Emerging tourism destinations repeatedly face many managerial challenges, often leading to common pitfalls and rookie mistakes. The current study aims to analyze relationships between destination attractiveness factors (Destination Amenities, Tourism Infrastructure and Accessibility, Active Family Destination, Hospitality and Services, and Social–Safety–Economic Values), satisfaction, destination image, and revisit intentions to test a mediating role of satisfaction between destination attractiveness factors and both destination image and revisit choices within so-called rookie destinations. For this purpose, a quantitative study was carried out using a questionnaire as an instrument for data collection. Data were collected from a sample of 2030 visitors to Serbia. Structural equation modeling (SEM) in R was applied to analyze the data. The results revealed the positive direct effects of destination attractiveness factors on satisfaction, destination image, and revisit intentions. Moreover, the research confirmed the mediating role of satisfaction in the relationship between destination attractiveness and destination image, and revisit intentions. The results are further discussed from the perspective of emerging tourism destinations to make their management more sustainable for the future and mitigate the repetition of rookie mistakes.

Tour guide performance has been a hotly debated academic topic, owing to the critical role they play in facilitating a variety of tourist experiences. Similarly, museum tour guides are the initial point of contact for tourists and have a substantial impact on the total visitor experience, but their performance is far less investigated. Visitors’ satisfaction and behavior intentions are inextricably linked to museum guide performances in this case. The purpose of this research was to implement and test a well-established scale for assessing tour guide performance in the museum context. Moreover, the aim was also to single out and discuss museum guide types based on their performances. The research was conducted during May and June 2021 on a sample of 255 visitors from five museums in Serbia. The data were processed by SPSS, R and RStudio. The results indicate the existence of five museum guide types: Classic Professional, Agile Empath, Operational Erudite, Trustworthy Caretaker, and Passionate Socializer. The study explores sociodemographic differences in visitors’ evaluations of tour guide performances and gives theoretical and managerial implication for each museum guide type.

The primary goal of this paper was to investigate the strength of the influence of different types of risk on the travelers’ intention to visit destinations in future, that are, prejudiced due to COVID-19, marked as “stigmatized”, “isolated”, or “risky destinations”. Field interview research was conducted at the “Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport” (Serbia). The results obtained by multiple regression analysis showed that all types of risks influenced the intention of travelers, with financial risk showing a more significant impact. Canonical discriminant analysis indicated that men were most afraid of human induced risk, service quality risk, natural disaster and COVID-19 risk, and they chose safer destinations. Among the women, the biggest fear was financial risk, socio-psychological risk, and food safety risk. Older respondents and those under the influence of external factors decided on safer destinations, while financial status did not play a significant role in predicting the choice of destination. The selection of the destination according to the degree of security was determined by the ordinal regression methodology. The entire research presents a certain novelty, because so far in the numerous studies on the topic of the negative consequences of COVID-19 on tourism, there has been no discussion of stigmatized or risky destinations that received that epithet, and were therefore negatively and unfairly marked in the minds of tourists for future visits.

This study investigated the intersection of healthy and sustainable human settlement, and land use for spa tourism in rural areas. Recognizing the crucial role of youth in shaping the future of tourism, this research aimed to provide an insight into the young local rural community representatives’ perception of sustainable spa tourism development and to identify whether these attitudes are shaped by their socio-demographic characteristics. The applied methodology was the Sustainable Tourism Attitude Scale (SUS-TAS). A total of 254 respondents took part in this research. Using SPSS 30.0.0, the gathered data were subjected to additional analyses based on factor analysis, descriptive statistics, and the general linear model. The results showed a general positive attitude of local community members towards the further development of spa tourism in their communities. The especially important factors were the following: long-term planning of development, environmental protection, negative attitudes towards spa tourism development, economic benefits, as well as community participation. By providing an empirical analysis based on the use of robust tools for measuring youth attitudes, this research offers valuable insights for policymakers, planners, and community leaders into how they can design and implement tourism strategies that align with sustainability principles while fostering local economic development and environmental stewardship. The ultimate goal is to contribute to the broader discussion on developing healthy, sustainable human settlements that balance economic benefits with ecological and social well-being. Synergy/harmony between communities and their natural surroundings is essential for the social, economic, and environmental sustainability of rural human settlements. Mineral springs and spas facilitate sensory experiences for individuals (both tourists and residents) through the utilization of natural resources and the environment.

This paper applies Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) to investigate potential satisfaction or dissatisfaction with service quality at the internationally recognized Nisville Jazz Festival. The research was conducted using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software version 20, including the Kolmogorov–Smirnov test, factor analysis, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) with Varimax rotation for data analysis. The study involved 250 festival attendees, focusing on their motivation and identification of both tangible and intangible attributes of the festival, with 227 providing valid responses to the survey questionnaire. The Service Quality Model (SERVQUAL) was used to identify quality factors. The results indicate that cultural content and hospitality are the most important factors significantly contributing to visitor satisfaction and positively influencing recommendations and repeat visits to the festival. Another important factor in the study is accessibility, while comfort, amenities, safety, and cleanliness require improvement to enhance the overall visitor experience. The findings provide concrete guidelines for the further development of the festival and the enhancement of the tourism offerings in Nis.

When discussing tourism nowadays, one word should be added as a supplement - ‘development’. What seems to be even more important is the term ‘sustainability’. In the sense of sport tourism and sport development, we could consider sport camps and their role in sustainable (tourism) development. The aim of this paper is to point out the importance of establishing sport camps in the sense of sustainable (tourism) development and to educate all participants (children and young people at first) on how to act in the most responsible way. There is not much research related to sport camps and their role in sustainable (tourism) development – generally speaking they are connected with younger generations and the school age, and the idea is to establish sport camps for those who are young enough and want to learn how to behave in a responsible way through sport, games, etc. Sport tourism should fill the gap between development and responsibility; on the other hand, sustainability and responsible behaviour of all participants should be an imperative. Sport camps could be good basis for a better understanding of sustainable (tourism) development. The aim of this study is to provide a review on the connection between youth sport camps and sustainability through education of all the participants.