British patrons (from a remote culture) and Chinese patrons (from a proximate culture). The service encounter takes place in the London Chinatown. The dynamics of Chinatown as a “third space” adds complexity to service encounter and employee perceptions.

A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to 118 Chinese restaurant employees in the Soho area of the London Chinatown. Perception questions were based on interviews undertaken in an earlier phase of the research. A paired t-test was run to identify significant differences in the Chinese restaurant employees’ perceptions of the Chinese and British patrons. Discriminant analysis was performed to determine which perception variables discriminated the most between the two patron groups.

Despite cultural proximity, the perceptions held by Chinese restaurant employees of their nationals were negative compared to the perceptions of British patrons. Out of 16, in 15 areas of measurement, there were significant differences in the Chinese restaurant employees’ perceptions’ of their Chinese and British guests. Six variables that discriminated the most between the two groups of guests were no tips, not polite, loud, no compliment, messy and demanding.

Research in ethnic and minority quarters, such as Chinatown in London, may suffer from “recall bias”, or in this case from making the difference between customer groups. Also, the Chinese are not a homogeneous group. For example, despite cultural similarity with mainstream culture, cultural and behavioral characteristics may exist between residents from the South, North and Hong Kong.

The cultural diversity of the industry’s employees necessitates managing cultural diversity effectively, especially in the sectors that rely heavily on guest–employee interaction. Perceptions affect attitudes and behavior. Training programs about perception and its roots may bridge the service gap in high-contact service encounters.

This study provides a ground for future empirical research into understanding the immigrant employees’ perceptions of their guests, nationals versus non-nationals and the ways for improving these perceptions. Taking the example of Chinatown as a dynamic “third space” is another approach to understanding the effects of “ethnoscape” on encounters in a more globalized village.

This research paper aims to identify and provide insights into rejuvenation strategies in Kaş as a microtourism destination based on the views of stakeholders.

The research utilizes a single-case design, applying an inductive approach to analyze data collected from semi-structured interviews. Thematic analysis was employed to analyze the data.

The inductive thematic analysis yields nine different main themes: product transformation, integrated sustainable development strategies, cooperation, promotion through the right channels, stable tourism policy, selective tourism strategy, tourism awareness, access to tourist movements and management and tools for monitoring the quality and sustainability of tourism.

This research offers practical recommendations for regional authorities, residents and business stakeholders to foster sustainable tourism development by addressing resource utilization and existing challenges in the rejuvenation of Kaş.

This research contributes to theory by addressing the lack of applied research on the rejuvenation process in micro-tourism destinations, using Kaş (Turkey) as a case study. It identifies and emphasizes the unique challenges in microdestinations, enhancing our understanding and filling a critical knowledge gap. The identified rejuvenation strategies in Kaş are positioned to serve as a model for similar destinations, emphasizing their distinctive characteristics and challenges.

This study aims to highlight the theoretical foundations and future research directions in religious tourism and related topics from 2003 to 2023.

A total of 4,143 documents from Web of Science and Scopus databases related to religious tourism and pilgrimage were analysed using VOSviewer software.

The analysis illuminates a steady rise in religious tourism research. The most influential countries are the USA, the UK and Israel. Gendered studies, tourists’ perceptions and technology in religious tourism will be research hotspots, as predicted with keyword co-occurrence analysis.

This study thoroughly evaluates two decades of religious tourism literature through bibliometric and network analysis. It can help researchers comprehend religious tourism study more thoroughly and determine where to focus in future research.

本研究强调了 2003–2023 年宗教旅游及相关主题的理论基础和未来研究方向。

使用 VOSviewer 软件分析了来自 Web of Science 和 Scopus 数据库的与宗教旅游和朝圣相关的总共 4143 份文件。

分析表明宗教旅游研究稳步上升。 最具影响力的国家是美国、英国和以色列。 正如关键词共现分析预测的那样, 宗教旅游中的性别研究、游客感知和宗教旅游技术将成为研究热点。

本研究通过文献计量和网络分析彻底评估了二十年的宗教旅游文献。 它可以帮助研究人员更透彻地理解宗教旅游研究, 并确定未来研究的重点。

Este estudio destaca los fundamentos teóricos y las futuras direcciones de investigación en turismo religioso y temas relacionados entre 2003 y 2023.

Se analizó un total de 4143 documentos de las bases de datos Web of Science y Scopus relacionados con el turismo religioso y la peregrinación utilizando el software VOSviewer.

El análisis ilumina un aumento constante en la investigación del turismo religioso. Los países más influyentes son Estados Unidos, Reino Unido e Israel. Los estudios de género, la percepción de los turistas y la tecnología en el turismo religioso en el turismo religioso serán puntos críticos de investigación como se predice con el análisis de co-ocurrencia de palabras clave.

Este estudio evalúa minuciosamente dos décadas de literatura sobre turismo religioso a través de análisis bibliométrico y de redes. Puede ayudar a los investigadores a comprender el estudio del turismo religioso más a fondo y determinar dónde enfocarse en futuras investigaciones.

To understand differences in visitors' travel motivations, this study investigates the relations between personal values and travel motivations as well as the moderating effects of visit experience, age and gender on values–motivations relations among Australian visitors visiting Indonesia.

The multigroup confirmatory factor analysis (MGCFA) was performed using Analysis of Moment Structures (AMOS) to assess the constructs' validity across groups (potential vs repeat visitors; younger vs older visitors; male vs female visitors). A group model comparison thus was run in the multigroup analysis to test whether any differences in values–motivations relationships were significant across the groups.

This study shows that travel motivations are associated with values in a systematic way, and values–motivations relations can vary by age, gender and visit experience. Specifically, self-enhancement values are associated with escape-seeking motivation and conservation values are associated with assurance-seeking motivations. Whilst, there is no associations found between openness to change values and novelty-seeking motivations and between self-transcendence values and interaction-seeking motivations. Further, values influence travel motivations for potential but not repeat visitors and for younger but not older visitors.

Tailoring marketing strategies to align with visitors' personal values and travel motivations is crucial. Further, acknowledging the moderating influences of visit experience, gender and age in values–motivations relations enables destination marketers to create more effective and targeted approaches for diverse demographic groups in marketing, promotions and destination development.

This study for the first time provides a better explanation on how the travel motivations are formed in relation to values, age, gender and visit experience.

There is increasing discussion of the way in which quality of experience and brand equity are developed in the hotel industry. This study aims to review the hospitality and brand equity literature, thereby providing a conceptual framework for understanding hotel brand equity.

A comprehensive and extensive literature review helps develop a brand equity framework for the hotel industry.

Hotels often use advertising, referral marketing and services marketing to help guests acquire brand‐related information. Hotel guests, in turn, establish their brand knowledge through direct and indirect experiences. A better understanding of how these experiences contribute to brand equity has important implications for brand managers. Advertising and word of mouth (WoM) can be used to generate brand awareness and brand associations. Service performance should be nurtured to predominantly precipitate quality of experience, although WoM also has a strong effect on it.

The study attempts to fill the gaps in the discussion of the way in which hotel brand equity is developed. A research framework embedded with quality of experience is proposed. Critical research questions about hotel experience and brand equity are identified.

The objective of the study is to describe and analyse different tourist shopping typologies based on their motives for visiting a shopping destination well known for its low prices.

The data were collected by means of structured questionnaires administered to tourists visiting the Swedish destination. The survey instrument measured constructs designed to understand shopping motivation and feelings experienced during the course of shopping.

Two distinct tourist shopping typologies were found, based on a tourist's primary purpose in travelling, and designated “Follow the Plan” and “Go with the Flow”. The present study proposes the use of a theoretical continuum that takes into account feelings experienced at a low‐priced destination and consumer shopping motivations.

This study contributes to the existing literature on tourism shopping by suggesting typologies built on feelings experienced and shopping motivations, thus providing new insights on tourist shopping typologies found at a low‐price destination. Results are not general for any low‐priced destination, thus further research is needed in other destinations as well.

Tourists' special possessions are under-studied in consumer research despite their importance in self-identity development. Furthermore, extant studies about tourist souvenirs fail in providing an extensive and in-depth view of souvenirs, and in exploring both their functional and symbolic dimensions. This paper aims to better and deeply understand the symbols and meanings attached to tourist souvenirs as well as the functions they fulfil in contemporary consumption.

A naturalistic interpretive approach has been privileged. A total of 19 informants have been interviewed and observed at home in a triangulation perspective. Interview transcripts, field notes, and pictorial material were analyzed and interpreted through the grounded theory approach.

A new typology of four types of symbolic souvenirs including touristic trinkets, destination stereotypes, paper mementoes, and picked-up objects is developed. The typology is grounded on four major functions souvenirs may fulfil in terms of meanings and identity construction, that is: categorization, self-expression, connectedness, and self-creation.

This study contributes to a better knowledge of tourist souvenirs, which is a typical case of consumers' special possessions that may be central in self-identity processes. Considered as powerful “messengers of meaning”, tourist souvenirs help consumers to maintain material links with cherished past experiences and to convey individual and cultural meanings to their broader existence. Typologies such as the one developed in this paper are crucial not only for researchers but also for marketers and retailers.