Ram (2015. Hostility or hospitality? A review on violence, bullying and sexual harassment in the tourism and hospitality industry. Current Issues in Tourism. doi:10.1080/13683500.2015.1064364) posits that violence and harassment are areas of concern within the hospitality industry, and scholarly interest in abusive supervision in the workplace has grown since the last decade. This study extends Ram's (2015. Hostility or hospitality? A review on violence, bullying and sexual harassment in the tourism and hospitality industry. Current Issues in Tourism. doi:10.1080/13683500.2015.1064364) assertion by examining the effect of abusive supervision experiences on student employees’ turnover intentions in a hospitality and tourism context in a high power distance culture, Ecuador. The results showed that abusive supervision was positively related to turnover intentions, and its effect was stronger than co-worker support, with the abusive supervision–turnover intentions relationship being fully mediated by perceived organizational support (POS). In addition, co-worker emotional support was found to attenuate the negative effects of abusive supervision on POS. All in all, the findings highlight the roles of POS in explaining the relation between abusive supervision and turnover intentions and co-worker emotional support in buffering the negative effect of abusive supervision. The important role of culture is discussed.

Recent studies have underscored the importance of tourism in enhancing individuals’ mental well-being through engagement with nature. This article examines the impact of nature-based tourism on alleviating symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress among a group of 67 university students who exhibited extremely severe levels of these disorders. Participants were assessed both before and after a nature tourism experience in the Tinajillas Río Gualaceño Protected Forest, Ecuador. Mental health changes were evaluated using the DASS-21 scale, with assessments conducted pre- and post-activity, revealing significant reductions in depression, anxiety, and stress levels, with large and clinically relevant effect sizes. However, a 6-month follow-up indicated that these long-term benefits diminished and no longer held clinical significance, suggesting the need for more frequent interventions to sustain positive effects. This study concludes that nature-based tourism serves as an effective non-pharmacological intervention for improving mental well-being in the short term, although its sustainability requires continuous interaction with nature. These findings provide empirical support for nature-based tourism as a mental health strategy and highlight the importance of integrating it into public health policies and tourism management strategies.

This study presents a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) of the scientific output related to gastronomy in Ecuador, using the PRISMA protocol (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) and based on metadata from Scopus and Dimensions. The bibliometric results encompass an analysis of scientific production related to gastronomy in Ecuador during the period 2016-2023, identifying the main characteristics of 36 scientific documents. The SLR reveals a strong interrelationship between gastronomy and tourism, which, despite its ongoing development, has sidelined other crucial topics such as the environment and food sovereignty. These areas are indeed essential for positioning gastronomy as a comprehensive and autonomous scientific discipline. Therefore, the study highlights the need to broaden the academic focus towards a more holistic understanding of gastronomy, transcending its purely tourism-related value.

Tourism has proven to be highly vulnerable to external disruptions, particularly in communities with low levels of tourism development. In this context, this study examines residents’ attitudes towards tourism during the COVID-19 pandemic and assesses the impact of public and private initiatives in the Cajas Massif Biosphere Area (CMBA), located in southern Ecuador. Employing a mixed-methods approach, 825 surveys were conducted alongside 25 interviews with key sector stakeholders. The objective was to determine whether these attitudes reflect genuine resilience or merely a survival strategy in response to the crisis. The findings indicate that, despite some collective efforts and mitigation plans, the primary focus remained on short-term income preservation, while government policies prioritised tourism promotion over addressing structural needs, ultimately proving inadequate for tourism recovery. This scenario placed the burden of adaptation on residents, with expressions of solidarity that, however, diminished as the crisis subsided. This study concludes that reactive measures may be mistaken for genuine resilience, highlighting the need for comprehensive policies and more equitable stakeholder participation to strengthen social cohesion and ensure the viability of tourism in the face of future crises.

Este artículo presenta un estudio cualitativo sobre los cambios en las dinámicas turísticas con base en la interacción del sector público, privado y comunidades de acogida durante la pandemia de COVID-19. Cuatro comunidades rurales ubicadas en el Área de Biosfera del Macizo del Cajas (ABMC), ubicadas en el sur de Ecuador fueron consideradas como casos de estudio para entender si la resiliencia fue un mecanismo usado para afrontar la crisis. Como método de recolección de datos se realizaron entrevistas semiestructuradas con residentes de las comunidades, autoridades y empresarios privados involucrados en los territorios de estudio. Los resultados indican que los valores simbólicos de las comunidades emergieron durante la crisis. Sin embargo, lo privado mantuvo su intención de mantenerse a flote y lo público intensificó las acciones que venían realizando antes de la pandemia. Se concluye que la COVID-19 destacó las reacciones fragmentadas hacia el turismo. Por lo tanto, la resiliencia comunitaria, centrada en los recursos y capacidades locales se adapta utilizando sus activos, mientras que la resiliencia del sector turístico aspira a regresar a la normalidad.