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To overcome the problem of over tourism, depletion of natural resources and various adverse effects on local communities, sustainable tourism has emerged with the different eco-friendly approaches. Without the usage of online resources, green tourism cannot be promoted. Hence, this chapter demonstrates the significance of digital media platforms to promote sustainable tourism. The chapter is based on descriptive study and primarily used the secondary sources of data. The data is primarily supported by credible, previously published works, such as journal articles and working papers. The primary focus is placed on the importance of digital media platforms in promoting sustainable tourism. The findings demonstrated that with the assistance of digital technology, tourist destinations can move forward on the path of sustainability as it contributed positively for the sustainability of tourist destinations. The adopting digital technology has become essential for advancing environmentally friendly travel since it leads to enhancement in destination marketing, improvement in the management of tourist resources as well as enrich the visitor experience.

Green tourism and ecotourism have close meanings focusing on environmental factors and are sometimes related to rural tourism in general or a type of ecotourism itself. These forms emerged due to the concerns to protect the environment, and greater consideration has been given to tourism development and the notion that it should be approached carefully in light of recognizing its impacts.

The thematic concepts of green and responsible tourism raised questions about the definitions of both notions and their nexus of sustainability. Thus, the current chapter looks for an overview to understand green and responsible tourism, their emerging, definitions, practices and their role in the current scenario in the post-pandemic era.

This research aims to investigate how emerging destinations cope with digitalization of information, where they are in the process and how digitalization of information takes place in destination marketing organizations (DMOs). As a case for emerging destinations that must deal with the negative consequences of the digital divide, the Vietnamese Mekong Delta (VMD) will be examined. A new framework, solutions in general, and potential innovative approaches will be presented.

A mixed methods approach was used. Firstly, a content analysis comprising 68 criteria to examine 10 destination websites was conducted to evaluate the performance of provincial destination websites of VMD. Secondly, the authors interviewed five managers from VMD DMOs to reveal the strategy, status quo and their challenges with digitalization.

Some digitalization is evident in VMD DMOs, with the digitization of tourist information provision developing from analog formats to digital modes. The content analysis of the websites shows that provincial destination websites of VMD perform well with regard to communication but need improvements for transaction, and especially relationship aspects. Emerging destinations like VMD DMOs are reaching the second or third level in the digitalization process. Yet they face challenges with human and financial resources.

This research provides recommendations concerning destination website performance, the process of digitalization and how to promote digitalization and apply more digital instruments to move to the next stages of destination digitalization. Also, suggestions on how to overcome existing challenges/barriers in similar areas of the world are provided.

A new, extended more granulated version of the digitalization framework by Karpova et al. (2019) has been developed. The new model acknowledges the continued importance of printed information, provides information about the sequence of steps how to implement website dimensions, and which instruments are realistic to implement in different levels of digitalization considering the challenges and barriers developing destinations face.

This paper aims to investigate the competitive potential of different classes of municipalities within larger metropolitan areas, considering three dimensions of place competitiveness, associated to contemporary economic recovery agendas: the “dual transition” (green and digital) and socio-economic resilience.

The proposed methodology is divided in two stages, the first aiming at developing a new Index of Urban Competitiveness, based on three key dimensions of place development, by using principal component analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis; the second intends to identify municipalities’ main competitive assets, throughout the examination of the existing links between the overall competitiveness index and intra-metropolitan place conditions in each dimension. This methodology is applied to the metropolitan areas of Porto and Lisbon.

The analysis shows a weak link between population size and urban competitiveness, suggesting that economic recovery investments primarily targeting larger municipalities will not necessarily lead to greater metropolitan competitive advantages. On the contrary, taking into consideration place-based interventions for different “clubs” of municipalities would more likely contribute to enhance competitive performance and valorise territorial assets. Furthermore, while the relationship between competitiveness and environmental performance appears to be non-linear, digitalization and economic and social resilience prove to be key for urban competitive potential.

By drawing on contemporary notions of urban competitiveness, the work proposes a revised method to evaluate competitiveness, latent qualities and intrinsic features of places, constituting an initial step to conceive suitable metropolitan development and investment strategies for economic recovery.

Technological advancements are reshaping the tourism industry, necessitating the adaptation of business models through digital technology utilisation for intelligent, sustainable and inclusive tourism offerings. The diverse nature of tourism businesses, encompassing size, technology access, risk aversion, labour intensity, and more, presents a spectrum of challenges and opportunities for business model innovation (BMI) and digital transformation (DT) to maintain competitiveness. This study focuses on the core aspects of DT and BMI within the tourism sector, offering pivotal insights to aid tourism companies embarking on the intricate journey of DT and BMI in this evolving landscape.

The study conducts an extensive literature review to identify critical issues and pathways for tourism businesses pursuing DT and BMI. The review is focused on the challenges, opportunities, risks and imperatives that tourism organisations have to navigate in the current DT landscape to renew their business model.

The findings underscore the pressing need for tourism businesses to undergo a holistic DT. While digital technologies are reshaping the essence of tourism value chains, the transformation extends beyond technology adoption to encompass a profound renewal of organisational culture, competencies, structure, leadership and operational models. This paradigm shift is indispensable for crafting more innovative, sustainable and more inclusive tourism development. The paper also provides strategic recommendations and outlines future research directions to fortify the transformational journey of the tourism sector.

The paper provides key insights into supporting DT and BMI in tourism businesses, advancing a nuanced understanding of the multifaceted challenges and opportunities tourism organisations face in the digital age.

This paper aims to determine, which values guide consumers decision-making on natural health products for concentration and cognition (NHPCC) and how they link to choice-relevant product attributes. The purpose is to contribute to a better understanding of NHPCC consumption choices, which can encourage more consumer-centric product development and positioning.

Based on the means-end chain approach, in-depth laddering interviews with 26 consumers of NHP were conducted in Germany from October to December 2020. Qualitative content analysis was applied and a hierarchical value map over the dominant association was built and analyzed.

Five terminal values were found to be relevant for NHPCC decision-making. The personal focused values security, self-direction and stimulation are via health mainly associated with trust and a conscious decision-making, which is linked to the product attributes of effectiveness, tolerance and declaration. Social focused values of universalism or benevolence guide attention on the attributes of sustainability and regionality.

The study contributes to close the knowledge gap concerning the linkages between abstract values and concrete product attributes of NHP through associated consequences. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that analyzed these links for NHPCC, although such products are gaining more interest among companies and consumers. Companies can benefit from the outcomes by developing more consumer-centric product concepts and marketing communication strategies for NHPCC. Due to higher attention on relevant information, consumers’ decision-making could become safer and more conscious.

The aim of this research is to propose a quantitative approach to evaluating the quality of services provided, helping organizations to make strategic decisions by better understanding the characteristics that satisfy consumers.

The approach was based on the integration of the Kano model with SERVQUAL, adapted by the satisfaction equations of Albuquerque et al. (2022) and fuzzy systems theory. Through this, it was possible to infer which attributes influence customer satisfaction, identifying the ranges of satisfaction and, with the help of fuzzy, reducing the imprecision of customer perceptions.

A total of 42% of the attributes were classified as unidimensional, with attribute 11 (Reliability) and attribute 9 (Courtesy) having the highest satisfaction values. Attractive attributes accounted for 38% of the sample, with attribute 29 (Variety of products) and attribute 7 (Location) having the greatest impact on satisfaction. On the other hand, attribute 30 (Order Delay) and attribute 31 (Waiting for payment) caused more dissatisfaction among consumers (ranges −0.6, −0.71, respectively). In addition, Variety of products was the most satisfactory, while Order Delay generated the most dissatisfaction among users.

The originality of this research lies in its contribution to organizations in relation to the services offered by investigating a gap in the studies that use the Kano model, integrated with SERVQUAL, which do not include reverse attributes in their equations and analyses. With the help of fuzzy sets, the subjectivity of the individual can be translated into data for greater clarity of information.