As one of the world's most dynamic, fast-changing, and intense industries, tourism
remains the primary engine of economic growth and sustainability generating a vast
number of employment opportunities leading to poverty alleviation (Fotiadis et al.,
2019a). Current challenges occurring from the Covid-19 pandemic indicate that the
tourism and hospitality sectors are highly sensitive to changes and are crucial for
the global economy (Polyzos et al., 2020; Shehzad et al., 2020). Psychological impacts
of financial distress are a significant field of study. Usually, a financial crisis
will create direct or indirect micro and macro impacts in different countries and
environments.
The tourism industry is a complex environment comprising different sectors with their
complex environments. Thereby, any change, be it a minor or major one, may have a
significantly positive or negative impact on stakeholders. For that reason, community-based
tourism is an emerging field, and growing numbers of studies are examining resident's
behaviors and how development can be beneficial—or not—for a local community (Knez
and Eliasson, 2017). Local communities tend to be more active when destination leadership
is stable and innovative (Bichler, 2019). As Farmaki (2021) designates, special care
should be used in post-crisis experiences, especially for the local community, as
small local communities are unable to react easily to significant changes (Fotiadis
et al., 2019b).
In recent years, the rise of medical tourism is an example that reshapes the tourism
industry based on the fast-growing segments of retired tourists with their expectations
regarding the provision and delivery of tourism products and services. As Garcia-Garzon
et al. (2016) mention, medical travel has grown significantly during recent years,
supporting new markets and advancing medical care. As expected, the recent pandemic
transforms everything we knew so far and created a new tourism model where new types
of medical tourism development are needed.
This special issue seeks to shed light on the current academic and practical perspectives
within the leisure, tourism, and hospitality sectors. More so, this special issue
investigates contemporary concerns relative to leisure, tourism, and hospitality to
develop new theoretical constructs and perspectives, and stimulate dialogues in this
respect while trying to strike a balance between theory and application. In this end,
this special issue invited offerings from various disciplines in aiming to serve as
a forum through which these various disciplines may interact and thereby expand the
body of literature on leisure, tourism and hospitality, and social science at large.
The relationship between psychological science and new methods used in the tourism
industry, such as neuroscience, artificial intelligence, and big data analysis, can
offer better insights into the new era tourism and hospitality industry.
As such, we briefly present the papers included in this issue.
The first paper, entitled “How to promote ethnic village residents' behavior participating
in tourism poverty alleviation: A tourism empowerment perspective,” is authored by
Yang et al.. This study examines tourism empowerment's effect on local village inhabitants'
behaviors contributing to tourism poverty mitigation in Zenlei Village in Sandu County
of Guizhou Province in China. The authors develop four hypotheses related to the “Tourism
Empowerment and Participation Behavior” subtheme. Then they examine four hypotheses
in the mediating role of participation willingness in relation to tourism empowerment
and participation behavior. Furthermore, they assess four more hypotheses to examine
the moderating role of participation ability regarding tourism empowerment and participation
behavior. As the results delineate, tourism empowerment has a significant interrelation
with participation behavior, while there is a mediating effect among participation
willingness, tourism empowerment, and participation behavior. Additionally, it is
demonstrated that a strong positive correlation exists among tourism psychological
empowerment and participation willingness when residents' participation ability is
high and weak when it is low.
The second paper is titled “Evaluation of self-assessed state of health and vitamin
D knowledge in Emirati and international female students in United Arab Emirates (UAE)”
and is authored by Abboud et al.. In this paper, the authors compare knowledge about
vitamin D and the perceived state of health in Emirati and international female tourism
students in Dubai, UAE. Their study focuses on a niche market in the middle east,
as they are exploring female Emiratis and international female tourists. Their research
questions explore how different dietary variables, such as assessed levels of supplementation,
diet, and UV exposure, can affect the perceived state of health. In addition, they
evaluated the participants' self-assessed state of health in terms of vitamin D testing
and general well-being indicators. As their results signify, there is an exceedingly
low knowledge about the association of vitamin D deficiency and most diseases. Further,
Emirati students reported using Vitamin D supplements much more than the international
students.
The third paper deals with “Resident's perspective on developing community-based tourism—A
qualitative study of Muen Ngoen Kong community, Chiang Mai, Thailand,” authored by
Lo and Janta. This study examines the benefits and challenges of Community-Based Tourism
(CBT) and solutions to address identified shortcomings by studying the Muen Ngoen
Kong community in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Focusing on the concept of CBT, the importance
of CBT, and CBT development's objectives, the researchers developed three research
questions. The first one explores the challenges a community faces concerning CBT.
The second one investigates benefits that Support CBT Development in the Community,
while the third suggests solutions to solve the challenges. Results designate that
there are many problems with how CBT is implemented. The most significant problems
seem to be resource ownership, benefit leaking, financial issues, and limited community
participation.
The fourth paper is titled “Emirati adults have a higher overall knowledge on vitamin
D compared to Tourists” and is authored by Saleh et al.. This research examines the
level of knowledge of vitamin D, calcium, and physical activity among Emirati and
tourist adults in Abu Dhabi. It is a cross-sectional study undertaken in three different
malls in Abu Dhabi, where the retail and hospitality sectors are well-developed and
include Emirati and tourist patrons. Another research question investigates if there
are demographic differences in perceptions. Emirati participants showed a higher overall
vitamin D knowledge than their tourist counterparts. Both groups indicated a low/medium
level of knowledge regarding physical activity, calcium and vitamin D supplements.
The fifth research paper is a brief report titled “Promises and hurdles of medical
tourism development in the russian federation,” where Daykhes et al. are the authors
of this study. The primary purpose of this research was to identify factors affecting
the development of medical tourism in Russia and those factors that impede this area's
development using the expert assessment method. The authors surveyed the complex relationships
that might exist between the health expenditure landscape and medical tourism. Another
investigation area was to determine the main issues that impede the medical tourism
field in Russia and suggest possible solutions for further development. They develop
10 research questions regarding the perception of foreign medical tourists, and their
results suggest nine improvements for further progressing the industry in Russia.
The next study deals with the topic “Exploring consumers' behavior for choosing sustainable
food,” authored by Hsu et al.. In their study, the authors explore consumers' interests
in buying sustainable food in Taiwan. The study focused on interest instead of intention
or behavior to better understand the formation of interest. For their study, the authors
develop four hypotheses. The first one is examining the relationship between knowledge
and interest in buying sustainable food. The second examines friends' support regarding
the level of interest, while the third addresses the relationship between price and
interest. In the final hypothesis, they explore health incentives and levels of interest.
The results indicate that the first three hypotheses were supported while the fourth
was not.
Research paper number seven is titled “Behavioral model of middle-aged and seniors
for bicycle tourism.” The authors of this study are Lin et al.. Their study seeks
to determine the behavioral tendency of the middle-aged and seniors in bicycle tourism
at environmentally protected scenic areas and its relevant influence factors. The
authors use the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and develop six hypotheses. The first
three hypotheses examine the relationship among sports habits and subjective norms,
perceived behaviors, and respondents' attitudes toward biking. The other three examine
the association of respondent's behavioral intentions and attitudes, subjective norms,
and perceived behaviors. A structural equation model was developed, and each hypothesis
was accepted.
The next paper is entitled “A study on the place attachment of golf club members,”
authored by Chen et al.. In this paper, the authors explore the memberships of golf
clubs in Taiwan's central region and determine whether golfers' involvement in activities
affects the degree of place attachment. They also add two factors of activity experience
and experience value to develop a theoretical framework. This theoretical model was
based on six hypotheses. The first two were related to how local attachment and activity
experience are affected by involvement. The other four hypotheses identified significant
relationships among activity experience, experience value, activity involvement, and
local attachment. As their outcomes reveal, all hypotheses were supported except for
the last one.
The last paper of this special issue is entitled “Examining ownership equity as a
psychological factor on tourism business failure forecasting,” authored by Korol and
Spyridou. This paper examines ownership equity as a predictor of future business failure
within the tourism and hospitality sectors. This study's main goals were to examine
which ratios are the most important in a model forecasting failure for tourism businesses.
The authors sought to determine if, in a strict financial model, there exist ratios
that can be associated from a psychological point of view. Using an expert-driven
approach, they demonstrated that experts' judgment is an appropriate way to develop
a bankruptcy prediction model. Finally, they conclude that the MAN ratio (total percentage
of equity ownership by company directors), which is often considered an important
psychological factor, was the fourth most important ratio for developing a bankruptcy
model.
Author Contributions
All authors listed have made a substantial, direct and intellectual contribution to
the work, and approved it for publication.
Conflict of Interest
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial
or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.