The present study attempts to propose a model integrating different factors that influence the decision-making process of choosing foreign academic destinations for short-term mobility. The theoretical model will be supported by empirical research carried out using a questionnaire administered to students who participated in an exchange programme in Poland (N = 135) and in Portugal (N = 137). This paper contributes to literature by empirically investigating the pull factors affecting the international students’ decision-making process in three dimensions: the country, the city and the university. The findings have implications not only for universities but, for that matter, for local and national governments.

We aim to present a cross-societal comparison of the influence tactics that adolescents use with their parents in family travel decisions by investigating 762 usable responses of senior high school students across four Eastern Europe societies (Lithuania, Poland, Russia, and Slovakia). Through multi-group confirmatory factor analysis (MG-CFA), adolescent influence behavior emerges in a refined and validated model of four subscales reflecting bargaining, persuasion, emotional, and request strategies. These subscales indicate the measurement invariance of adolescent influence behavior across societies. Our findings show significant between-society differences for all four dimensions of adolescents’ influence tactics with their parents. Furthermore, respondents from all four societies have similar priorities of choosing their influence tactics, as reported in recent studies on family purchase decisions. We also found that respondents from the non-post-Soviet cluster (NPSC) are more likely to apply various influence tactics than their counterparts from the post-Soviet cluster (PSC). We conclude with a discussion of these differences and why they may have occurred.

Although the main purpose of international student mobility is to study, it can also be considered a type of tourist activity. The purpose of this study is to identify and profile international exchange students by their attitudes toward education and traveling during their exchange programmes. This study adds to the literature in the field of “study abroad programmes” in three important ways. First, this study focuses on incoming students, whereas the vast majority of studies on study abroad/exchange students focus solely on the outgoing community. Second, this study describes two types of international exchange students, identified based on their attitudes toward “education first” and “tourism first.” Finally, it identifies the predictor variables that significantly distinguish between international exchange students’ preferences for “education first” or “tourism first.” Finally, the combination of these three factors offers a unique perspective on a student population and on constructs that have received very little focus in research published to date. The study found that these students were motivated by “tourism first” rather than pursuing study goals in foreign countries and this decision was based on factors such as personal savings, anticipated duration of study in Poland and the student’s home country.

Geocaching is a sport-recreation activity considered as a post-modern treasure hunting game. The aim of this study was to group geocachers by how they consumed leisure and tourism services during COVID restrictions and at a time of economic uncertainty in Poland. An empirical research was conducted with Polish geocachers (n = 389) to identify their types based on their ‘staying home’ and ‘getting out’ attitudes. Moreover, the research identified some predictor variables that significantly distinguish between the geocachers’ preferences regarding ‘staying home’ and ‘getting out.’ The Principal Component Analysis allowed to reduce the 26 motivation items into 5 dimensions: Sociability and Self-Expression; Nature Desires; Solitude Seeking; Challenge; and Routine-Breaker. Nature Desires was the only type of motivation found to be a significant predictor. This paper offers a unique perspective on how Polish geocachers behaved during the COVID threat.

Academics and policy-makers have long been interested in understanding the interplay of factors that influence resident perceptions of local tourism development. This article reports the results of a study that is both methodologically and contextually novel. It uses the chi-square automatic interaction detection method (CHAID), which is usually associated with other fields, most notably consumer marketing, to examine residents’ perceptions of tourism development in rural Poland. It contributes to the literature by revealing the need to segment residents appropriately and highlights which constituencies in rural communities are most likely to be positively (and negatively) disposed toward tourism. This creates opportunities for more nuanced policy interventions.