This paper critically examines the concept of place attachment and its likely influence on pro-environmental behavioural intention of visitors. It considers place attachment as a multidimensional construct comprising place dependence, place identity, place affect and place social bonding, and suggests that research investigating this relationship in a national park context is fragmented, scattered and often does not fully consider its multidimensional nature. A coherent and integrated approach is needed to advance the field. By considering place attachment as an attitude and acknowledging the close relationship between attitude and behavioural intention when both are directed towards a particular object or environment, the paper develops a conceptual framework that integrates the different place attachment sub-constructs. It presents their relationship to pro-environmental behavioural intention as a series of propositions. The framework further considers place satisfaction to exert a direct influence on visitors’ pro-environmental behavioural intentions in national parks and a moderating effect on the relationship between the different place constructs and pro-environmental behavioural intentions in parks. Finally, the latter construct is proposed to influence visitors’ general pro-environmental behavioural intentions. The paper's theoretical contributions, its limitations and its practical implications for sustainable tourism in general and national park management in particular are discussed.

In the quarter of a century since the release of the 1987 Brundtland Report, sustainable tourism has emerged as the dominant paradigm in tourism development. However, the debate, discourse, and criticism of this subfield of tourism research continues. To address such concerns the purpose of this paper is to explore trends and patterns in sustainable tourism research over the past 25 years. A 25-year bibliometric analysis was conducted for the four highest ranked journals in the tourism field. Results indicate that the growth in sustainable tourism research has been remarkable, with 492 papers published in these four journals and almost half of these in the last two years of the analysis. The largest proportion of papers published on sustainable tourism was case studies, empirical studies, and critical reviews. This study found that while the theoretical and methodological approaches appear to have matured over time, the subjects and themes in sustainable tourism research, with some exceptions, have remained constant. However, the field is clearly maturing with a move away from definitional and conceptual papers to papers focused on testing and applying theory through empirical research.

Place attachment is a multidimensional construct comprising place dependence, place affect, place identity, and place social bonding. Yet, studies investigating the relationships between place attachment, place satisfaction, and pro-environmental behaviour have not investigated its pluralistic nature. Using data from 452 visitors to the Dandenong Ranges National Park, Australia, this study investigates these four dimensions of place attachment and their relationships with place satisfaction and pro-environmental behavioural intentions. Findings suggest that the four place attachment constructs are significantly associated with place satisfaction. Results suggest that it is necessary to consider pro-environmental behavioural intentions as a two-factor structure construct, comprising low and high effort pro-environmental behaviour. Place satisfaction is associated with low effort pro-environmental behavioural intentions. Place affect is significantly associated with both types of environmental behavioural intentions. Place identity is not associated with either type of environmental behavioural intentions. A significant association is also noted between low effort and high effort pro-environmental behavioural intentions. Practical applications of the study include marketing aimed at encouraging repeat visitation, with sophisticated message development and delivery building emotional attachment, a sense of belonging, and enhanced personal meaning. Heritage interpretation could use affect and emotion to enhance visitor satisfaction and experience, coupled with an outcomes-focused communication plan.

This study examined the effects of both cognitive and affective tour guide interpretation outcomes on tourist satisfaction and behavioral intention in a heritage tourism context. Data were collected via a survey of 282 inbound mainland Chinese tourists to Sovereign Hill, Ballarat, a heritage tourism site in Victoria, Australia. A hierarchical structural model was constructed based on a comprehensive literature review of tour guiding, interpretation, and tourist satisfaction and was tested applying partial least squares structural equation modeling. Results show that cognitive interpretation outcome has a greater impact on tourist satisfaction and sustaining visitor arrivals than affective interpretation outcome, whereas satisfaction with the guided tour experience directly affects behavioral intention and largely mediates the effect of cognitive interpretation outcome on behavioral intention. The study offers both theoretical insights in relation to interpretation and tourist satisfaction and practical implications for interpretive tour guiding.

Thirty years after Cohen's seminal work on tour guiding, the role(s) played by and skills required of tour guides continue to evolve. As ‘experience’ has come to be considered central to tourism, research on the guide as communicator and experience-broker has expanded. Guides broker experience in at least four domains – physical access, understanding, encounters and empathy. This conceptual paper examines, via the literature particularly on the mediatory and brokering roles of the tour guide and its intersections with social, economic and political trends, how and why the guide's role is changing. Together these bodies of literature on guiding and on societal trends are used to underpin a typology of future guided tour experiences distinguished by the target market, style of guiding and use of communication, with varying outcomes for the tourist. To meet the needs and expectations of twenty-first century tourists and the challenges of the global communication environment, tour guides need to become more highly skilled experience-brokers, including embracing technology to choreograph memorable experiences. To satisfy tourists in search of personalized and meaningful experiences, guides in some cases need to actively engage tourists in the co-creation of their own guided tour experiences. The typology provides a management and research framework for examining these relationships and their consequences.