Tourism lifestyle entrepreneurs’ (TLEs) businesses are associated with sustainable business models (SBMs) due to a link to the place. This link is a source of essential local knowledge that provides differentiation, competitiveness, and sustainability. Given the importance of local knowledge to SBMs, this article explores knowledge management by examining how TLEs acquire and integrate knowledge as well as its effects on innovativeness and self-efficacy. We use a sequential mixed-methods approach in which we first conducted a qualitative study with four in-depth semi-structured interviews with TLEs, followed by a quantitative study through a survey of 115 TLEs, and third we conducted another qualitative study based on four semi-structured interviews. The results indicate that entrepreneurial communication has a significantly positive and direct effect on both the innovativeness and self-efficacy of TLEs. A community-centered strategy has a positive influence on innovativeness and self-efficacy but via the indirect effect of entrepreneurial communication. Local knowledge assimilation plays a mediating role between the acquisition of local knowledge and innovativeness and self-efficacy. These findings provide a general understanding and framework about how TLEs link the elements of an SBM to greater innovativeness and self-efficacy.

The pandemic resulting from COVID-19 disease has brought about an unprecedented crisis to tourism destinations, resulting in an almost complete shutdown of tourist flows. Whereas disaster recovery models focus on prevention and preparedness, the post-pandemic recovery strategies are underexplored, particularly in relation to the highly representative group of small-scale businesses run by tourism lifestyle entrepreneurs (TLEs). An integrated framework for Destination Marketing Organization (DMO) strategic thinking is developed using the Delphi method with Q-sort technique. Findings from a 26-element expert panel emphasize the priority of creating a favorable environment for small-scale business development and supporting the provision of resources and capabilities. After this initial effort to strengthen these fragile businesses, it is essential to increase their communication capacity, a common limitation of TLEs, allowing these entrepreneurs to access niche markets more suited to the business and lifestyle they run. With stronger businesses, DMOs can enhance destination competitiveness and innovation, stimulating cooperation and networking.

In the past last decades tourism was long perceived as a solution to remediate to economic crisis and recessions, while the impacts were secondary and weren’t qualified. Focusing of the consequences of tourism development, the identities of historic urban areas were constantly been neglected as essential features and symbols of their attractiveness. However, long before tourism, modifications of cities spatial structures and social geography were conducted by governments as strategies to repopulate certain urban areas abandoned for historical or economic reasons. For instance, through gentrification, urban rehabilitation or revitalisation, the urban structures became more appealing and attracted investments that strengthen local economies. Nevertheless, these transformations have dismantled cultural patterns and were amplified by touristification. This investigation deals with gentrification and urban rehabilitation as precursors of tourism growth and how it influences a neighbourhood’s cultural identity. Using a historic touristic destination as an example gave leverage to the understanding of the repercussions. Lisbon historic neighbourhoods; Alfama, Mouraria and Bairro Alto, influenced our understanding with the active participation of the residents as co-contributors of this research. Findings confronted our pre-existing understandings on tourism growth to the impacts generated on cultural identity.

The research on creative tourism is mainly focused on developed western economies. Studies about developing countries with a significant percentage of the population living in poverty are still scarce. As such, this study is based on extensive field research and in-depth interviews of four poor communities in two countries (Brazil and Peru). The main goal is to identify a group of factors and their inter-relation as they contribute to the development of poor communities using creative tourism approaches. The results point to a positive response, i.e. it is possible for poor communities to offer interactive experiences. But not directly. Instead, there are a number of requirements that contribute to this accomplishment. First, local development depends on the involvement of external entities. Their role includes not only the achievement of consensus but also the allocation of capital, skills and resources. Second, initial results develop entrepreneurial initiatives with a direct impact on further investments, especially in tourism. Third, tourism-related processes result from other non-tourism activities. However, tourism activities benefit from (1) the gains in popularity of the region and/or its products, traditions and culture; (2) increase in entrepreneurial activity.

Creative tourism has been approached from several points of view: products and processes, enabling elements, marketing, sustainability, etc. However, to our best knowledge, there is no integrative model that brings together all its dimensions and enables a ‘bird’s eye’ perspective of creative destination competitiveness. As such, this article aims to present a competitiveness model for a creative tourism destination. The model presents four essential dimensions: core elements (products and processes, travellers and entrepreneurs), enablers (community engagement, stakeholders competences, and creative atmosphere), and developers (marketing and communication). Avenues for future research are presented based on the identification of areas to expand existing knowledge on creative tourism research, mainly by proposing measurement instruments which may contribute to operationalize the proposed model.

Tourism Lifestyle Entrepreneurs (TLEs) play an essential role in the innovation and competitiveness of tourist destinations. However, little attention has been paid to how these entrepreneurs manage local knowledge and turn it into innovation. This research examines how place attachment, community-centered strategy, and knowledge assimilation influence lifestyle entrepreneur’s innovativeness. A mixed methodology was applied with an online survey of 511 TLEs being conducted first, followed by a qualitative research where 24 additional TLEs were in depth-interviewed. Empirical evidence shows that, while place attachment and community-centered strategy have a positive linear relationship with lifestyle entrepreneur innovativeness, knowledge assimilation has a U-shaped relationship. Based on this U-shaped relationship, three types of TLEs were identified according to their capacity to transform assimilated knowledge into innovation, namely, opportunity seekers, professionals and laggards. The theoretical and practical implications are essential for the management of a tourism destination.