Tourism is an activity that contributes directly and indirectly to the development of rural areas. But this development needs to be sustainable. To do this, appropriate policies that positively influence these areas from an economic, social and cultural point of view must be implemented. All this in accordance with the Sustainable Development Goals. This study will analyze the contribution of rural tourism to develop and implement policies to promote sustainable tourism that creates jobs and promotes local culture and products. The variables that most influence the tourist behavior, motivation, the destination image, and the satisfaction obtained by the tourist will be analyzed. After an exhaustive review of the literature, an empirical investigation was carried out with 1,658 valid surveys among rural tourists in Soria, a Spanish province with one of the highest levels of depopulation. A structural equation model was drawn up to discover the relationships between the variables. The results demonstrated the importance of the motivation in the formation of the destination image, as well as satisfaction with the trip. In the same way, we will verify which component of the image of the destination (affective or cognitive) has the most influence on their formation, and how the image of the destination, like motivation, influences tourist satisfaction. The proposed model could be used in many studies that analyze the different variables that influence consumer behavior since its reliability and predictive capacity have been proven. The results of the study can also be used by the authorities to design or modify the most appropriate strategies that influence rural tourism, specially promoting the destination image as a variable that positively influences tourist satisfaction.

The high degree of depopulation in certain areas of Spain is a serious threat to the country, and is aggravated by the ongoing loss of population from those areas. Rural tourism is one of the activities that can help prevent this depopulation. However, to successfully promote such tourism, we must consider the elements that have the greatest influence on tourists when they choose one location over another, or one accommodation over another. Extensive data have been collected from 1658 valid surveys of tourists in one of the most depopulated areas of Spain. Several multivariate techniques were then applied to the data, including Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Multiple Classification Analysis (MCA). Factors were obtained that identified both the different motivations that influence tourists, and the variables that identify the province based on its image. An analysis was then made of how both the variables thus identified the influence of the formation of the image that tourists take away from the visit. Tourists are most strongly motivated by natural landscapes, monuments, or events of cultural interest, i.e., natural and cultural attractions rather than social ones, and the cognitive image has the greatest influence on the formation of the new image. The principal findings of this research are that the future of many of these depopulated areas depends on successfully promoting both their beautiful landscapes and their cultural heritage, as well as developing and improving the areas themselves so that the depopulation is slowed down or even reversed, to the benefit of the local population. This would also benefit the local and regional authorities and the establishments linked to rural tourism in the area, increasing their profits and raising the level of employment in the province.

In recent years, rural tourism has experienced a major boom; it was once a secondary type of tourism but has now become a significant alternative option within the Spanish economy. This type of tourism facilitates the sustainable development of the host communities and their surrounding areas, becoming an extra source of income in some cases, and the principal business in others. It is therefore important to ascertain which variables influence the behavior of rural tourists. The objective of this study is to demonstrate the influence on rural tourist behavior of destination image, both initial and final, as well as tourist satisfaction and loyalty to the area. Loyalty, which translates into repeat visits to the area and recommendations to third parties, promotes the sustainable development of rural areas. After an exhaustive review of the literature on the relevant variables, an empirical study was carried out using a questionnaire designed for tourists over 18 years old who visited the province of Soria (Spain) and stayed in a rural tourism establishment. This resulted in a total of 1658 valid completed questionnaires. A structural equation model was then drawn up to discover the relationships between all the variables. The results demonstrated the importance of destination image in the formation of the new image, and also showed that tourist satisfaction is the variable that most strongly influences loyalty to the tourist area. This study is a novel contribution to the study of sustainable development in rural areas since it focuses on tourist loyalty and its resulting benefits.

Purpose: The study of citizens' perceptions of the performance of public services and their relationship with the taxes allocated to them is of great interest in the context of public and fiscal management and the welfare state. This study has a twofold objective in defining a structural equation modeling (SEM) model: on the one hand, to measure the relationship between the perception of the performance of public services and the taxes allocated to them and on the other hand, to study the reflection of the perception of the performance of public services on the happiness and satisfaction of citizens.Design/methodology/approach: To achieve this objective, a descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out based on data from the “Public opinion and fiscal policy, 2022” questionnaire of the Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas (CIS) through a survey with a sample of 2,543 citizens representative of the Spanish population. The partial least squares (PLS) method was applied to test the following hypotheses.Findings: The result of this research allows us to know which variables in relation to citizens' perception of the functioning of public services have a positive influence on use of taxes and on citizens' happiness and satisfaction.Originality/value: One of the novelties of this study is to analyse the effect of consumer perception on the performance of public services from the perspective of the welfare state by improving citizens' happiness and satisfaction.

Satisfaction and happiness are two widely studied topics in current literature. Human beings need to find happiness. However, for many authors, satisfaction is a prerequisite for happiness. Satisfaction, in turn, can be approached from different perspectives, such as job satisfaction, health satisfaction, and social life satisfaction. This research analyses the relationship between these variables and their influence on proactive social behaviour. The present study utilised the European Social Survey, an academic survey conducted across Europe in its round 10, carried out between 2022 and 2023, with a database of 25,311 valid responses. Structural equation modelling analysis conduct using PLS-SEM with the Smart PLS software. The results demonstrate a direct and significant relationship between overall satisfaction and happiness and between happiness and prosocial behaviour. Similarly, a solid indirect relationship exists between satisfaction and prosocial behaviour in society. Furthermore, job satisfaction is among the variables influencing overall satisfaction and happiness. However, it is not the most important, with satisfaction with social life being the most influential on satisfaction. Happiness is one of the main variables that influence people’s lives. As we have observed, this happiness has a direct and solid relationship with the individual’s level of satisfaction, with job satisfaction and satisfaction with social life being the most influential in this relationship between satisfaction and happiness. Therefore, these conclusions must be understood by both workers and employers and public administrations. Additionally, the relationship between happiness and prosocial behaviour is an interesting topic that the governments of countries and regions in Europe should consider.

The evolution of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) has changed the way we communicate. Access to the Internet and social networks has even changed the way we organise ourselves socially. Despite advances in this field, research on the use of social networks in political discourse and citizens’ perceptions of public policy remains scarce. So, the empirical study of politicians’ discourse on social networks in relation to citizens’ perception of public and fiscal policies according to their political affinity is of particular interest. The aim of the research is, therefore, to analyse positioning, from a dual perspective. Firstly, the study analyses the positioning in the discourse of the communication campaigns posted on social networks of Spain’s most prominent politicians. And secondly, it evaluates whether this positioning is reflected in citizens’ opinions about the public and fiscal policies being implemented in Spain. To this end, a qualitative semantic analysis and a positioning map is performed on a total of 1553 tweets published between 1 June and 31 July 2021 by the leaders of the top ten Spanish political parties. In parallel, a cross-sectional quantitative analysis is carried out, also through positioning analysis, based on the database of the Public Opinion and Fiscal Policy Survey of July 2021 by the Sociological Research Centre (CIS), whose sample is 2849 Spanish citizens. The results show a significant difference in the discourse of political leaders’ social network posts—which is more pronounced between right-wing and left-wing parties—and only some differences in citizens’ perception of public policies according to their political affinity. This work contributes to identifying the differentiation and positioning of the main parties and helps to guide the discourse of their posts.