Mid Sweden University

Purpose 

This conceptual paper aims to inspire further advancement of the visual turn in tourism, hospitality and leisure studies. It offers an updated overview of the implications of different philosophical positions for visual data and provides insights into both big and small data studies. Future research possibilities within the visual turn in these fields of studies are also discussed.  

Design 

Given the conceptual nature of this paper, the lines of arguments are largely informed by existing literature in both the wider social sciences and humanities as well as the multidisciplinary fields of tourism, hospitality and leisure studies. While not attempting to provide a systematic review, this paper critically discusses both the wide variety of visual data types used in tourism, hospitality and leisure research, as well as the relevant, philosophy of science informed, theoretical framing of visual research.  

Findings 

This paper offers insights into possible futures for the visual turn in tourism, hospitality and leisure, while being neither prescriptive nor favouring a particular philosophical position or methodology. Some of the key directions for the future of the visual turn in fact, are expected to be influenced by the very diversity of approaches. Namely, both big and small data studies are expected to play a significant role in visual tourism, hospitality and leisure studies in the future, in much the same way the studies underpinned by the broad umbrellas of paradigms belonging to a variety of different paradigms will. 

Originality 

The originality of this paper lies in its offering of an updated meaningful synthesis of relevant literature which spans across disciplines and fields of studies to offer both an overview of the current state of the visual turn in tourism, hospitality and leisure studies, and visions for its future. This is supported through an updated table outlining the key paradigms and their implications for visual data, and an emphasis of the important roles both big and small data studies play in knowledge production in these fields of studies.  

In recent years, Nature-Based Tourism (NBT) has witnessed significant growth with a sharp increase in tourist flows to peripheral destinations (Fredman & Margaryan, 2021;Waleghwa & Ioannides, 2024). The majority of these tourists rely on private motorised modes to access peripheral Nature-Based (NB) destinations, despite the availability of alternative sustainable modes of transportation (Waleghwa & Ioannides, 2024). This behaviour exacerbates carbon emissions and threatens the sustainable tourism futures of peripheral nature-based destinations whose tourism portfolio essentially relies on the enjoyment of nature (Juschten & Hössinger, 2021; Waleghwa & Ioannides, 2024; Woods,2010). Despite extensive research on leisure mobility, the existing research largely overlooks the underlying reasons behind tourists' actual inter-destination mobility choices and how they justify these decisions, especially when they opt against environmentally sustainable alternatives. Our study seeks to address this gap. We employ a dual theoretical approach; consumer value biangulation and attribution theory, to explore the reasoning behind tourists’ inter-destination mobility choices. The consumer value biangulation perspective provides insight into what tourists value in their transport mode choices (compositional approach) and how these values emerge from the connection between travel mode attributes and their universal values (dynamic approach). Attribution theory complements this by examining how tourists justify these choices. Using a soft laddering technique based on the means-end-chains approach, we conducted 22 in-depth interviews with mountain biking tourists visiting Åre, Sweden. We employed means-end-chains analysis to explore the tourists reasoning behind their inter-destination mobility choices whereas a thematic analysis was performed to understand their justifications associated with such choices. By uncovering value-driven reasoning and attribution patterns, we seek to offer useful behavioural insights for designing more targetted interventions aimed at encouraging sustainable mobility behaviours among this specific tourist segment, ultimately contributing to the sustainable tourism futures of peripheral nature-based destinations.

Today, the tourism industry exhibits a widespread understanding of the importance of sustainable development. Destinations increasingly prioritise and integrate green transition efforts into their operational and strategic management and marketing activities. Ultimately, it is the choices and actions of the visitors that drive the green transition, and therefore it is essential to work on encouraging sustainable behaviour to build an attractive destination brand by including sustainability in the destination brand promise. Achieving this requires destinations to obtain a deeper understanding of tourists’ experience, destination brand perceptions, and broader pro-sustainable values and attitudes, as well as to learn how to integrate this knowledge into management and marketing practices. The final stage of a research project, conducted in collaboration with Höga Kusten destination in Sweden, utilized findings from empirical survey studies of the destination brand, to facilitate dialogue between researchers and destination managers. This dialogue took place in the format of three consecutive workshops accompanied by two-sided output exchanges between these sessions. The research team contributed to the workshops with findings related to a web-based experiment examining sustainability as a dimension of experience value and a subdimension of destination brand value (i.e., the extension of the CBDBE model), as well as insights into identification and profiling of tourist segments based on their environmental concerns and a scribed responsibility. Destination managers utilized these insights to inventory the existing and planned communication and product development initiatives emphasizing sustainability aspects of the tourism destination offer. Together, the project team designed a conceptual sketch for a web-based app to tailor-make the sustainability focused destination communication and increase its relevance and acceptance among potential visitors. This final stage of the project addresses destination branding efforts aimed at encouraging sustainable behavior among visitors, thereby enhancing the brand'svalue and contributing to green transition of businesses within the tourism industry. The study also provides insights into how the visitors' experience value can be applied in development work for green transition within the tourism industry.

This study examines strategic leverage points for climate change mitigation in small-scale tourism destinations, using an interdisciplinary approach that combines life cycle assessment (LCA) and behavioural experimentation. The purpose was to identify operational and behavioural interventions that can reduce greenhouse gas emissions while maintaining visitor satisfaction. The LCA, conducted at an animal park, revealed that heating systems in visitor facilities, particularly during off-peak seasons, represent critical infrequent decision points for emissions reduction. Although large-scale infrastructural changes, such as the adoption of renewable energy, may be beyond the reach of small businesses, targeted efficiency improvements and seasonally optimized operations can deliver meaningful climate benefits. On the demand side, a lab experiment tested a nudge + approach that combined subtle choice architecture with reflective, values-based communication. Results suggested that nudge + interventions increased the likelihood of visitors making more sustainable choices without diminishing the quality of the tourism experience. These findings suggest that combining shallow leverage points (e.g., operational efficiency, behavioural nudges) with deeper interventions (e.g., reframing goals, fostering sustainability-oriented mindsets) offers the greatest potential for contributing to a larger systemic change. For small-scale tourism destinations, integrating bottom-up innovation with supportive governance and strategic communication can provide scalable, context-sensitive pathways towards low-carbon futures.

This research explores the potential application of nudge + in a tourismcontext. Nudge + is an intervention that aims to influence consumerdecisions and promote long-term behavioural change by facilitatingreflexive actions alongside reflective processes. Nudge + is conceptualisedas a hybrid approach incorporating elements from green nudging andtransformative experiences. In a laboratory simulation of a visit to ananimal park, nudge + is used to explore how combining successivereflection-inducing messages and menu manipulations influences par -ticipants' food choices and pro-environmental attitudes. The process ofdesigning the simulation constitutes a constructive step in developingand learning how to utilise nudge + in tourism activities. Our interpreta-tion of nudge + entails a purposeful and comprehensive rethinking ofthe tourism experiencescape and customer journey to maintain enjoy-ment, engage visitors and ensure a cohesive stance towards reducingvisitors' onsite climate footprint. Interventions and reflective elementscan be incorporated as sequential interactions that set local norms. Theresults indicate that nudge + can boost participants' pro-environmentalattitudes and behavioural intentions. Moreover, the interventions do notdisturb participants, and nudging is perceived as an acceptable strategyfor reducing tourists' climate footprint. 

The purpose of this paper is to follow up and explore popular culture destinations over time to understand what makes them last. Travel driven by global fan cultures may emerge suddenly and surprisingly for destinations with unpredictable increase in demand associated with popular cultural phenomena such as films, literature, or music. Whether or not this interest will last is a critical question for businesses and other stakeholders that are looking to develop a destination for new visitor groups. We conducted interviews at the same three destinations associated with the Twilight Saga books and films as a previous study published more than 10 years ago. The findings show three different timelines with waves of formative events related to media products, people and artifacts assets and as the main forces driving development and change. For example, in terms of media products, all three destinations saw boosts in audience engagement through the release and re-engagement of books and films. Regarding people, local and a strong celebrity engagement as well as staff and fan engagement were evident at all Twilight Saga destinations, at varying degrees. Exhibitions, events, themed accommodations, merchandise, and guided tours were typical artifacts at all destinations. Our main conclusion is that meaningful interlinking of territorial capital, in the form of media products, people, and artifacts, are central in the creation of ‘eternal’ popular culture destinations, closely interlinked in evolutionary waves of formative events. 

"Mountain-Bike (MTB) Tourism has experienced significant growth in European alpine destinations, including Sweden. This growing form of tourism sector’s contribution to climate change is exacerbated by MTB tourists' reliance on private motorized modes in their mobility behaviours, posing a significant threat to its sustainable tourism future. To encourage a modal shift towards climate -friendly mobility alternatives among MTB tourists, a consumer-centric behavioural approach is proposed, considering its limited application in tourist mobility studies. Accordingly, we examine how the concurrent influence of MTB tourists’ socio-psychological dispositions informs their intentions to engage in sustainable inter-destination mobility behaviours. Furthermore, we analyze the discrepancies that exist between the tourists’ socio-psychological dispositions and their intentions and the underlying reasons explaining such gaps. The socio-psychological dispositions such as MTB tourists' travelling habits, their perceived mobility infrastructural needs, environmental values, goals related to sustainable mobility, and enduring involvement in mountain biking are discussed. 

The theories of Goal framing theory, Theory of Planned Behaviour, Cognitive Dissonance Theory and Attribution theory are employed in this project. Two research studies are designed based on an explanatory sequential mixed-method research design. The first study adopts a quantitative approach with a conditional mediation analysis in Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling to analyze the combined influence of sociopschological dispositions on MTB tourists' intention to engage in sustainable interdestination mobility behaviours. The second study employs a qualitative laddering technique based on semi-structured interviews to analyze the discrepancies that exist between MTB tourists' socio-pschological dispositions and their sustainable interdestination mobility intentions. 

We intend to provide insights into how the sustainable accessibility to (selected) mountain bike destinations in Sweden, functions and is experienced by mountain bike tourists, driving their choice and compliance towards them. These findings can be used to promote sustainable mobility behaviours among this tourist segment and further develop sustainable mobility infrastructures reaching MTB destinations in Sweden."