The purpose of this study is to identify and analyze the role that restaurant practices play on tourists’ choices and specifically on city branding. It examines whether sustainability practices are considered by customers to be part of what they perceive as overall quality, leading to customer satisfaction, loyalty, and repeat business. It examines whether sustainability practices become part of the customer experience and perceived quality, and if they could work as another key predictor of customer dining satisfaction effecting their decisions to revisit a destination. Several studies focused on sustainability practices from the restaurant owner’s perspective, but there is no study investigating the viewpoint of international tourists and consumers of common restaurants, and the influence of green practices on visiting a major European capital during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our research was conducted using a sample of 204 international consumers after completing meals at local restaurants in Athens. This study offers insights on the role that sustainable and green practices of restaurants play in customer satisfaction as it relates to a potential re-visit of a destination; however, it still shows a path worth investigating. Restaurateurs, tourism experts (DMO), and local government should monitor what influences the satisfaction of potential global tourists while taking their sensitivity on sustainability issues into account when shaping their branding strategy during the COVID-19 era.

Many touristic enterprises organize and offer staged experiences in order to achieve client sustainability. The present study aims to examine in which extent the environment aesthetics, emotions, experiential participation, price, and authenticity affect the tourist’s experience on Greek cooking classes. Moreover, is examined the effect of tourist’s experiences that results in their image modification about the touristic destinations. For this study, e-questionnaires were sent to 500 tourists that participated in experiential culinary activities in agrotourism farms in central Greece. 289 useful questionnaires were collected and analysed based on Confirmative Factor Analysis (CFA). This study asserts that tourist’s experiences effect on destination’s image modification indirectly via satisfaction.

After the first wave of the COVID-19 outbreak, many tourist destinations promoted a safe, COVID-free image to attract tourists. The main purpose of this paper is to examine and analyze the effect that the image of a place as a safe tourist destination (STD)—in our case, Greece—can have on the decision-making processes of tourists who were willing to take summer holidays in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic. We examined the relationships between destination safety perceptions, trust, attractive attributes of destinations, travel intentions, and health-protective behavior for domestic and inbound tourists from Spain. This study confirms differences in destination safety perceptions among domestic and inbound tourists from countries that have suffered significant negative impacts due to the novel coronavirus.

This integrative literature review synthesises five strands of recent scholarships on port city regions (PCRs): (1) their multidimensional transitions, (2) skills foresight and future competences, (3) challenges and reforms in vocational education and training (VET) systems, (4) social inclusion and equity in skills development, and (5) innovative VET methodologies in port-adjacent sectors. Drawing on the interdisciplinary academic and policy-oriented literature, this article adopts a qualitative, integrative review approach to examine how the twin green and digital transition is reshaping port city regions and their associated skills ecosystems. The review demonstrates that PCR transitions are not only technical but socio-institutional: while Onshore Power Supplies (OPSs), alternative fuels, and digital platforms are transforming operational landscapes, the success of these innovations depends critically on the adaptive capacity of workers, training systems, and governance arrangements. The article further examines emerging pedagogical approaches in port-adjacent VET, including work-based learning, micro-credentials, and immersive training methods. Taken together, the evidence converges on a central claim: the resilience and sustainability of port city regions depend on integrated skills systems that combine foresight, inclusivity, and pedagogical innovation. Without such systems, decarbonisation and digitalisation risk exacerbating social and spatial inequalities rather than fostering sustainable growth. The article concludes by outlining implications for research, policy, and practice, calling for integrative performance metrics, longitudinal evaluation, and quadruple helix collaboration to support inclusive, competitive, and sustainable port transitions.

The present study investigates the relationship between human perception, multisensory gastronomic experiences, and technological mediation within the context of gastrotourism. The research introduces the concept of G@strotourism as a perception-centered and digitally mediated experiential tourism framework, where tourist experiences are shaped through the interaction of sensory engagement, experiential memory, and digital technology. A quantitative methodology was employed, with data collected from 942 international tourists who had visited Greece at least once. EFA, CFA, and SEM analyses were conducted to examine the relationships among pre-trip perceptions, memorable food experiences, technologically enhanced memories, loyalty, and behavioral intention. The findings provide preliminary evidence that technologically enhanced gastronomic experiences influence memory formation, emotional attachment to destinations, and future tourist behavior. The study contributes to the literature on perception-centered tourism experiences by highlighting the roles of sensory perception, memory processes, and digital mediation in gastronomic tourism, and by discussing their implications for tourism experiences enhanced through digital technologies.