The coronavirus pandemic has reinforced the need for sustainable, smart tourism and local travel, with rural destinations gaining in their popularity and leading to increased potential of smart rural tourism. However, these processes need adjustments to the current trends, incorporating new transformative business concepts and marketing approaches. In this paper we provide real life examples of new marketing approaches, together with new business models within the context of the use of new digital technologies. Via hermeneutic research approach, consisting of the secondary analysis of the addressed subject of smart rural tourism in adversity of the COVID-19 and 6 semi-structured interviews, the importance of technology is underscored in transforming rural tourism to smart rural tourist destinations. The respondents in the interview section were chosen based on their direct involvement in the presented examples and geographical location, i.e. France, Slovenia and Spain, where presented research examples were developed, concretely within European programmes, i.e. Interreg, Horizon and Rural Development Programme (RDP). Interviews were taking place between 2022 and 2023 in person, email or via Zoom. This two-phased study demonstrates that technology is important in transforming rural tourism to smart tourist destinations and that it ushers new approaches that seem particularly useful in applying to rural areas, creating a rural digital innovation ecosystem, which acts as s heuristic rural tourist model that fosters new types of tourism, i.e. smart rural tourism.

Tourism experiences are inherently multisensory, engaging visitors’ senses of sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch. This study addresses the gap in literature by investigating the impact of visual and auditory landscapes on tourist emotions and behaviors within coastal tourism settings, using the Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) model. Data collected from tourists in Sanya, China, were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results indicate that both visualscape and soundscape significantly influence tourist emotions (pleasure and arousal) and subsequent loyalty. Pleasure and arousal mediate the relationships between environmental stimuli and tourist loyalty, emphasizing their roles as emotional bridges between the environment and behaviors. These findings highlight the importance of integrating local cultural and community elements into tourism to enhance socio-economic benefits and ensure sustainable development. By fostering a deep connection between tourists and the local environment, these sensory experiences support the preservation of cultural heritage and promote sustainable tourism practices, aligning with the goals of economic development and public policy. The study contributes to the theoretical understanding of multisensory tourism by integrating the SOR model in coastal tourism and emphasizes the roles of visual and auditory stimuli. Practically, it provides insights for tourism managers to improve tourist experiences and loyalty through careful management of sensory elements. This has implications for infrastructure development, particularly in enhancing the quality of soft infrastructure such as cultural and social systems, which are crucial for sustainable tourism and community well-being. Future research could include additional sensory dimensions and diverse destinations for a comprehensive understanding of sensory influences on tourist behaviors and emotions. This research aligns with the broader goals of the policy and development by addressing critical aspects of infrastructure and socio-economic development within the tourism sector.

Cultural tourism, an important component of the wider tourism industry, has received significant attention due to the complex interplay between cultural heritage and tourism experiences. This form of tourism invites tourists to discover the arts, traditions, and lifestyles of diverse communities, thereby enriching intercultural encounters. Examining the rapidly evolving field of cultural tourism research, this article looks at its many facets, highlighting its growth, thematic focus, and global importance. In order to better understand the wealth and highlight the body of work, this study undertakes a bibliometric analysis of the concept of cultural tourism. This exploration employs bibliometric searching of journals indexed in the web of science database from 1996 to 2023, using the biblioshiny software in rstudio. This approach provides a global perspective, revealing a prolific and multidisciplinary production of the concept of cultural tourism. The study identifies a total of 369 articles published between 1996 and 2023, involving 781 authors and 244 journals. The results underline the widespread engagement with the subject across diverse scientific communities and geographical regions.

The pressing need to redefine the tourism industry's relationship with nature and local communities has never been more critical. Ecotourism, as a paradigm of sustainable travel, holds transformative potential—not only for preserving our planet's fragile ecosystems but also for fostering local cultural and economic development. In this context, the integration of circular economy principles offers innovative pathways to enhance sustainability across the tourism sector. The application of circular economy frameworks in tourism not only reduces environmental impact but also enhances economic viability by creating closed-loop systems. My interest in this topic stems from a personal conviction: Tourism should leave a positive mark, one that enriches rather than diminishes the destinations we visit. This study delves into how the hotel industry can align itself with ecotourism principles by embracing innovative, sustainable practices that minimize environmental impact while delivering authentic, high-quality experiences for travelers. Through the lens of green energy, resource optimization, and cultural integration, the research demonstrates that sustainability is both an ethical responsibility and a pathway to long-term competitiveness in tourism. By supporting local economies and protecting natural heritage, the industry can shift from being a passive observer of environmental degradation to a proactive steward of change. This work serves as a call to action for stakeholders: Our choices today will define the landscapes and cultural legacies available to future generations.

This study explores the application of the co-design approach in participatory planning for the development of Kambo Tourism Village, located at the intersection of urban and rural areas in Indonesia. By combining the Delphi Consensus Method and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), the study successfully identified and prioritized key aspects in the planning process, with a primary focus on local community participation. The results indicate that the co-design approach is effective in creating a masterplan that not only aligns with the needs and aspirations of the community but also supports the sustainability and inclusiveness of tourism village development. AHP results reveal that local community participation was assigned the highest priority with a weight of 0.35, followed by stakeholder collaboration with a weight of 0.27. Community participation not only contributed to the creation of a well-structured tourism village masterplan but also enhanced human resource quality and strengthened stakeholder collaboration. The impact of this participatory planning process includes increased national recognition for Kambo Village, the village’s success in receiving awards, and local economic growth. Moreover, the study identified a gap between the calculated and expected weights in the AHP process, highlighting the complexity of aligning diverse stakeholder perspectives. These findings offer both practical and theoretical contributions and open opportunities for further research to address the challenges of participatory planning in the context of tourism villages.