This study aims to examine the relationship between tourists’ need for uniqueness (TNFU), perceived authenticity, tourists’ emotions, and their behavioral intentions in a heritage context. A proposed conceptual model is tested using the data generated from a convenient sample of 474 tourists visiting Cappadocia Göreme National Park, a natural and cultural heritage destination in Turkey. Using the partial least squares technique, the findings confirm that tourists’ need for uniqueness influences object-based authenticity and existential authenticity. Object-based authenticity and existential authenticity affect tourists’ emotions. Also, the tourist’s emotions affect their behavioral intentions. The model is further examined from a nationality perspective through a multigroup analysis. The effect of avoidance of similarity on TNFU is greater in European tourists. Also, the effect of TNFU on object-based authenticity is greater in Asian tourists. Further, the effect of object-based authenticity on tourists’ emotions is greater in Asian tourists. Discussions and implications for destination marketers, limitations, and suggestions for future research are also provided.

New studies have constantly been emerging in the field of tourism. However, it is not clear to what extent which study contributes to the literature and tourism application areas. There are a few bibliometric studies that illustrate the intellectual structure of the tourism innovation field. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to determine the performance and intellectual structure of research studies conducted on innovation in the field of tourism. For this purpose, a bibliometric analysis of 387 research studies, which were published over the period 1975–2021 and cited in SCI-EXPANDED, SSCI, A&HCI indexes of WoS, is performed. Co-citation analysis indicates that innovation research studies in tourism can be categorized into three groups: (1) conceptualization and types of innovation in tourism, (2) review research on innovation in tourism, and (3) methodological studies. According to the co-word analysis, sharing economy, open innovation, sustainability, and technology are the most popular topics of recent times. A steady increase is observed in the number of citations to articles in the field of tourism innovation after 2008. The research study has crucial impacts in terms of guiding the researchers who would study in this field and providing the intellectual appearance of the field.

This study examines a moderated mediation model based on hypothesized relationships between loneliness, travel nostalgia, subjective well-being and prevention regulatory focus. We adopt a two-stage mixed-method approach. We develop and propose an integrative model of loneliness, travel nostalgia and subjective well-being from our qualitative findings. We then test the model on 774 participants from two different samples. Findings indicate that loneliness has a negative effect on individuals’ subjective well-being, and a positive and significant effect between travel nostalgia and individuals’ subjective well-being. Furthermore, this study confirms the significant impact of prevention regulatory focus on the relationship between travel nostalgia and subjective well-being. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

This study depicts the challenges and opportunities of sustainable tourism development in Special Environmental Protected Areas with a Datça-Bozburun Peninsula case study via a mixed method. Relying on the social exchange theory and triple bottom line approach, this study is one of the first studies to deal with the development of tourism in SPAs and the support given to tourism in a multifaceted way. The study depicts tourism’s economic, sociocultural, and environmental effects in the context of destination development stages. It also determines these variables’ effects on tourism support. With these aspects of the study, we found that the propositions of social exchange theory are validated. While economic, social, and cultural impacts affect tourism support, the environmental impact does not affect tourism support. The qualitative findings suggest that tourism development shifted from nature-based tourism with foreigners to mass tourism with locals. The low interest of local tourists in water sports and the lack of promotion are important dynamics behind the development of local mass tourism in Datça with a sun-sand-sea orientation. Besides the lack of emphasis on the special protected areas’ unique hallmarks, the deficiencies in coordination and pitfalls in monitoring resources are unique challenges for sustainable tourism development.

This study is intended to examine the relationship between tourist attractions (natural, cultural and historical) and tourist flows. In the study, secondary data for six provinces and 110 sub-provinces in the Southwestern Anatolia region of Turkey, visited by local and foreign tourists, are used. Four of these provinces have a coastline to the Aegean Sea and the Mediterranean. In this context, overnight data of tourists for 110 sub-provinces and the printed and online materials and overnight data of tourists are used to identify attractions. In this study, mapping analysis, local and global Moran’s I, the classical regression and spatial regression models are benefited. Primarily, the spillover of attractions through maps and the distribution of tourist flows are presented in the study. When the relationship between tourist attractions and tourist flows are examined, the results of our analyses show that the Global Moran’s I value is 0.25 and that those 110 sub-provinces could be similar in terms of tourist flow. It was determined whether there is a global clustering based on Global Moran’s I value, and then the similar clusters, that is, similar sub-provinces in terms of tourist flow, were determined using the spectral clustering method. In addition, the neighborhood relationship and neighborhood interactions in terms of tourist flow are determined using local indicators of spatial analysis (LISA) alongside the Spectral Clustering Method. Finally, in the study field, the relationship between cultural, historical, and natural tourist attractions and tourist flow is explained using the classical regression model and the spatial regression model. The spatial-based models, especially the SEM, improve the model performance compared to the corresponding OLS model. In conclusion, it is found that there is a positive correlation between tourist flows and natural and historical attractions of the region, but a negative relationship between tourist flows and cultural attractions. Destination management implications are discussed.