Even though the World Tourism Organization described Sustainable Tourism as a tourism form that could contribute to the future survival of the industry, the current reality is quite different, since it has not been firmly established in society at expected levels. The present study analyzes which variables drive the consumption of this tourism type, taking tourist awareness as the key element. To this awareness, we must add the current crisis experienced by the tourism industry caused by COVID-19, since it can benefit Sustainable Tourism development, promoting less crowded destinations that favor social distancing. For this, the existing literature on Sustainable Tourism has been examined in order to create a model that highlights the relations among these variables. To determine the meaning of these relations, a sample of 308 tourists was analyzed through structural equation models using Partial Least Squares. The results show that there is a clear attitude on the part of the tourist to develop Sustainable Tourism, driven by the positive effects and motivation it entails, as well as the satisfaction the tourist perceives when consuming a responsible tourism type.

The widespread use of digital technologies and the expansion of social networks has created new communication and meeting spaces where people and social and political actors connect with each other. This opens diverse spaces and possibilities for digital engagement in a more accessible, immediate, continuous, egalitarian, and personalized way. Digital technology facilitates learning, dissemination, and access to information, turning it into a means of communication and fueling the practice of critical thinking. In particular civic critical thinking practices improve the organization and effectiveness of civic networks and spaces for citizen participation, ultimately helping to produce responsible, conscious citizens. This study proposes a series of hypotheses based on the relationships between digital learning, critical thinking and civic participation, and tests them using the technique of structural equation modeling (SEM) with partial least squares (PLS) applied to a sample of 191 primary and secondary school students. The results indicate that digital tools have a positive impact on the development of critical thinking, and this influences citizen participation, transforming people into more engaged citizens of the world with participatory attitudes and values.

Purpose: The main purpose of this research was to develop a universal model to evaluate the perceived value of tourism services and satisfaction with, and loyalty to, destinations from the consumers’ perspective and demonstrated the model’s applicability in this context. Design/methodology/approach: Using the structural equation model, cause and effect relationships were identified between the proposed model’s constructs, and indices of quality, satisfaction and loyalty among tourists were estimated. This system was applied to a large set of data collected with a structured questionnaire distributed to tourists visiting the city of Seville through a non-probabilistic sampling by intentional quotas method. In total, 922 valid surveys were obtained. Findings: The indices show that tourists who visit Seville report a high level of loyalty to, and satisfaction with, this place because of the perceived quality of a variety of services. It is observed that the perceived quality index is much higher (17.95 per cent) than the expected quality index, so the quality of the service received by the tourist during his/her visit to Seville is described as excellent. Research limitations/implications: Regarding this study’s limitations, other variables could have been included that influence tourist satisfaction, such as the climate, the effect of advertising medium, the prices and the emotional components. In addition, surveying tourists’ expectations before their visit is virtually impossible, as is surveying the same tourists again about their perceived value and satisfaction after their visit. Future lines of research could focus on the intersection of information between tourism offer and demand, providing information about an appropriate balance in specific markets. The proposed model can also be applied to other tourism places that are similar to Seville’s tourism offer, allowing useful comparisons and identification of critical points and ways to improve customer satisfaction continuously. Practical implications: By establishing indices of expected and perceived quality and satisfaction and loyalty among tourists, tourism authorities and different economic agents involved in this sector can receive objective information about the results and quality of tourism services. Tourism managers, thus, can set objectives for improvements and competitiveness, as well as building and maintaining customer loyalty. At the same time, these indices allow comparisons with other organisations and places. By facilitating greater transparency in the measurement of quality and satisfaction, service providers connected to tourism can create a platform on which to articulate clearly their contributions to interested parties and local communities. Social implications: These results constitute strategies and findings that any tourism place has to consider in the planning and development of its products. Therefore the model can help to encourage a long-term market perspective among tourism sector regulators, investors and agencies. With the information obtained with this model, areas needing improvement can be identified and the appropriate procedures can be put into practice to improve the tourism offer, adjusting it to meet travellers’ needs according to their motivations to travel to the destination. Residents also can benefit from these measures, as their quality of life will improve through upgrades of the city’s tourism facilities. Originality/value: The unique contribution of the present study lies in how the indices or indicators of quality of, satisfaction with and loyalty to destinations among tourists are easily measured by applying structural equation modelling. A new approach to measure satisfaction, loyalty and quality is used based on a scale from 0 to 100, and the index results are very useful for comparing different tourist places.

Food markets are becoming popular as new spaces for recreation, and this research aims to discover the motivations driving the tourists that visit these markets. Factorial analysis, cluster analysis and Student’s t-test were applied on 456 surveys from two food markets in Córdoba (Spain). Three motivational factors were obtained: Gastronomic experience and novelty; hedonism and leisure; and the relationship of the experience with work. Segmenting and analyzing the profile of the tourist may help economic agents develop new strategies for the tourism management of a destination and more accurate marketing and branding strategies that target specific customers with a niche message. The study could help develop products that align with tourists’ motives to increase satisfaction and loyalty.

Thirty years after the emergence of the term “sustainable tourism” and in view of the proliferation of literature on the subject, it seems appropriate to carry out a bibliographical review, based on empirical bibliometric data, in order to find out who the leading research pioneers are for this type of tourism, discover gaps in our understanding, and redefine the concept’s frontiers. This paper focuses specifically on sustainable tourism in sensitive areas, in a first attempt to provide understanding of the accumulated knowledge of the sub-theme by looking at research presented by impact publications. A total of 985 papers published on this topic on Web of Science were selected to this end, and after applying the H-Classics methodology, a content analysis of the forty papers with the greatest impact was carried out. This has led to the discovery of research trends, gaps in the analysis of polar and mountainous areas, and a lack of a core group of highly productive researchers in this area.