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The aims of this paper are to share how one cohort of tourism practitioners viewed the transformative change needed within the tourism industry and to explore the implications for leadership in the future.

The research design is based on a virtual whiteboard brainstorming activity incorporating both the individual and collective thinking of 20 participants in a global cohort class. Using conversational techniques to elicit cognitive knowledge and felt experience, the methodology generates shared understandings about the opportunities and challenges of implementing regenerative tourism.

The conversations reported in the findings of this paper provide important insights into the challenges and opportunities faced by tourism professionals as enablers of regenerative tourism. Findings included, first, that participants within the course demonstrated characteristics of transformational leadership including a strong moral positioning, embodied self-awareness, collaboration and collective action. Second, specific points of inertia that impede regenerative tourism are identified including embedded culture, power and organisational structures. Third, professionals are calling for practical tools, new frames of reference, and examples to help communicate regenerative tourism.

This is a viewpoint, not a research paper. Nonetheless, it provides a rich vein of future research in terms of disruptive pedagogy, potentially gendered interest in regenerative tourism, issues of transforming the next generation and power.

Governance, organisational, destination management strategies, planning and policy frameworks, individual issues as well as contradictions within the tourism system were revealed. Transformative change in an uncertain future requires transformational leadership, characterised by moral character and behaviours that trigger empowered responses.

This paper shares insights from a unique global cohort class of tourism professionals wherein the challenges and opportunities for regenerative tourism are identified. The methodology is unusual in that it incorporates both individual and collective thinking through which shared understandings emerge.

This study investigates whether there is an association between business symbiosis and the performance of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

The authors conducted 200 surveys, using ordered logistic regression to evaluate the results. Participants are MSME business owners in Cambridge, New Zealand.

The authors found that connections with banks and other businesses in the same and across different industries, positively associates with changes in MSME profitability. Additionally, operating a business as a franchisee under the regulations or headquarter issued rules is positively associated with change in net profit.

While there are limitations with cross-sectional data, the study indicates a mechanism and frameworks for policy analysis when deciding on allocation of funds to particular networks.

This editorial aims to situate the papers chosen for this special issue within academic literature and identify their contributions to new knowledge.

The editorial first discusses tourism research literature pertinent to the idiosyncrasies of destination management in island contexts. Second, the paper identifies the contributions made to this field by the authors and the implications of their innovative research for island tourism and destination management.

Each paper contributes, in its way, to the field of island tourism, either by integration of explorations of theory, shifting paradigms or revealing new knowledge. This special issue contains two seminal papers by top academic leaders of the fields of islandness and HRM in island destinations. It also presents papers that comment on destination management issues at macro and micro levels.

Collectively this collection of papers offers new perspectives concerning the challenges of creating destination image in peripheral locations, the impacts of global mobilities (inward and outward) on destination labor markets, models for sustainable destination development, the welcome extended to visitors and returning locals by island communities, destination positioning strategies and service interactions.

This editorial aims to situate the papers chosen for this special issue within academic literature and identify their contributions to new knowledge.

The editorial first discusses tourism research literature pertinent to the marketing of cultural and heritage tourism products at island destinations around the globe. Second, the contributions made to this field by the authors in this volume and their implications for theory, industry dynamics and tourism product as well as to island communities are identified.

Each paper contributes to the field, either by explorations of theory, shifts in paradigm or by revealing new knowledge.

Collectively this collection of papers offers new perspectives on the special characteristics of island tourism, community dynamics, the role of marketing and the development of sustainable cultural and heritage tourism products in island contexts.

This paper aims to focus on evaluating what cultural, heritage, and historical resources exist in the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) and how these resources can advance tourism development and marketing.

This study bases its approach on tourism development field research conducted in the RMI, first in 1989‐1990 for the entire nation and in 2002 for Bikini and Rongelap Atolls. Current literature sources provide an expansion of the previous studies.

Tourism in the RMI sees only a few thousand visitors annually, with many participating in diving and sport‐fishing. Significant potential exists to attract cultural heritage visitors, but to date few such efforts exist. Construction and sailing of traditional outrigger canoes and rediscovery of ancient Micronesian way‐finding techniques represent two important culture resources for potential tourism marketing.

Field research includes only the atolls of Majuro (the national capital), Bikini, and Rongelap, with updates from published studies and information on the internet. The RMI has many cultural heritage resources, but more effective marketing programs are necessary, including integrated marketing among the numerous atolls, Marshall Islands Visitor Authority, and the RMI central government.

Tourism development for the RMI will consist of niche markets. Beyond current diving and sport‐fishing, various artifacts of previous eras in the RMI and the Marshallese culture may provide additional opportunities to increase the level of tourism.

This study of cultural heritage tourism development in the RMI provides information about which little is written. This study offers a framework for use in other island destinations in the Pacific and elsewhere.

This paper aims to examine the integration of management and marketing practices at heritage sites in Ireland.

The research process involved: phase one, a survey of 224 heritage attractions in Ireland and phase two, semi‐structured interviews with the six organizations that represent the heritage sector on the island of Ireland.

The findings suggest that market research and marketing communication are vital in achieving a balance between targeting cultural tourists and tourists with no specific interest in heritage.

The study has the restriction of being limited to the Irish case. However, these findings provide scope for further investigation, namely extending to other destinations and to sites which use different techniques.

A combined commitment to visitor research by the individual heritage sites could provide information to the representative organizations to facilitate target marketing and improved onsite management. However, a change of mindset is required among heritage practitioners in Ireland regarding the use of marketing and the implications for onsite management. The authors propose that this is achievable through education linked to the study of models of best practice.

This paper aims to report the results of a study into visitor evaluations of interactions with hotel employees in Mauritius. Given that the island's core tourism product is based on luxury resorts, tourist‐hotel employee interactions possess a potential for determining satisfactory or unsatisfactory holiday evaluations on the part of visitors.

A sample of 103 visitors is interviewed using a semi‐structured guide comprising open‐ended questions. This approach reflects the lived experiences of guests and helps to better assess the role played by nationality when reporting visitor‐staff interactions. Data are analyzed using both thematic analysis and textual analysis software.

Nationality, ethnicity and languages spoken are found to be factors that determine differences in requirements from hotel staff on the part of tourists. Nationality is the strongest discriminator of these requirements.

As with many examples of qualitative research, the findings are time and place specific. Yet nonetheless, the concepts of personal construct theory permit some generalization.

Resort complex staff and management need to note the differences required by guests of different national groupings, and to appreciate that less than warm responses by some clients are not indicative of dissatisfaction.

The paper distinguishes between guests not only on the basis of nationality and ethnicity, but also languages spoken. No similar study relating to resort complexes in Mauritius has been identified. The study also uses two modes of textual data analysis to support the interpretation offered.

Sustainable tourism demands a positivistic and holistic look at the true costs and benefits of the industry to host communities. To aid leaders in starting the process, the article proposes a tourism options navigation model looking at varying number of visitors, their average daily spend and leakages, on the socio‐economic, cultural and environmental landscape of island communities. The article aims to identify various tourism options, their expected effects and potential strategies to mitigating negative outcomes and to later apply the model to the case of the rural parish of St Thomas, Jamaica.

To achieve the objectives outlined a comprehensive review of related literature was conducted. The researcher interviewed six of Jamaica's national tourism leaders and analyzed their responses.

It was posited that by employing strategies that impact the number of visitors to the area, their average daily spend and industry‐related economic import leakages, leaders can control the economic, social, cultural and environmental effects of tourism on communities but the process must begin with a clear articulation of the desired effects.

The model could be a useful decision‐making tool for leaders considering tourism as a developmental option or in analyzing the current state of their communities' tourism industry. It could also form the basis for a more objective look at tourism success by researchers.

The model is unique as it provides a single comprehensive look at the causes and effects of tourism and possible ways forward.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the cultural interaction between communities and visitors to islands using social exchange theory to enhance the understanding of the island experience.

The method consisted of 30 in‐depth interviews with community and tourism stakeholders, and formed part of a multi‐phase study that used social exchange theory as the lens to illuminate a range of perspectives of island interaction. This paper presents a comparative case study of Bruny Island in Tasmania, and Magnetic Island in Queensland, Australia.

Findings revealed that local community members have a wide range of motivations for entering into social exchanges with visitors, ranging from solely economic, to a genuine desire to provide quality experiences. Additionally, findings showed the nature of island cultural interaction could vary immensely, from welcoming and meaningful exchanges through to superficial and even hostile contact.

As this research is on two islands in Australia, within a particular timeframe, the results may not be representative of island communities generally. Nonetheless, the results are indicative of locals' perceptions of their interactions with visitors.

The findings have a range of practical implications for the management of local and visitor interaction on islands. A key implication for island communities is the importance of developing programs that educate and inform locals about the potential benefits of interaction. Additionally, this research illustrates how islands can use cultural interaction to differentiate their tourism product and market island experiences.

The paper's contribution is its use of social exchange theory at a micro‐level to illuminate a range of local community members' perspectives of their tourism exchanges, in order to enhance understanding of the complex process of interaction between locals and visitors to islands.

The purpose of this study is to segment the market of first‐time visitors based on the activities travelers engage in while at a destination using demographics, socio‐economic variables, and trip‐related characteristics.

The research analyzes 1,104 exit surveys completed by first‐time visitors to the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island. Clustering analysis identifies three segments that are refined and tested by multivariate and bivariate analyses.

The results indicate that there are three distinct segments of first‐time visitors based on travel activities: culture‐oriented (26 percent of the market), active (37 percent), and casual (37 percent). The key differences among the three segments are demographic, socio‐economic, trip‐related characteristics, and spending patterns. These results confirm the sustainability and profitability of the market segments.

Segmenting markets for products or services, in any industry, is vital to gain a better understanding of the customer, and to better allocate scarce tourism resources to product development, marketing, service, and delivery. Therefore, all tourism industry stakeholders must be aware of the market segments that are currently visiting the destination.

Tourist segments based on activities are not absolutes, but a continuum. The majority of first‐time visitors to a destination engage in a variety of travel activities across the segments, running from more to less involved. Successful tourism destinations are those that meet the various activity needs of their segments in both their marketing and on the ground.