When the recent history is examined, it is understood that the geographical discoveries, the industrial revolution, world wars, economic and political international structures (such as the European Union and the United Nations) formed to maintain peace after these wars, and their long-term consequences caused great effects on humanity. Some of the remarkable changes are the rapid increase in the human population, the prolongation of the average life span, the spread of humanity to larger geographies on earth, the developments in the field of medicine, the developments in the field of agriculture and animal husbandry, the increase in industrial production and the acceleration of information production and dissemination. It is important to emphasize here that while some of these changes and developments have had positive results for the world, others have had very negative consequences. All these and other similar developments, which have been experienced at a relatively greater speed recently, have brought about changes in people’s lifestyles, needs, preferences, priorities, wishes and demands.
Aforementioned human-induced activities have also been very decisive on the ecosystem and have brought many negative consequences with it. These negative consequences have started to be felt, especially in the last decades. The rapid change and transformation observed all over the world in recent years are also felt in the tourism field. Changes in world population and population structure, global warming, climate change, major disasters and epidemics, access to food and clean water, information technologies, etc. affect the supply and demand for tourism products from different aspects. As an example of the effect of climate change on tourism demand, Liu (2016) investigated the impact of climate change on tourism demand in the national parks of Taiwan. The results showed that the climate has a significant influence on the number of tourists, with rainfall having a more significant influence than temperature, and he concluded that the managers of the national parks should monitor rainfall variation caused by climate change. As this scientific study emphasizes, the factors listed here are effective both on the demand side and on the supply side. While the aforementioned factors cause changes on the demand side, it also makes it necessary to take various measures on the supply side.
Natural disasters such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, great fires and floods and epidemics have a wide variety of effects on tourism as well. A reality that we have been frequently faced with lately is the epidemic diseases experienced around the world. Recently, the world has experienced several epidemics and the researchers examined how they affect tourism. Zeng et al. (2005) determined that the 2003 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) epidemic created a significant negative impact on tourism development in China. The authors diagnosed that the crisis obstructed tourist flows from overseas and between areas and halted tourism growth, resulting in huge financial losses and huge job losses in the tourism sector, creating a severe impact. While cities and major tourist destinations suffer huge financial losses in absolute terms, small rural communities are more significantly impacted in relative terms. Similarly, Kuo et al. (2008) explored the effects of SARS on tourist arrivals in Asia. They found that tourist arrivals decreased significantly in SARS-affected countries. Rosselló et al. (2017) examined the impact of malaria, yellow fever, dengue and ebola on tourist arrivals in affected countries. They concluded that those diseases cause a significant decline in tourist arrivals; more specifically, malaria risk in a country leads to 47% fewer tourists to arrive.
COVID-19 has become another epidemic disease that is effective all over the world and has devastating consequences. This epidemic has been effective in the field of tourism as in all areas, and even its negative effects have been experienced mostly in the field of tourism. When tourism statistics are examined for many years, it is seen that steady growth has been achieved both in the number of international visitors and tourism revenues. As a result of the continuous development and diversification of the tourism sector over a period of more than 60 years, it is seen that it has gained the feature of being a rapidly and sustainably developing economic sector in the world (Akbaba and Çavuşoğlu, 2017). It is known that before the year of COVID-19, the number of international visitors in 2019 was 1.466 million, and tourism income was 1.494bn USD. However, it is seen that there has been a dramatic decrease in these statistics after COVID-19, with the number of international visitors falling to 409 million in 2020 and tourism income to 559bn US dollars. Although the statistics for 2021 and 2022 indicate a recovery in international tourism, it is understood that it will take time to eliminate the negative effects of the epidemic. The situation that emerged during and after the epidemic caused major and compulsory changes on both the demand side and the supply side of tourism. Looking at the tourism demand side, it can be seen that there are great changes in many areas such as the amount of demand, the types of products demanded, research tools and methods of potential visitors, product purchasing methods, time periods/seasons when demand is intensified and expectations from destinations/products and their level, etc. Rahimizhian and Irani (2021) found out that since the outbreak of COVID-19, customers with risk cognition have begun to embrace contactless methods of acquiring tourism information online, like online travel agencies.
The shift in the population structure of the world also changes the customer portfolio of all sectors. This change makes itself felt strongly, especially in the field of tourism. In addition to the change in the customer portfolio of tourism products, a great change is observed in the demands and needs of the customers. Many factors such as global warming, climate change, epidemic diseases, increase in environmental awareness, generational differences and developments in information technologies shape customer needs, wishes and expectations. In such an environment where competition is much tougher, the stakeholders that make up the tourism industry have to understand their customers very well and satisfy their demands in order to survive. Sustainability is a major goal of tourism destinations, which they seek to achieve while pursuing profit from the tourism industry (Maguire, 2021; Weaver, 2006). As it is important for all stakeholders of the industry to achieve competitiveness while securing sustainability, this theme offers suggestions to the tourism industry as a whole – its players, destination administrations, local and/or national policymakers and other major stakeholders of the tourism industry – to address some issues faced by the industry. Factors such as changing customer structure, use of technology and increasing environmental awareness make it necessary for destination managements and all players individually to take vital measures.
Environmental disasters, global warming, climate change and the danger of extinction of plant and animal species, which have been experienced more frequently in recent years, have increased the interest in the concepts of environment and sustainability. A number of researchers have examined the environmental attitudes of young people. Results show that young people tend to have stronger eco-centric worldviews (e.g. Jones and Dunlap, 2010). As consumers are more and more aware of the issues surrounding the environment, a growing number of them are adopting pro-environment behaviour, which translates into the adoption of green products and services (Han, 2021; Wang et al., 2020). Tourism is recognized as a resource-intensive industry; it needs, therefore, to be accountable in terms of sustainability at both local and global scales. Sustainable tourism (ST) is a major focus in the debate on environmentally integrated tourism development, but existing research shows that sustainability is a complex concept and one that requires more critical and comprehensive analysis (Butler, 1999; Mowforth and Munt, 2003).
An important point about the concept of sustainability is that it is defined, interpreted and implemented differently. It is often referred to as a “balance” or “wise” use of resources. Four basic principles for the concept of sustainability have been considered: (1) the idea of holistic planning and strategy-making; (2) the importance of preserving essential ecological processes; (3) the need to protect both human heritage and biodiversity and (4) development based on the idea that productivity can be sustained over the long term for future generations (WCED, 1987). Applying these concepts to ST, the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO, 1998, p. 21) defines ST “development as meeting the needs of present tourists and host regions while protecting and enhancing opportunities for the future”. It is envisaged as leading to the management of all resources in such a way that economic, social and aesthetic needs can be fulfilled while maintaining cultural integrity, essential ecological processes, biological diversity and life support systems.
Another force that is shaping the tourism sector is the changing generations and the different customer preferences and behaviours that emerge depending on these generations. A generation is a cohort of individuals grouped by age and shares the historical and social experiences, behaviours and beliefs common to that time (Cole et al., 2002). Since the term generation is defined as the groups of people who were born, grew and maintained their lives in a certain period of time, they are supposed to have common characteristics, viewpoints, values, attitudes and behaviours as they are affected by the events that occurred during the same period of time. In recent years, it is no need to say that there has been growing interest in research that focuses on intergenerational differences in values and attitudes. When the studies on the subject are examined, it is understood that the generation which was born between 1925 and 1945 was named as “Traditionalists” or the Silent Generation; the generation that was born after Second World War and therefore has the name “Baby Boomers” includes people born between 1946 and 1964; the generation that was born between 1965 and 1979 named as “X Generation”; the generation that was born between 1980 and 2000 was named as “Millennials” or as “Y Generation” and the generation that was born between 2001 and 2010 was named as “Z Generation,” colloquially also known as zoomers. The last generation, which was born between 2010 and 2020, is the technology generation and is named the “Alpha Generation.” Researchers emphasise that a shift in generational dominance is purported as underway, as the generation referred to as Generation Y is gradually displacing the Baby Boomer and Generation X and becoming the primary source of visitors for some destinations and tourism attractions (Pendergast, 2010). As indicated before, Generation Y refers to individuals born approximately between 1980 and 2000, and by 2020, this age group will become the most important tourism consumption. For the practitioners and tourist destinations, this suggests the rise of a significant segment with substantial purchasing power that needs to be understood and catered to. The implications of changing generational cohorts for the tourism industry could be profound. Understanding their needs and behaviours is an important issue in order to gain a competitive advantage, be successful and survive.
In the face of the changes observed in the demand dimension, the stakeholders that make up the tourism supply also focus on responding to those changes. In this way, they aim to get the maximum share from the current demand and to survive. Regulations mandated by governments and customer-based demands also guide changes in tourism supply. Although the features, demands and requirements of target markets of the tourism business are decisive, the expectations of generations born in information technologies and the expectations of customers with high environmental awareness have become needs that must be satisfied for the producers of tourism products.
It is claimed that smart tourism and smart tourism destinations could be a remedy for regeneration and soften the blow on tourist destinations. Smart tourism is expected to facilitate this by creating an environment in which a holiday-maker can prosper and has been shown to trigger positive user experiences in visitors. The concept of a smart tourism destination is defined by the European Union as a destination where different stakeholders, eventually under the coordination of a destination management organization, facilitate access to tourism and hospitality products, services, spaces and experiences through information and communications technology (ICT)-based innovative solutions, making tourism sustainable and accessible and fully leveraging their cultural heritage and creativity (EU, 2022). Göktaş Kulualp and Sarı (2020), referring to the rapid increase in the population and the need for using knowledge management, offer that in today’s digital age, smart tourism destinations are seen as a solution to the expectations and needs of the changing tourist and locals.
Especially in recent years, it has been observed that there have been a rapidly increasing number of academic studies on visitor preferences, sustainability and smart destinations. The increasing number of academic studies is also proof of the interest and need for knowledge in this field. There are studies that deal with the sub-topics of the proposed theme for this special issue. However, the proposed special issue will investigate all these issues as a whole.
