Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research

Rural tourism is currently one of the most dynamic segments of tourism demand, and rural accommodation is one of the accommodation choices most in demand. Based on various documentary sources, the goal of this article was to analyse aspects related to the qualitative evolution of this activity that have led to the rapid growth of this type of accommodation. Using a purpose-built database generated from the information obtained from our own survey, which was developed following other studies on this topic, we applied a partial least squares model to analyse the impacts on the environment in terms of the offer and their relationship with environmental management. The results show that the attitude of rural establishment managers has a decisive influence on the behaviour of their clients regarding ecological respect and a positive impact on water and energy consumption.

The design and the evaluation of sustainable tourism policies require involving all the actors in the decision-making process. One of the critical aspects at the regional level is the absence of a clear definition of instruments and methodologies able to involve all the actors and to meet different policy targets. The aim of this study is to assess the economic and environmental impact of the tourism carrying capacity by proposing a framework able to deal with multiple variables. To this end, a social accounting matrix is built for a local area composed by four municipalities within the Sardinia region (Italy), and then it is used as a reference frame to implement the extended multisectoral model. Such an approach will provide results, on visitors flow recorded in the Asinara National Park, in terms of value added and CO2 emissions changes.

The increase of environmental problems due to the tourist activity has given rise to conservation of environment in destinations. In this sense, regional, national, and international regulatory provisions have proliferated during the last years. This article analyses the perception in the society about this kind of distinguishing signs, for the specific case of protected natural areas. Since local population participates in the appropriate development of protected areas, the knowledge and the communication of protection’s forms are necessary to achieve the purpose for which they were created. This article uses a structural equation model to know the relationship between implication of local population, knowledge and perception of forms to protect natural areas, and the influence on the support of actions related with these forms of protection. This article represents a sustainable innovation with the aim of getting recommendations about the use of distinguishing signs by tourist authorities, to achieve a good knowledge and communication of these signs, and an optimal management of destinations. The main result is that the perception of the effects produced by figures of protection influences on the support of actions related with these figures; in this way, the more positive perception is, the higher the support is.

Community attachment is a key factor for both the perceptions and the attitudes of residents including the tourism activities within it. Besides, residents’ participation in the tourism development process influences their support for the development of tourism activities. Finally, the environmental attitudes of residents are essential for the sustainability of natural resources. A total of 722 structured questionnaires to residents of the city of Santiago de los Caballeros gathered information about community attachment, environmental activity, support for tourism, perceptions, and involvement toward the natural resources of the Yaque del Norte River (the longest of the Dominican Republic). The results, using partial least squares, showed the relevant relations between the variables researched and offer a new framework on which to reflect, for the assessment of the relations between community attachment and support for sustainable tourism, together with the involvement and the attitudes of the community.

This work represents a contribution by showing the state of the art of research on rural tourism and development, identifying trends and proposing future lines and topics of research. Rural tourism and its influence on the economic development of rural areas has been an important and dynamic area of research since 2004. For this purpose, a quantitative bibliometric analysis of the 892 documents related to this topic contained within the Web of Science Core Collection has been carried out. Results show that studies on rural tourism mainly focus on Spain, Romania, and China. However, the most prolific authors are from Portugal, China, the United Kingdom, and the United States. There is a notable lack of studies focused on countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, mainly due to political and religious factors. Rural tourism is also an important and emergent sector, particularly in countries like Romania and China.

Although the importance of effective corporate governance for firm performance is recognized by scholars across hospitality and tourism (HT) as well as finance and general management fields, there seem to be several gaps, mixed findings, and conflicting results. To facilitate scholarly advancement, identify gaps in the current knowledge base, make suggestions for theory development, and provide direction for future research, we undertake a systematic review of research on corporate governance in the HT literature. Based on 120 peer-reviewed articles published since 1961, we identify 21 themes explored by scholars, and find that topics related to institutional ownership, determinants of executive compensation, board size, and merger and acquisition outcomes are commonly examined, whereas topics related to family ownership, debt, and regulation/law are seldom explored. Our comprehensive review contributes to the literature by synthesizing current knowledge and offering suggestions to scholars to extend corporate governance literature published in the HT field.

Based on the concept of trust from a hierarchical approach and with the support of processing fluency theory, the current study investigates customer trust, and its relationships with flow experience, satisfaction, and repatronage intention on peer-to-peer (P2P) lodging platforms. Customer flow experience on the Airbnb platform is verified to be an antecedent of economy-based trust. The hierarchical organization of trust is also proved applicable in the context of sharing economy websites (economy-based trust → information-based trust → identification-based trust). The results provide marketers and hosts of P2P lodging platforms effective strategies to assist customers form trust in sequential steps and in multiple perspectives. The present study is a pioneer which in depth examined trust formation in the emerging sharing economy platforms.

This study examined the impacts of intragroup guanxi interaction on customers’ complaint behavior following service failure on a group tour. Based on the guanxi literature and social support theory, two dimensions of intragroup guanxi interaction were identified, and their effects on customers’ intentions to complain were examined. The moderating effects of group size and relational distance were also assessed. Three experimental studies were conducted to test the proposed hypotheses. Findings revealed that instrumental guanxi interaction and emotional guanxi interaction among tour group members both positively influenced travelers’ intentions to complain, and the impact of emotional guanxi interaction was greater than that of instrumental guanxi interaction. Moreover, the effects of intragroup guanxi interaction on group customers’ intentions to complain were stronger for larger groups and for groups with closer relational distance. This study contributes to the literature on group service failure and customers’ complaint behavior from an Eastern cultural perspective.

Despite the wide acknowledgment of consumer value as a dynamic concept in marketing and tourism literature, few studies have addressed its dynamicity. This article provides an approach to the dynamic nature of value in a hotel experience by proposing a conceptual framework that seeks to explain the influence of value types on customer satisfaction and loyalty as being concatenated rather than simultaneous effects, as more usually described. The concatenation of effects is based on the distinction between active versus reactive values and is tested in a structural model consisting of eight types of value (Efficiency, Service Quality, Status, Esteem, Entertainment, Aesthetics, Ethics, and Escapism). The experiences of 585 hotel guests were analyzed with SEM-PLS (structural equation modeling–partial least squares). Although a direct effect persists between Service Quality and Satisfaction, and Efficiency does not directly affect Loyalty, the chain of Reactive Values–Active Values–Satisfaction–Loyalty is empirically validated shedding light on research in value co-creation processes.