As society has developed, fishing villages that have relied solely on traditional fishing have found themselves on the verge of extinction. Therefore, efforts are being made to transform fishing villages into areas with various functions including recreation, tourism, and education. In this regard, the main purpose of this study is to analyze the relative importance and priorities of the multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) process used in the revitalization of fishing village tourism. To this end, the A’WOT (AHP/SWOT) hybrid approach, developed in combination with the SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis and the AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) method, was used to determine the significant factors. The results of the study demonstrated that the ‘opportunities’ and ‘strengths’ areas are relatively important when it comes to the priority of sustainable development. We also identified the high importance in terms of global weight of both ‘Increased demand for leisure, rest and ecotourism’ and ‘Possession of natural resources of diverse and distinctive fishing villages by sea and region’ as sustainable ways to revitalize fishing communities. This study demonstrates that with appropriate data and an applicable systematic process, the A’WOT approach can adequately show where intervention is most needed. The study shows that the application of tourism in the current context has the potential to approach the issue of fishing village tourism. Furthermore, this study is meaningful in that it quantifies the importance of fishing village tourism attributes by using a systematic approach, and it concludes with suggesting where the emphasis should be placed on policy and strategy.
The culture of Jeju Haenyeo, the women free divers of Jeju Island, is inscribed on United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list; however, it is proving difficult to maintain this status because, in the absence of conservation measures, the number of Haenyeo is decreasing. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to use contingent valuation to determine the economic value of preserving Jeju Haenyeo culture, which derives from visitor entrance fees, with the aim of justifying the preservation of this and other such intangible cultural resources. Despite its methodological advantage of allowing estimation of the value of non-market goods, the contingent valuation method (CVM) has been criticized because the hypothetical nature of the conditions can cause overestimation. To overcome that limitation, the respondents in this study reported their willingness to pay (WTP), and their responses were repeatedly confirmed to ensure their sincerity. The CVM estimate of the preservation value of Jeju Haenyeo culture was 17,308 South Korean Won. The results of this study serve as referential data on the value of cultural heritages and the need to preserve and utilize these resources.
Given that the use of shared economic resources has increased for leisure, the main goal of the present study is to investigate the influence of the leisure attributes of the sharing economy on leisure benefits and quality of life. For this, the related sub-factors were derived for the verification of the sharing economy’s leisure attributes. Next, the sub-components of the concept were integrated and analyzed using a second confirmatory factor analysis. The results of a study using the structural equation model demonstrated that the sharing economy’s leisure attributes statistically affect the four levels of leisure benefits (i.e., social, physical, personal, and psychological benefits). We also identified two (social and psychological benefits) out of four leisure benefits that ultimately affect quality of life. This study is meaningful in that it elucidates the relationships between the sharing economy’s leisure attributes, leisure benefits, and quality of life.
The COVID-19 pandemic caused unprecedented global disruptions, with the hotel and aviation industries—two critical pillars of tourism—among the hardest hit. This study analyzed 451 hotel-related and 336 aviation-related records from the Web of Science database, applying semantic network analysis to uncover eight clusters of crisis management knowledge: basic functions, crisis response, operational strategies, epidemic prevention and control, crisis perception, innovative services, scope of influence, and internal and external environments. Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) topic modeling identified distinct thematic strategies for each sector. In hotels, these included Digital Innovation Transformation, Monitoring Management Procedures, Emotional Awareness Incentives, and Resilience Mechanism Establishment. In aviation, strategies focused on Green Economic Transformation, Co-creation Value Realization, Passenger Incentive Mechanisms, and Balancing Health Risks. By visualizing co-occurrence relationships and mapping thematic intersections and divergences, this study provides actionable insights into the recovery strategies of these industries. The findings offer robust support for developing targeted management approaches and decision-making frameworks to ensure the sustainable growth of the tourism sector.
30 March 2026 in Journal of Quality Assurance in Hospitality & Tourism
Background
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Korea experiences rapid aging among Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. This population faces challenges, such as physical and mental health issues. Physical activity promotes successful aging, yet longitudinal evidence examining its causal effects on health and life satisfaction among them remains unexplored. Methods
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Longitudinal data from the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging were examined, using 43,234 observations from 2006 to 2020. The analysis employs fixed-effects models to assess the long-term causal impact of regular exercise and exercise frequency on health and life satisfaction. Results
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Regular exercise participation leads to a 2.59 point increase in self-assessed health ( P < .1), with a relatively larger effect observed among males compared to females. Exercise frequency positively affects health satisfaction with coefficients of 0.41 ( P < .01) overall, 0.50 ( P < .01) for males, and 0.33 ( P < .01) for females. For life satisfaction, regular exercise shows positive effects with coefficients of 2.25 ( P < .01) for the full sample, 2.28 ( P < .01) for males, and 2.20 ( P < .01) for females. Conclusions
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This study provides evidence of a long-term impact between regular exercise, exercise frequency, and health and life satisfaction among older adults in Korea. Findings emphasize the importance of physical activity programs and the role of public health policies in encouraging active lifestyles to support healthy aging.