Revival of sun-and-beach tourism through the lens of regulatory and risk dimensions of environmental sustainability.

Environmental sustainability is essential in tourism literature, and sun-and-beach tourism (SBT) is one of the most popular subsections of the tourism field. The appropriate policies and strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic to revive SBT growth through the lens of the regulatory dimension (RED) and risk dimension (RID) of environmental sustainability are gaining timely ground to conduct this research. The current study examined the nexus between SBT, RED, and RID utilizing three novel indexes (i.e., weighted sun-and-beach tourism index, weighted regulatory dimension index, and weighted risk dimension index) by employing the principal component analysis within the framework of six stages of empirical estimation strategy. These three novel indexes combine the most commonly used SBT, RED, and RID indicators. This research tested the CSD and homogeneous, then employed the second generation CIPS-CADF panel unit root test, used an AMG estimator, and employed the panel Toda-Yamamoto (PTY) causality test. The findings revealed that the RED positively influences SBT while the RID mitigates SBT. Results also indicate bidirectional causality between SBT, RID, and RED. In other words, changes in RID and RED have predictive power for the SBT, which further highlights the role of SBT on the RID and RED. Therefore, concerned authorities can focus on environmental sustainability design initiatives and appropriate policy/strategy implications to boost SBT.

Destination brand image and destination brand choice in the context of health crisis: Scale development

Several recent destination crises have brought difficult challenges to the world’s travel, hospitality, and tourism activities. We explore how the brand image of a tourist destination is influenced by health crises, specifically within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. We conducted interviews and online data collection in China. Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were conducted to develop, purify, and verify scale items that measure perceived destination brand image, destination brand self-congruence, destination brand engagement, destination brand love, and perceived risk of destination health crisis. We identified key associations among the constructs of the study. This study offers a tested and validated destination brand image and tourist behavior (DBITB) scale to understand tourist behavior toward destination brands during and after health crises. Important theoretical and practical implications are discussed to inform future research on destination branding.