Rural tourism is driven by the search for unique and memorable experiences in particular settings, but knowledge on visitors’ experiences in rural destinations is still scarce. This paper analyzes the rural tourism experience of Portuguese tourists who answered an online survey (N = 252). The paper aims at validating, in the rural tourism context, a previously proposed tourist experience scale, and analyzing the relationships between the experience, arousal, memory, and satisfaction. Results reveal that the rural tourism experience dimensions of education and esthetics positively predict rural tourists’ arousal, whereas escapism and esthetics determine memorability. Finally, implications for rural tourism marketing are discussed.

Rural tourism is an important development strategy for some rural areas. Landscape is central to the visitor's tourism experience. While the literature suggests that some rural landscape features are likely to attract visitors, research on the impact of landscape on the rural tourism experience is rather limited, and often confined to studies supported by visual stimuli (e.g. photos), ignoring the impact of the direct contact of visitors with the territory. This study overcomes some of these limitations by assessing visitors’ perceptions of the rural landscapes based on two villages in Portugal, while visitors were still in the villages. Vegetation type and colour, and built heritage, emerge as key experience elements for tourists, but they were followed by a complex group of largely non-visual stimuli, including sounds, smells, tastes, people contact, “nature” in its wider sense, and the past. The potential for sustainable tourism development based on this rich array of key elements is addressed, along with the need for action at all levels to bring together tourism and landscape management in an integrated way for marketing, product development and conservation purposes. Differences among groups of visitors are noted, suggesting that different groups of visitors require different approaches.

Travel has become a synonym of living memorable and enjoyable experiences. Co-creation centralizes tourists’ role in the creation of value that results from the interaction with other destination stakeholders and the physical environment. Within the wider destination experience, the growing interest tourists show regarding the food and wine experience is notorious, due to its distinctive, multisensory and engaging nature. However, conceptual and empirical studies on co-creation of experiences in food and wine contexts are still scarce. To address this gap, this conceptual study presents an integrative literature review of 118 articles focusing on co-creation in tourism experiences, aiming at understanding what conceptual and empirical studies have been developed in the field, and identifying the most representative dimensions of tourism co-creation, both in general tourism experience and in food and wine experiences, in particular. Based on study findings, a critical analysis is presented along with a novel framework and definition of co-creative tourism experiences, with particular relevance to food and wine tourism. Key dimensions of co-creation in food and wine experiences, namely interaction, engagement, participation and personalization, are identified as relevant for promoting involving and immersive experiences. Theoretical and managerial contributions to destination managers and local stakeholders are also discussed.

People who have visual impairments exceed 250 million persons worldwide and represent an important cohort of museum visitors. However, they experience many constraints to participation in daily life. Few studies analyse the accessibility of museums to visitors with visual impairments, and many are confined to a single museum and to a small set of strategies for improving accessibility. This article aims to identify a broad set of strategies to increase the accessibility of museums to visitors with visual impairments and analyse the accessibility of museums in four European cities. Conclusions and implications for policy-makers and museum managers, designed to promote the creation of inclusive museums, are presented.