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Emotions in tourist experiences: Advancing our conceptual, methodological and empirical understanding

1. introduction.

The tourism industry has long been hailed as the ‘fun’ industry. Tourism is practiced for its hedonic benefits. Tourists choose to spend discretionary disposable income on holidays and travel essentially for the anticipated pleasure they will obtain. In that sense, the value proposition for tourism is significantly based on the emotions. This editorial addresses questions linked to the role of emotions in tourist experiences. The theorization of emotion has received much attention in the contemporary tourism literature and among destination marketers. Emotions, episodes of intense feelings associated with a specific situation or event ( Cohen & Areni, 1991 ), play a key role in understanding tourist behaviour. Studies have focused for example on positive emotional experiences associated with festivals, shopping, theme parks, holidays, heritage sites and adventure tourism, among others, and the links between emotional responses and behavioural outcomes, such as satisfaction and customer loyalty.

At a practical level, tourist destinations around the world emphasize the positive emotional connections they seek to make between visitors and places. For example, Slovenia uses the slogan “I feel s love nia” to convey a sense of warmth, and a deep connection among potential tourists to the country. Other countries highlight the ‘surprising’ component of the tourist experience in their branding strategies. Notable successful country campaigns include “Amazing Thailand” and “Incredible !ndia”, which have been built on associating a sense of positive surprise and delight with tourism visits. Other slogans highlighting positive emotional experiences include “It's more fun in Philippines", "Beautiful Bangladesh" and "Brunei: Abode of peace". These examples further emphasize the importance attached to positive emotional responses associated with tourist experiences.

However, whilst much of what drives tourist behaviour is a search for pleasure, it is a much more complex picture requiring the need for more detailed and theoretically driven research. In this respect, the literature on tourist's emotion has been significantly enriched in recent years. Tourist emotion research has drawn heavily on and applied concepts and measures from the psychology literature. For example, a growing body of studies (e.g. Choi & Choi, 2019 ; Hosany, 2012 ; Jiang, 2019 ) apply cognitive appraisal theories ( Roseman, Spindel, & Jose, 1990 ) to understand the antecedents and consequences of emotions to tourist decisions. In terms of measurement, and despite criticisms (see Hosany & Gilbert, 2010 ), many studies have adapted self-report measures of emotions from psychology and these remain popular in tourism. Emotions influence various stages of the tourist experience ( Prayag, Hosany, & Odeh, 2013 ). At the pre-travel stage, emotions play a fundamental role in activating tourist motivations and inputs in destination choice processes. During the trip, emotions can vary in intensity on a day-to-day basis. In addition, tourists' emotional reactions are fundamental in shaping post-travel evaluations such as satisfaction, destination attachment, perceived overall image and behavioural intentions.

The goal for this special issue is to further expand and enrich the literature on the role of emotions in tourist experiences by soliciting conceptual and methodological contributions that not only support but also challenge and develop our understanding of this important aspect of tourist behaviour. We were delighted to receive a diverse range of submissions, which contribute an array of original approaches and insights. The final collection of papers (n = 8) helps us to better understand the role of emotions across various settings such as casino resorts, theme parks, leisure and senior travellers, brand advertising and brand communication, and visiting friends and relatives (VFR). We were impressed to see that these papers advance conceptual and methodological approaches, in addition to their empirical contributions. The papers address measurement issues as well as identifying antecedents and outcomes of tourist emotional experiences in a range of novel contexts.

2. The papers in this special issue

Whilst most previous research on tourist emotions has focused on positive feelings, such as joy, love and positive surprise, negative emotions are also possible. The paper by Lai, Yang and Hitchcock provides important insights into the basic, excitement, and performance emotions that influence tourists’ satisfaction and dissatisfaction with destination casino resorts. Through the development of a measurement scale consisting of both positive and negative emotions, the overall satisfaction of gaming and non-gaming tourists was determined, contributing to our understanding on how to combine three-factor theory with emotion theory. Arguing that most of the negative emotions generated from gaming will not result in tourist dissatisfaction with destination casino resorts, the authors point us towards further investigations into the effects of negative emotions towards destinations in considering the three-factor theory.

Emotions are complex feeling states that result in psychological and physical changes that influence our behaviour. Our emotions change in response to stimuli and yet most research takes a simple snapshot of these states and reactions at a particular point in time. Stepping beyond the traditional static, cross-sectional approach used to measure emotions. Lin, Nawijn and Biran’s paper seeks to advance our understanding of how motivations are related to tourists' emotions, in a longitudinal study for the first time in tourism research on this subject. Questioning leisure travelers in the Netherlands over a nine-month period, results indicate that motivation does not have a significant impact on tourists' emotions over a relatively long period of time. Determining that travel motivations, or a cluster of travel motivations, do not seem to have significant within-subject or between-subject impacts on tourists' emotions reaffirms the complex relationships between tourists' travel motivation and emotions, providing important managerial implications for destination marketers to consider.

Emotions can also be recalled and associated with particular events in the memory. Since holidays and travel are often intense experiences that linger in the memory, it is important to look beyond the immediate, visceral emotional state to advance our understanding of the role emotions play in future decision making. The paper by Akgün, Senturk, Keskin and Onal provides important empirical insights into the relationships between nostalgic emotions, destination image and tourist behaviour within the particular destination context of Istanbul. Two studies are utilized to help shift debates into an understanding of the importance of post-visit experience on destination image. In the first study, the cognitive image of Istanbul was found to be a multi-dimensional construct composed of attractions, infrastructure, atmosphere, and value variables. In the second study, nostalgic emotion is found to positively relate to affective destination image, and to every component of the cognitive destination image of Istanbul. Conclusions indicate that destination image may partially mediate the relationship between nostalgic emotion and intention to revisit and recommend.

There is a greater need for cross-fertilization of theories and approaches to advance our understanding of the affective relationships between places and people, specifically visitors. Cabanas's paper seeks to better understand the interplay between emotions and space applying theory of sociology and the production and consumption of space, and experience, to experiences at theme parks. It applies symbolic interactionism to a critical literature review of research on experiences of theme parks, such as atmosphere design, experience control, and visitors' engagement and in so doing highlights the need for allowing greater agency amongst visitors to develop their own emotional narratives of their experiences of these experiences settings, which can be overly scripted and staged. Visitors' experiences can be explored from a deeper qualitative perspective, such as symbolic interactionism to draw out meaning-making processes, the situated and mixed emotional register of experience that takes place within theme park spaces, and that goes beyond simple evaluation of satisfaction and repeat behaviors. These novel approaches can add real value to the design of emotional experiences in a range of visitor settings.

Emotions form an important consideration in how destinations position and market themselves. For Lalicic, Huertas, Moreno and Jabreel, understanding the emotional brand communication of 10 of the most popular DMOs in Europe in 2017 according to TripAdvisor was a key objective. Through an analysis of user responses across Facebook and Twitter, this study identifies a matrix of successful and promising values that DMOs should integrate into their social media communication strategies regarding their destination brands. It visualizes a set of values that DMOs should either not include or try to avoid when aiming to successfully engage with their users. It identifies differences between the two social media platforms, providing DMOs with guidelines on how to effectively communicate their brands using specific emotional brand values on social media. In a related paper, Tercia, Teichert and Soehadi apply a generic experience economy framework to better understand advertisements in evoking emotions and communicating specific experience dimensions. Travel experiences are differentiated between passive and active participation, as well as between those with immersion and absorption experiences. Findings suggest that travelers’ emotional response to advertisements has a partially mediating effect on their effectiveness, dependent in part on the specific type of envisioned travel experience.

Finally, two papers examine emotions within specific consumer contexts. Ramer, Zorotovich, Roberson, Flanigan and Gao's study looks at emotions within a specific type of tourism experience, linking together two relatively understudied areas in travel research: the intersections between Visiting Friends and Relatives (VFR) and emotional experiences in the travel context. It does this by questioning the effects of pre-existing family dynamics on the emotional experiences of emerging adults traveling to visit families during the fall break. Findings uncover a significant impact of family dynamics on emotions during VFR trips, with positive emotions following a linear decline during the travel period, and negative emotions following a pattern consistent with the holiday happiness curve. Secondly, Pestana, Parreira and Moutinho's paper provides us with important insights into what motivates the senior tourism market, distinguishing between younger and older seniors. A model explaining the mediation role played by satisfaction in the relationship between motivation, emotion, and behavioural intentions is developed and tested through the application of structural equation modelling. Satisfaction is found to mediate the relationship between motivations and emotions, and behavioural intentions, simultaneously strengthening the positive association between push and pull motivations. Previous experience has a moderating effect. Managerial implications include questioning the usefulness of the model developed in different geographical settings.

3. Concluding remarks

Emotions are ubiquitous in tourist experiences and the papers in this special issue offer novel insights that advances this field of research. Despite much progress, several methodological-theoretical design considerations remain. For example, how best to measure emotions in tourism? A limited number of emerging studies have moved away from self-reports and embrace novel approaches such as Corpus Linguistics ( Rahmani, Gnoth, & Mather, 2019 ) to extract and analyze tourists' emotional experiences. Still, additional research is needed to, for example, directly compare verbal, non-verbal and indirect qualitative emotion measures. In addition, with some exception, tourism research predominantly focuses on positive emotional experiences. Recent evidence however suggests, in non-hedonic contexts, tourists purposely seek negative emotions ( Knobloch, Robertson, & Aitken, 2017 ; Nawijn & Biran, 2019 ). Negative emotions can lead to positive outcomes such as happiness ( Nawijn & Biran, 2019 ) and ethical choice formation ( Malone, McCabe, & Smith, 2014 ). More research is needed to expand our understanding of tourists’ negative emotional experiences in a post Covid-19 era. At the theoretical level, little is known about the interplay and hierarchy of cognitions and emotions in tourist behaviour models. Tourism researchers are encouraged to develop and test competing models. Emotion can be either an independent variable or a mediator between cognitions and outcome variables such as intention to recommend and perceived image evaluation.

We hope that articles in this special issue will encourage tourism scholars move this field of research forward. We would like to express our appreciation to Professors Alan Fyall, Brian Garrod and Youcheng Wang for the opportunity to guest edit this special issue in Journal of Destination Marketing & Management. Last but not least, we would like to thank the reviewers for providing constructive feedback during the review process. The authors and special issue guest editors appreciate their efforts for providing timely reviews.

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The role of emotional experience and destination image on ecotourism satisfaction

Spanish Journal of Marketing - ESIC

ISSN : 2444-9695

Article publication date: 30 July 2021

Issue publication date: 8 October 2021

The purpose of this study is to analyze the influence of the emotional experience (EE) and the image of the tourist destination on the satisfaction of the domestic tourist and his behavioral intentions, represented through the word of mouth (WOM) and his revisit intention.

Design/methodology/approach

The information obtained through a personal survey to 382 local tourists was refined and subjected to structural equation analysis. Analyses conducted with SPSS 20.0 and AMOS 20 software confirmed the existence of interesting significant relationships.

The results show that positive destination image and different experiences are considered to be the main elements that promote positive emotions and satisfaction for tourists, leading to a higher eagerness to spread WOM recommendations and to revisit a destination. The results also verify that interactions with the difficult-replacement services and with residents create strong positive EEs for female visitors, so that they are more willing to revisit a destination than males.

Research limitations/implications

Eco-destination managers should provide more difficult-replacement services and create an enjoyable and unique experience for tourists to enhance their satisfaction and positive behavioral intentions.

Originality/value

The results provide some important implications and insights about the marketing theory groundwork of EE and satisfaction, such as how they are to be conceptualized and established and how interactive relationships are formed among them in the ecotourism context.

El propósito del estudio es analizar la influencia de la experiencia emocional y la imagen del destino turístico sobre la satisfacción del turista nacional y sus intenciones de comportamiento, representadas a través del WOM y su intención de reinterpretación.

Metodología

La información obtenida a través de una encuesta personal a 382 turistas locales fue refinada y sometida a análisis de ecuaciones estructurales. Los análisis realizados con el software SPSS 20.0 y AMOS 20 confirmaron la existencia de interesantes relaciones significativas.

Los resultados exponen que la imagen positiva de los destinos y las experiencias varias se consideraron como los elementos principales que les promocionan las emociones y satisfaciones positivas a los turistas, lo que llevan a un gran deseo de difundir boca a boca y de volver a visitar. Además, verifican los resultados que las interacciones de turistas con los servicios de reemplazo diferente y con los residentos locales les han creado las experiencias de emoción fuerte a los visitantes femeninas, entonces desean que vuelven a visitar los destinos que los masculinos.

Implicaciones practicas

Los directores de eco-destino deben proveer más servicios disponibles de reemplazo diferente a los turistas lo que les generan maravillosa diversa experiencia a ellos, así empodean la satisfaction y intenciones de conducta.

Originalidad/Valor

Los resultados proveen algunas implicaciones importantes y visiones del fundamento de la teoría del marketing de la experiencia emocional y la satisfacción como en cuál manera que se establecen o conceptualizan y como las relacciones interactivas son formada en el contexto de eco-turismo.

本研究旨在分析情感体验和旅游目的地形象对国内游客满意度及其行为意向的影响, 行为意向通过口碑推荐和目的地重游意向来表示。

通过调研382名当地游客, 对获取得信息进行提炼, 进行了结构方程分析。使用SPSS 20.0和AMOS 20软件进行分析, 证实了存在着有趣的显著关系。

结果显示, 积极的目的地形象和不同的体验被认为是促进游客积极情绪和满意度的主要因素, 从而使游客更热衷于传播口碑、推荐和重游目的地。结果还表明, 与困难置换服务机构的互动, 以及与居民的互动会为女性游客带来强烈的正向情感体验, 使得女性游客相比于男性更愿意重游目的地。

生态旅游目的地管理者应提供更多的困难置换服务, 并为游客创造愉快、独特的体验, 以提高游客的满意度和积极的行为意向。

研究结果为情感体验和满意度的营销理论基础工作提供了一些重要的启示, 例如, 在生态旅游背景下, 如何对它们进行概念化和建立, 以及它们之间如何形成互动关系。

  • Destination image
  • Emotional experiences
  • Satisfaction
  • Imagen de destinos
  • Experiencias emocionales
  • Satisfacción
  • Boca a boca
  • Eco-turismo

Quynh, N. , Hoai, N.T. and Loi, N.V. (2021), "The role of emotional experience and destination image on ecotourism satisfaction", Spanish Journal of Marketing - ESIC , Vol. 25 No. 2, pp. 312-332. https://doi.org/10.1108/SJME-04-2020-0055

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2020, NgoHai Quynh, Nguyen Thanh Hoai and Nguyen Van Loi.

Published in Spanish Journal of Marketing - ESIC . Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence maybe seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode

1. Introduction

The declaration of the United Nations “International Year of Ecotourism” in 2002 contributed to sustainable ecotourism development ( Ebsco, 2009 ). Globally, it is the biggest and most proliferate industry, accounting for 10% of the world’s gross domestic product, 7% of the global tourism market and is responsible for 10% employment overall ( UNWTO, 2018 ). With respect to the total numbers of general tourism, one-third of these represent eco-tourists ( UNWTO, 2018 ). Local and rural populations can acquire greater opportunities for employment through the development of ecotourism activities ( Das and Chatterjee, 2015 ). As a result, the growth of ecotourism can reduce the unemployment that causes relocation of workers to urban centers from their rural homes ( Çalışkan, 2018 ).

According to the world trend, ecotourism is also becoming quite popular in Vietnam where there are many attractive and diverse ecological zones. In particular, Hoi An ranked third in the 25 most amazing cities in the world and was ranked in the top 15 most amazing cities in Asia, according to a poll of readers of the American travel magazine Travel and Leisure 2020. Hoi An has become a land of interesting things, helping travelers choose to experience, to find a balance in life. Ecotourism is derived from the available potential of the region by using the natural landscape to provide unique and interesting activities such as rice field plowing, rice transplanting, buffalo riding, lychee picking, crab fishing and participate in art performances with indigenous people. All these opportunities have created unique values for Hoi An, attracting a large number of both domestic and international tourists.

There is fierce competition among destination managers to provide appealing services for tourist destinations. Attracting new visitors and retaining old customers is a comprehensive, essential strategy for the survival and development of businesses in the tourism service industry. Contributing to the success of a tourist destination is customer satisfaction, considered the most imperative indicator of behavioral intentions for any attraction ( Chiu et al. , 2016 ). Destination image (DI) is also one of the vital foundational factors for a particular traveling behavior, making an important contribution to tourists’ decision-making process when selecting a destination, as well as evaluating their satisfaction, expectation and behavioral intentions ( Pratminingsih et al. , 2014 ). Moreover, the experience that incorporates both aspects including cognition and emotion ( Han and Jeong, 2013 ) could contribute to shedding light on tourists’ psychological state. This has led to many studies that explored the experience concept more deeply, specifically its emotional aspect, and determined that it is another important element in enhancing the likelihood that customers will return to and recommend a destination in various contexts, such as shopping ( Yüksel and Yüksel 2007 ), festivals ( Grappi and Montanari, 2011 ) and restaurants ( Han and Jeong, 2013 ), but rare studies have been conducted in the ecotourism environment.

This study attempts to contribute a deeper insight into emotion evoked by different experiences within a specific context – the Hoi An ecotourism. Practical experiences stem from interactions between customers and unique tourism products, or between customers and local residents through traditional games such as Bai Choi, riding in basket boats, learning to cook with traditional organic foods. Activities such as these are believed to stimulate emotional engagement ( Quynh et al. , 2018 ; Quynh, 2019 ). The primitive and irreplaceable nature of this service type has created not just distinctive emotional tourism experiences that are considered powerful determinants of tourist satisfaction (SAT) and that also influence tourists’ post-consumption behavioral intentions, but also a different resource for increasing successful competitiveness for Hoi An. In other words, a review of the literature reveals how emotional experience (EE) is defined and its outcomes seem to be quite nebulous in the ecotourism industry context, even it remains scarce in the Vietnamese ecotourism context ( Hosany et al. , 2014 ; Trinh et al. , 2018 ).

According to previous literature (San et al. , 2013), visitors who have satisfactory and interesting experiences at a destination are likely to try to persuade their relatives and friends to go there, and they will also likely revisit the destination themselves. There are, however, still significant concerns about the relationship among these constructs (Yang, 2017 ). Besides, the data analyzed in this paper show that, in the tourism sector, it is important to recognize that the likelihood tourists will revisit a specific destination depends on their past experience there and a positive DI (Osman and Sentosa, 2013). However, not only is DI a multifaceted structure that depends on many factors (e.g. time and the field of study: Melo et al. , 2016 ), but EE is also a complex structure depending on time, experience services and visitors’ preferences and age. Adding to that, the diversity of travel services and the borderless competition in this market has motivated managers to create differentiated value experiences ( Baka et al. , 2016 ) to enhance customer satisfaction and improve future behavioral intentions. The satisfaction element also should not be ignored as it significantly influences their revisit intention (RI) and word-of-mouth (WOM) suggestions ( Chi and Qu, 2008 ). Others also proposed that it is important to further explore the meaningfulness of WOM in tourism ( Filieri and McLeay, 2013 ). In response to Bigné et al. ’s (2005) call for further research, Pestana et al. (2020) assessed the integrated role of EE, satisfaction and behavioral intentions of Portuguese tourists. However, cultural differences can lead to different behaviors ( Hanel et al. , 2018 ) and achieve generalization of the proposed models ( Sepulcri et al. , 2020 ), so these relationships need to be explored more deeply in different cultural contexts (e.g. Vietnam). Therefore, the present study offers a theoretical model for investigating how EE and DI explain SAT and intentions. The study also extends the theoretical framework to supply empirical evidence on the proposed causal relationships among EE, DI, satisfaction, WOM and RI. Also, the different effects of tourist gender on these relationships are explored.

Following the reviews of the literature and discussions of these concepts in the tourism context, hypotheses were formulated and the research model was used to test.

2. Literature review

2.1 ecotourism.

The noticeable growth of new tourism destinations, the facilitation of low-cost carriers and rising income and leisure time ( Bornhorst et al. , 2010 ) have given people more choices in the travel decision-making process. However, the noise and industrialization found in urban places have given rise to a new trend in tourism – the ecotourism experience. There is a fair similarity in the ecotourism concepts of researchers and organizations, of which the two most widely accepted definitions are from The International Ecotourism Society and The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The former has defined ecotourism as “Responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and sustains the well-being of local people,” analogically, the latter considered that ecotourism is a type of “environmentally responsible travel to natural areas, in order to enjoy and appreciate nature (and accompanying cultural features, both past, and present) that promote conservation, have a low visitor impact and provide beneficially active socio-economic involvement of local peoples.” Besides, researchers have recently further defined ecotourism as having a lower impact within the industry in comparison to regular tourism, owing to its involvement mainly with often remote or off-the-beaten-path destinations ( Chand et al. , 2015 ) as well as creating a mutually beneficial relationship between the eco-tourist and the tour provider in which the tourist obtains a unique and educational travel experience while the provider receives vital economic gains, making ecotourism superior in ethic, moral and cultural aspects ( Bhattacharyya et al. , 2018 ). Stemming from these definitions, it can be generalized that ecotourism is a tourism activity that takes place in a natural environment with the orientation of raising environmental protection consciousness, cultural conservation and the responsibility for sustainable social-economic development.

2.2 Emotional experience

The tourist destination sector is a fully challenging and dynamic one. Therefore, it is believed that attention should be paid to tourists’ different experiences because of the importance of those experiences in respect of their satisfaction and behavioral intentions ( Yoon and Uysal, 2005 ; Maroofi and Dehghan, 2012 ). However, it is an extremely complex construct ( Xiang et al. , 2015 ). While Walter et al. (2010) suggested that experience, as the direct and indirect experience of the customer of the service process, stems from how the customer interacts with a provider’s service, important components of tourism experiences are positive and pleasurable feelings and emotions ( Tung and Ritchie, 2011 ). Further, McIntosh and Siggs (2005) supposed that experienced emotions are an extremely essential element of a memorable destination experience, and the intensity of emotions can alter during the whole service experience ( Lee and Kyle, 2012 ). In the context of ecotourism, the EE is generated by the interaction between tourists and local people, especially derived from the process of experiencing unique services at the destination. During this process, a perception is created when tourists’ senses are stimulated, and positive EEs will occur when their evoked emotions exceed their expectations (e.g. they weave a hat/clothing for loved ones, go sailing alone, transplant rice, enjoy the art of Bài Chòi, etc.). Also, service encounters between tourists and locals can evoke positive emotions and create unforgettable memories. This emotion is personal and depends on the tourist’s personality, the level of their involvement and the interaction process. In summary, positive EEs are a positive and persistent experience owing to evoked emotions during interactions between tourists and residents and/or services at a destination that exceeded their expectations. On the other hand, for some visitors, at certain destinations, the interaction process with providers can also lead to unexpected emotions. However, this study only looked at the positive side of EE.

The emotional experience of tourists influences their satisfaction with the destination.

The emotional experience of tourists with a tourist destination influences their WOM intentions towards that destination.

2.3 Destination image

Since the 1970s, academicians have perceived that DI is an indispensable element in tourists’ decision-making process ( King et al. , 2015 ) and destination selection ( Carballo et al. , 2015 ) and that it also influences their intention to visit or revisit a place ( Chen and Tsai, 2007 ). In particular, the process of selecting a tourist destination is very complicated because it depends on several factors such as images, free time, season and budget ( Bornhorst et al. , 2010 ). Although much effort has been devoted to studying DI-related issues, there still is a lack of consensus in how it is defined, formed and measured ( Beerli and Martin, 2004 ; Kim and Richardson, 2003 ). Differences in the way it is formed, defined and measured seem to depend on the field and time of the research ( Melo et al. , 2016 ), target groups of tourists (domestic or foreign, urban or rural, younger or older) and travel motivation (adventure or resort travel).

In the past, many research efforts have been conducted to explore relationships between DI and tourists’ satisfaction levels ( Puh, 2014 ; Naidoo et al. , 2015 ) and intention to revisit a destination ( Pratminingsih et al. , 2014 ; King et al. , 2015 ), but the results were contradictory.

The destination image influences tourist satisfaction with the destination.

The destination image influences the intention to revisit the destination.

2.4 Tourist satisfaction

Customer satisfaction has emerged as an important psychological structure that facilitates interactions between customers and brands and is often considered the center of a business’s marketing activities (Machleit and Mantel, 2001). It contributes to the financial value of businesses ( Quynh et al. , 2020a ), such as decreasing customer-related transaction costs, increasing revenues and reducing price elasticity among repurchasers ( Lewin, 2009 ). Furthermore, according to Anderson et al. (1994) , higher consumer satisfaction levels have the potential to increase customer loyalty, reduce the cost of failure, isolate existing market share from competitors and help enhance the reputation of an organization in the market, thus expanding market share (Vuuren et al. , 2012).

In relationship marketing theory, customer satisfaction is considered an indispensable antecedent of long-term relationships through which customers achieve their expectations and norms ( Kotler, 2009 ). According to Olive (1981) , customer satisfaction is an emotional reaction derived from any particular transaction. Likewise, it is suggested as an emotional response by customers when assessing the discrepancy between expectation and the perception of real performance (Vuuren et al. , 2012). That means that the customer is satisfied when the results of the consumption process are consistent with or exceed their expectations. In contrast, if the results are below par, the customer is dissatisfied. In tourism literature, satisfaction is a positive feeling derived from tourists' experience process at a destination ( Meng et al. , 2008 ).

Tourist satisfaction positively influences their revisit intention.

Tourist satisfaction positively influences their WOM intention.

2.5 Multigroup effect of gender

Many research efforts of academics and practitioners examine gender differences based on social role theory proposed by Eagly et al. (2000) . The studies further elucidate the distinct influence of men and women in product evaluations ( McDaniel and Kinney, 1998 ), decision-making processes ( Venkatesh and Morris, 2000 ), solving a problem ( Mitchell and Walsh, 2004 ) and hospitality service selection ( Mattila, 2000 ). Furthermore, Belanche et al. (2020) point out that customer gender has been explored frequently as a moderating variable that influences the relationships among marketing structures ( Ladhari and Leclerc, 2013 ; Khan and Rahman, 2017 ; Mosquera et al. , 2018 ).

Although many studies have attempted to estimate the different effects of gender on the relationships among marketing constructs, there is still inconsistency in the results. For example, in the financial services industry, Ladhari and Leclerc (2013) reported that women are attributed to higher levels of loyalty, satisfaction, service quality and trust than men. In the retail banking context, the impact of reliability and empathy dimensions on satisfaction is higher for male customers than female customers ( Karatepe, 2011 ). Further, for internet service, according to Sanchez-Franco et al. (2009) , the relationships between customers’ trust and loyalty and between satisfaction and commitment were stronger for males than for females. In the context of this study, therefore, it is also predicted that the tourist gender will have a distinct influence on the relationships among the proposed constructs.

Hence, on the platform of the above discussion, the integrated conceptual framework was formed and is shown in Figure 1 .

3. Methodology

The study selected Hoi An as a tourist destination. This city was designated by UNESCO as a world cultural heritage site and was named one of “The Top 15 Cities in the World” by Travel and Leisure magazine (The 2019 World’s Best Cities). Hoi An provides so much variety for tourists with its unique and famous tourism areas. In addition to the renowned modern tourist areas such as Vinpearl, the poetic beach of Cua Dai, and An Bang, it is also a land of many imprints of cultural mixing and interference. Chinese guilds and temples are located next to traditional Vietnamese townhouses and houses built in the French architectural style. In particular, Hoi An, a small geographic area, has many unique and distinct ecotourism areas. This is the perfect choice for gaining an understanding of different EEs, tourists’ satisfaction and likelihood to promote positive WOM and tourists’ intention to revisit.

Tests were performed using samples of tourists who have visited ecotourism areas in Hoi An. Eco-tourists were selected as participants as ecotourism is considered to have a valuable “different experience” sector which can be easily associated with emotion. The interviewers picked out random tourists in different destinations. Only Vietnamese customers who had visited an eco-destination could participate in the project. The study sample was limited to Vietnamese tourists to follow the program “Vietnamese go traveling Vietnam” by the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism. More importantly, the results of this sample will give destination managers an overview of the role of domestic tourists during the COVID-19 pandemic, when travel between countries is restricted. The direct survey was performed over the last two months of 2019. To ensure comfortability for each tourist, the location of the surveys was decided following the individual’s desire (at a coffee shop, at a restaurant or in the mall). The total number of participants was 415. The tool for collecting the necessary information was a full questionnaire containing 35 questions which were based on the attributes of related structures. A total of 30 items were derived from the literature review and adopted for further analysis in the current research context (Appendix). Using a seven-point Likert scale, tourists were asked to answer all questions by indicating degrees of agreement (from strongly disagree to strongly agree).

Data collection was conducted in Vietnamese, and the back-translation method was used to convert the responses into the study language following the method proposed by Brislin (1986) .

3.2 Measures

Modification of the instrument for ecotourism settings is supported by the previous instrument developers: DI ( Chi and Qu, 2008 ); EE ( Hosany et al. , 2014 ; Han and Jeong, 2013 ); satisfaction ( Loureiro and Kastenholz, 2011 ); RI ( Quintal and Polczynski, 2010 ); and WOM ( Bhattacherjee, 2001 ). This study’s measurement items of the related variables included in the causal model have been adopted from the above studies. The research data and hypotheses were tested using SPSS 20.0 and AMOS 20.0.

4.1 Profile of respondents

The descriptive analysis indicates the demographic characteristics of the target tourists. After removing invalid and incomplete answers, 382 out of 415 survey responses were used for further analysis. The demographic characteristics of these respondents are summarized in Table 1 . While nearly three-quarters of the sample were female (72.5%), only 27.5% were male. In terms of tourists’ age, over half of the sample (57.6%) was aged 30–40, 23.8% were under 30 and the remaining 18.6% were above 40. Also, the majority of the tourists ( n  = 273, 71.5%) were first time visitors to Hoi An. Finally, most of the tourists stayed in Hoi An for three to five days ( n  = 200, 52.4%).

4.2 Reliability and validity of measurement

To estimate the composite reliability of the different constructs (DI, EE, SAT, WOM and RI) included in the analysis, the criteria of Fornell and Larcker (1981) was followed.

According to Hair et al. (1998) , the composite reliability of the above constructs should be higher than 0.70. As shown in Table 2 , after removing the invalid items, the CR values for all five constructs were adequate, including DI (0.913), EE (0.885), SAT (0.856), WOM (0.880) and RI (0.900). Also, the coefficient alpha value of the proposed constructs exceeded 0.80, higher than the recommended level (0.70) suggested by Nunnally (1978) . Further, convergent and discriminant validity helps to examine the validity of measures. Convergent validity was estimated by factor loading and the average variance extracted (AVE) values. All the constructs’ factor loadings and AVE values were higher than the value suggested (0.50) by Hair et al. (1998) . Additionally, based on criteria proposed by Hu and Bentler (1999) , the CFA results revealed that all fit indices of the measurement model were within the recommended level. Specifically, χ 2 = 553.906, df = 241 and χ 2 / df  =  2.298, CFI = 0.945, GFI = 0.891, TLI = 0.937, IFI = 0.945 and RMSEA = 0.058. This outcome implies that an adequate fit between the measurement model and its observed data has been proven.

To examine a measure’s meaning, it is crucial to determine discriminant validation ( Heeler and Ray, 1972 ). Discriminant validity is determined when a measure has not been highly correlated with another ( Campbell, 1960 ). The discriminant validity can be evaluated by comparing values between AVE for each construct and the r 2 value (squared correlation between two constructs). Also, according to Fornell and Larker (1981), discriminant validity is accepted when r 2 is less than the AVE value of each construct. As shown in Table 3 , the model constructs’ discriminant validity is supported.

4.3 Testing the structural model

To test the proposed hypotheses that relate to the causal relationship among DI, EE, SAT and behavioral intentions, SEM analysis with AMOS 20 software was used. Studying the proposed research model with the specific fit indices, the results indicated that the structural model seems to come in line with the observed data ( Figure 2 ).

Specifically, the IFI, TLI and CFI scores (0.940, 0.932 and 0.940, respectively) achieved the requirement, manifesting closeness to good fit indicators. The values of the GFI and RMSEA were 0.886 and 0.061, respectively, also suggesting a good fit between the data and the proposed structures. The relative chi-square/df (2.399) was within the accepted level. Considering the sample size, the above fit indices indicated sufficiency and supported that the proposed research model revealed pertinent data and could be used for explaining the hypotheses of the study.

Table 4 summarizes the findings of the SEM analysis that DI and EE have significant positive effects on SAT, which in turn has a significant positive impact on WOM and RI. Further, the findings show that while positive DI encourages intentions to revisit a place, different EE promotes intentions to recommend it to relatives and friends. The results also indicate that the difference in gender has a direct and positive impact on some proposed relationships.

Specifically, as expected, the results indicate that H1 and H2 ( β = 0.421, p  < 0.01 and β = 0.280, p  < 0.01, respectively) are detected to be insignificant, so these hypotheses are supported. Analogically, supporting H3 and H4 are also found, that is, DI is also significantly related to satisfaction and RIs ( β = 0.328, p  < 0.01 and β = 0.160, p  < 0.01, respectively). Finally, similar to the result proposed by Coban (2012) , the results show that H5 and H6 ( β = 0.391, p  < 0.01 and β = 0.408, p  < 0.01, respectively) are detected to be significant. This shows that the results recognize the role of emotions in consumer attitudes and behaviors ( Tsao and Hsieh, 2012 ; Pestana et al. , 2020 ), as well as the importance of DIs for visitor satisfaction ( Naidoo et al. , 2015 ).

4.3.1 Verification of multigroup effect.

In this study, a multigroup analysis was conducted through AMOS to examine distinct influences of tourist gender on the relationships among proposed constructs. According to the method proposed by Matsuno and Mentzer (2012) , first, it is important to estimate the fit indicators of each multigroup. The next crucial step is to compare the path coefficient between the constrained model and the unconstrained model. Finally, computing the critical ratio for pair comparisons between two groups is indispensable to recognize the different effect levels of gender on proposed relationships.

According to Hair et al. (1998) , it is essential to check whether each group can attain an adequate fit separately by comparing the fit indicators of the male group ( N  = 105) with the female group ( N  = 277). The fit indices of the male tourist group were as follows: relative chi-square = 585.286 ( p  = 0.00, df = 244); CFI = 0.940; TLI = 0.932; GFI = 0.886; RMSEA = 0.061. The fitness of the female tourist group was relative chi-square = 503.146 ( p  = 0.000, df = 244), IFI = 0.933, TLI = 0.924, CFI = 0.933, RMSEA = 0.062. The results showed a good fit indicator.

One of the results of multigroup factor analysis is the manifestation of significant chi-square ( χ 2 = 930.357; p  < 0.001; df = 507) in the measurement weights model and also a significant chi-square ( χ 2 = 901.102; p  < 0.001; df = 488) in the unconstrained model. The fit of the former model was detected to be more powerful than that of the latter model (difference = 29.255) with a p -value of 0.062.

The critical ratio for the groups’ pair comparisons was tested to determine the variation between groups and identify the considerably different pairs. The result is presented in Table 5 below.

Two out of six hypotheses were found to be influenced by tourists’ gender as their absolute values of z -score were higher than the critical of ±1.65, which was proposed by Bollen (1990) . For the relationship between EE and SAT where female tourists yielded higher coefficients ( β = 0.182) than the male tourists ( β = −0.063), the difference is significant ( z -score = 2.4112 > ±1.96, p  < 0.05), which reveals that the female tourists’ EE factor accounts for more influence than the male tourists on their satisfaction level. Similarly, for the relationship between SAT and WOM intentions where female tourists also yielded higher coefficients ( β = 0.165) than male tourists ( β = 0.052), the difference is significant ( z -score = 1.656 > ±1.65, p  < 0.1), which demonstrates that the female tourists’ satisfaction accounts for more influence than the male tourists on the level of their WOM. In other words, the results show that gender differences have an influence on EE, satisfaction level and WOM. In particular, female experiences created during interactions with locals and with services have a stronger impact on their moods, stimulating their emotions and feelings more than men’s. Finally, there is no significant difference detected for the remaining relationships between the two tourist groups, male and female tourists.

5. Conclusion

Recent research efforts have shown a strong interest in exploring the role of experiences in enhancing satisfaction and promoting behavioral intentions in the tourism context ( Maroofi and Dehghan, 2012 ). Variety in choice of destinations and reasonable transportation costs has created favorable conditions for travelers, but there is also stronger competition among destination managers. A growing number of tourists look for services that offer not only new, pleasurable and memorable experiences but also unique ones. Therefore, they increasingly appreciate the role of different EEs rooted in their interactions with local residents and other tourists. However, previous studies seem to ignore this factor in the ecotourism context.

The results show that providing positive EEs to tourists during their journey is one of the most important premises in determining the level of SAT in ecotourism. These provide more evidence supporting the results in the marketing literature ( Walsh et al. , 2011 ), tourism context ( Pestana et al. , 2020 ; San Martín et al. , 2019 ; Maroofi, and Dehghan, 2012 ) and are in accordance with the results explored by Roseta et al. (2020) in an ecotourism destination context. Moreover, the products of travel services are intangible, which results in the consumption process of producing recollections, memories and experiences. Therefore, we expect that, in addition to the efforts of the service provider, the interactive participation of tourists will create high self-relevance, leading to high cohesion and future behavioral intentions.

The findings also confirm that tourists’ perception of the DI and the different experience value of the ecotourism destination influences their satisfaction and behavioral intention. Further, EE has more of an influence than DI on tourists’ satisfaction, which in turn has more influence on RI than WOM recommendation. Therefore, it is expected that once tourists are satisfied with the travel service provider, they will share their unique and interesting experiences. Moreover, they can recommend the destination to their relatives and friends and post positive comments on that destination’s website. This will stimulate the RI of many potential customers, especially tourism enthusiasts, but the restrictive measures related to the COVID-19 pandemic have prevented them from doing so.

Contrary to proposals of Swanson and Hsu (2009) and Yang (2017) who proposed that customer satisfaction does not guarantee WOM generation, the current research study indicates the positive relationships between satisfaction and WOM and are in line with the research results of Coban (2012) and Pestana et al. (2020) . This is because of, within the ecotourism context, a sense of warmth created by the relationships and interactions between tourists and residents, and as this also reinforces tourists’ satisfaction, they will convey that sense to others. Therefore, this study has provided more empirical evidence that a destination that was developed on existing resources will create services that are difficult to imitate and which provide sustainable tourist value. This in turn leads to the creation of unique and different experiences for tourists, thereby increasing the competitive advantage for this destination.

Regarding the different effects of gender on proposed relationships, the results show that female tourists’ EE factor accounts for more influence than the male tourists on their satisfaction level. Similarly, the female tourists’ satisfaction accounts for more influence than male tourists on RIs. Therefore, it is argued that tourists’ interactions with locals and with the different-replacement services have created stronger EEs in the minds of female visitors than in male ones, pleasing them so much that they are more willing to revisit the destination than males.

6. Implication and limitations

6.1 implication.

Some implications can be provided based on the results of this study that contribute to improving the success rate for consolidating and enhancing the tourist–destination relationship in the ecotourism context in Vietnam. Building a dependable model that can explain the effects of certain factors on satisfaction or dissatisfaction levels and future behavioral intentions of tourists is one of the important research objectives of the current study.

EE and destination are two crucial factors that predict the level of satisfaction and behavioral intentions regarding a specific service. It is recommended that eco-destination managers (e.g. local people) should be actively creative to make a difference in the service process. This will make for an engaging and exciting experience for tourists, leading to enhanced satisfaction and behavioral intentions. While various methods may be controversial, one may initiate unique and difficult-replacement service strategies to improve tourists’ perceptions of socially responsible value. Sometimes, making a difference in the service process comes from warm behavior or emotions, such as public environmental protection consciousness or green product/service use, and it also contributes to enhancing profound EE values for tourists.

However, with the current pandemic situation, visitors’ EE depends not only on their experience in the interactive process with the available landscapes of the destination but also on the thoughtful preparation at destinations, creating a sense of security and peace of mind. More importantly, destination managers also need to be more active in promoting communication, expanding tourism markets to areas less affected by the disease, supporting international visitors. Destination managers can also propose to the government that they are responsible for travelers who have a health certificate from their country of origin before entering Vietnam. Further, a link between destinations in the same area is necessary to create maximum enjoyment for visitors and to facilitate ease of control of their routes and health situation. Also, they need to make the most of the government’s tourism stimulus policies to assist tourists in reducing the costs of sightseeing, travel and shopping. All of this will create experiences that are memorable and completely different for visitors. In addition, Vietnam has emerged as a safe destination after the COVID-19 pandemic, which will enable destination managers to more easily introduce new services to tourists.

The empirical results of the study show that visitor satisfaction is one of the most important factors that determine the level of WOM, and the main factor leading to this relationship is the provision of different experiences. This significant finding implies that providing positive experiences for visitors is the basis of driving positive WOM intentions, thereby strengthening long-term relationships with old customers and attracting new customers. However, in addition to traditional WOM, online WOM is becoming an effective marketing tool for businesses as it becomes more influential owing to its convenience, speed and its nonattendance of face-to-face human pressure ( Phelps et al. , 2004 ). In addition, with the current situation of COVID 19, when online travel is becoming an effective form of entertainment, an interesting channel for searching for information and knowledge to give ideas, planning to explore new lands after the COVID-19 epidemic is over and the application of information technology promoting services very necessary for the business strategy of each enterprise. Online booking has now become the standard for the global tourism industry. All over the world, tourists are primarily using websites for purchasing flights, making hotel reservations, interacting with customer service and addressing other billing matters ( Standing et al. , 2014 ). Therefore, in the ecotourism context, destination managers need to understand the important role of modern technology, along with highly interactive physical-virtual connections forming novel types of hybrid experiences ( Flavián et al. , 2019a ). By uploading interesting stories about destination, managers can also stimulate positive emotions of tourists helping themselves achieve better findings in their relationships with their customers ( Casaló et al. , 2018 ). On the other hand, destination managers should use more social media networking sites to reinforce and enhance a positive image in the minds of customers. This is greatly because of the presence of the many high-profile social influencers that have become trusted sources of information and advice to potential travelers in the online sector ( Casaló et al. , 2009 , 2020) and the impressions, opinions and reviews shared on social media have a strong impact of the mindset of the future tourist or potential customer ( Casaló et al. , 2015 ). Further, paying attention to customer feedback is also a service personalization method which will create a good impression in the minds of customers, resulting in an increasing number of positive reviews and enhancing the sharing of website links from which to optimize the search engine optimization of the business’s website ( Quynh et al. , 2020b ). In short, ecotourism destination managers need to keep up with the current trends in technology to spread their destination widely.

In addition to the micro values that ecotourism offers to tourists and residents, greater economic values can be obtained. The ecotourism model contributes to improving the value chain of local products, thereby contributing to increasing incomes for people, opening a new tourism business model – a green tourism model combining cultural experiential tourism – and especially reducing the pressure for the Hoi An Ancient Town. Hence, to attain such values, it is essential to enhance positive images and generate different experiences (formed during the process of enjoying a service) to ensure that the tourist achieves the expected emotion.

6.2 Limitations

Besides the research contributions, some limitations still exist. Although DI is a multidimensional and complex concept ( Zhang et al. , 2014 ), the present research has not estimated the influence of each dimension of DI on its outcome factors. In the tourism context, past experiences are against present EEs at the destination ( Yoon and Uysal, 2005 ). Therefore, it is expected that future conceptual models could solve these limitations by integrating these two factors into a new model to evaluate their effect on tourists’ satisfaction and future behavioral intentions. An additional obstacle to the clarity of the data provided by the research is the small sample size of tourists that participated in the study compared to the total amount of tourists present in the area. The biggest factor affecting tourist participation numbers is the feeling of the inconvenience they feel when surveyed. The tourists felt as if their time was being wasted when answering the questions asked by the researcher. Therefore, it is important to investigate further with a larger and more geographically diverse sample to enhance the generality of the proposed model. Likewise, it would be important to emphasize that the study has been conducted in a specific geographical context with different particularities. Therefore, future studies should contrast this model for other tourist destinations and cultural contexts. Finally, the findings of this study will contribute to extending the literature on EE and behavioral intentions in a general tourism context – in particular, ecotourism.

emotional experience tourism

Proposed conceptual framework

emotional experience tourism

Results of hypotheses test

Sample demographic characteristics

CFAs’ results within the five latent factors

Discriminant validity of constructs

Hypotheses verification result

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to express our special thanks to the SJM-ESIC editor and the anonymous reviewers for their constructive reflections and comments to enable the publication of this paper.

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Design Science in Tourism pp 31–40 Cite as

Emotions in Tourism: From Exploration to Design

  • Serena Volo 5  
  • First Online: 05 October 2016

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Part of the Tourism on the Verge book series (TV)

In the era of value co-creation, meaningful tourists’ experiences are the result of individuals participating in the creative process. The emotions that tourists raise during their vacation have a pivotal role in their final cognitive evaluations and behavioral responses: only truly personalized and unique co-creation experiences are going to thrive in the competitive marketplace. This study reviews the literature on emotion focusing on its nature, breath, depth and intensity and discusses them within the tourism experiences framework to conclude by outlining the relevant connections to tourism experience design. Implications and suggestions for future theoretical and empirical studies are then discussed.

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Traveling tends to magnify all human emotions Peter Hoeg

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Volo, S. (2017). Emotions in Tourism: From Exploration to Design. In: Fesenmaier, D., Xiang, Z. (eds) Design Science in Tourism. Tourism on the Verge. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-42773-7_3

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As over-tourism grows, are there places on Earth we should be barred from visiting?

News Ticker

US President Joe Biden delivers the annual State of the Union address

Analysis As over-tourism grows, are there places on Earth we should be barred from visiting?

An aerial shot of Lake Malbena, half in sunlight, half in shade. A beautiful still lake surrounded by green forests.

In 1982, UNESCO declared 1.6 million hectares of Tasmanian temperate wilderness a World Heritage site of "outstanding significance", deserving of careful protection.

Six years later, this declaration was extended like a shield over the Walls of Jerusalem National Park, a plateau of alpine lakes, dolerite monoliths given names such as Solomon's Throne and King David's Peak, and 1,000-year-old pencil pines that stand, arthritic and wise, like guardians of a lost age. It is truly one of the world's most pristine wild places.

Soon, Tanya Plibersek must decide whether to allow the construction of an eco-resort in the middle of it.

The proposal — four luxury "pods" on a remote island at the centre of Lake Malbena, with a helicopter landing pad nearby — has been a lightning rod of controversy ever since it was proposed some eight years ago.

This is in large part because the Tasmanian government, having explicitly sought out such ideas, quietly rezoned this part of the World Heritage area from “wilderness zone” to “self-reliant recreation zone”. A stampede of legal challenges followed. After a decision adverse to the project was issued by the full bench of the Tasmanian Supreme Court, the resort's backers withdrew their planning appeal and have since pinned their hopes on a federal approval smoothing the way.

The minister for the environment was due to issue her decision last November, but she has demurred; in lieu of a ruling, her department has asked for more information.

Proponents of the Halls Island resort say it will provide a financial boon to local authorities. They claim its operation may even be less bruising on the local environment than other accepted practices, not least bushwalking, which can carve boggy gutters through tracts of herbfield and alpine buttongrass. Nonetheless, the proposal has become another cause célèbre in the long-running battle to safeguard the Tasmanian bush.

The furore is an expression of growing anxiety about the Earth's shrinking wilderness, throwing light once more upon an increasingly urgent dilemma: Are there places on Earth we should be barred from visiting?

Gondolas pass under a packed bridge on a busy canal

Hotspots crumbling under footsteps

Humans are wreaking havoc on our most cherished places. Largely, this is the result of overpopulation and industrial excess. The planet is now in uncharted territory, having entered what some have dubbed the Anthropocene, in which we ourselves are the greatest determinant of its health and sickness. Tourism is a significant and growing contributor to the chaos.

Human-built environments are crumbling beneath a landslide of Instagrammers, Venice prominent among them . Sinking as it is, the crush of an expected 38 million tourists next year cannot help. Elsewhere, the fragile sandstone facades of Petra are being weathered by clammy hands seeking a connection with Nabataean prehistory. Even the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu, once protected by the four days of arduous walking needed to reach it, is now overrun by as many as 4,000 people a day.

Once-immaculate corners of the planet — from Mount Everest, whose flanks are now strewn with refuse, to the Galapagos Islands, which itself has become one of South America’s fastest-growing economies — are endangered and authorities are unsure what, if anything, should be done about it.

A Sherpa collects trash on Mount Everest.

Finding the right balance

In many places — including, significantly, Australia — there have been attempts to strike a balance between access to the wilds and their preservation.

Staying with Tasmania, for example, duckboards now protect kilometres of its more heavily trafficked walks, and boot-washing stations guard against the arrival of unwanted pathogens and invasive weeds.

The relatively new Three Capes Track at Port Arthur is a ticketed, expensive affair, its numbers controlled in much the same way as New Zealand limits access to its world-famous walk through Milford Sound. Sometimes, though, tickets and boardwalks just aren't enough.

By 2019, Iceland's verdant Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon had been so trampled underfoot by foreigners that the government took drastic action, closing it to tourists for all but five weeks a year. Soaring visitor numbers were in part attributed to a 2015 Justin Bieber music video, I'll Show You, which featured the hoodie-wearing pop star wandering along the edge of the plunging gorge. The clip has now been viewed more than half a billion times.

Iceland's decision was bold. Tourism makes up almost 40 per cent of the country's export revenue.

For three and a half years, Thailand shuttered access to Maya Bay after another household name, Leonardo DiCaprio, immortalised its turquoise waters in The Beach. After the film was released, as many as 5,000 tourists a day, surrounded by idling powerboats, were mingling in its shallows and decimating its coral. The bay has now reopened, but with strict rules: boats are banned, swimming is prohibited.

Some argue for even more extreme remedies. A few years ago, a subscriber to National Geographic wrote to the magazine, I think in jest, to argue that, "we should seal the whole planet off to humans". But there are some who advocate, in great sobriety, for the deliberate thinning of the world's population.

Such is the domination of the Homo sapien over everything in its path, that talk of radical measures was inevitable. It's hauntingly sad.

Indigenous cultures have understood this keenly for thousands of years, but even colonials have come, gradually, to see the wilderness not as a desolate nether world, but a place of longing; in the 19th century, Europeans began to describe it as the "romantically sublime". Rather than solely a source of fuel and goods, the natural world had its own inherent value. "The goal of life," wrote Joseph Campbell, "is to make your heartbeat match the beat of the universe, to match your nature with Nature."

Are there now too many of us seeking to follow his advice?

The last-chance express

Perversely, this creeping reality is driving a rush of "last-chance tourism", akin to pouring accelerant over the fire. Trapped in a prisoner's dilemma with 8 billion others, each of us fears missing out on a last moment alone with the virgin planet.

I am no disinterested party. None of us could be, but I do love being outside, the more remote, the better. I hesitate to write this, but perhaps there really is a list of places none of us should be allowed to go. At the top of that dreadful list might be Antarctica.

Once, this last untrampled continent saw only a handful of visitors, most of them scientists. In 2023, however, more than 100,000 tourists travelled to Antarctica, the vast majority on cruise liners. This boom is endangering an acutely fragile ecosystem, and not only because of the carbon footprint each visitor leaves behind. In 2007, the 2,300-tonne MS Explorer hit an iceberg and sank in Antarctic waters, leaving behind a kilometres-long oil slick and endangering thousands of penguins.

And yet, the lure of tourist dollars remains. In 2022, a new development called White Desert opened in Antarctica. Its luxury accommodation, gourmet food and adventure itinerary — helicopter rides, access to penguin colonies and "champagne picnics" — are all made possible thanks to the company's use of a private jet. The resort's tagline is "welcome back to the wilderness" and prices start at $105,000 per head.

Decision pending

Which brings us back to Halls Island, the rocky, rainforested sanctuary lying under the drumming fingers of Plibersek and her technocrats.

For decades the island, and its 67-year-old eucalyptus-and-corrugated iron bushwalkers hut, was reached only by the most intrepid adventurers, who trekked through kilometres of rugged terrain, then paddled or even swam to its shores.

Now Halls Island risks being transformed into a last-whiff consumer experience for the wealthy, who need only be able to hoist themselves into a helicopter.

It might be too radical to simply bar entry to these most precious places. But as they shrink, and as they grow in grandeur, shouldn't we make it a bit more difficult than that?

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The travellers 'giving back' to the people and places they visit through 'regenerative tourism'.

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Fly-in fly-out camping plan for national park back to seek fresh federal approval

An aeriel shot of Lake Malbena, half in sunlight, half in shade. A beautiful still lake surrouded by green forests.

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Thinking of visiting Russia? When visiting such a famous city, one must, of course, visit the iconic landmarks first. Moscow has plenty of those, most of them in the center of the city, which is very well-planned for tourists. Once you’ve seen the sights that are on most travelers’ lists, it’s time to branch out and visit some of the lesser-known sites, and there are some fascinating places to see and things to do.

I know this list is long, but I just couldn’t help myself. You probably won’t have the time to see them all. But that’s okay. Just scroll through the list and choose what sounds the most interesting to you. Where possible, make sure to book in advance, as things can get crowded, especially during high season.

Saint Basil's Cathedral in Moscow, Russia

1. The Red Square, Kremlin, And Surroundings

Red Square (Krasnya Ploshad) is the heart and soul of Russia, and where much of the country’s history has unfolded. This is the most famous landmark in Moscow and indeed the whole country, it’s an absolute must-do! The square is always full of people and has a rather festive atmosphere!

Saint Basil’s Cathedral

This is the famous church with the rainbow-colored, onion-domed roof. The cathedral was commissioned in the 1500s by Ivan the Terrible and according to legend, the Tsar thought it was so beautiful, that he ordered that the architect’s eyes be cut out afterward, so he could never build anything more beautiful! He wasn’t called Ivan the Terrible for no reason!

Lenin’s Mausoleum

The “love-it-or-hate-it” of tourist attractions in Russia. A glass sarcophagus containing the embalmed body of Russian revolutionary, Vladimir Lenin. It may seem a bit bizarre to display the mummy of a person, but it has been there for almost half a century and the 2.5 million visitors who come each year, clearly feel the queuing and thorough body search are worth it, to be in Lenin’s presence.

Pro Tip: no photos and no loud talking are allowed inside the Mausoleum.

Eternal Flame

There is an Eternal Flame in honor of an unknown soldier on the left side of Red Square. The hourly changing of the guards is worth seeing.

The Kremlin is the official residence of the Russian president. You can see it from the outside, or you can take an excursion to one of the museums located inside. This is the biggest active fortress in Europe, and holds a week’s worth of attractions! Once behind the 7,332-feet of walls, there are five squares, four cathedrals, 20 towers, various museums, and the world’s largest bell and cannon to see. Worth a special mention is the Armory Chamber that houses a collection of the famous Faberge Eggs.

Pro Tip: You can only go inside the Kremlin if you are part of a tourist group.

Interior of the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscos

2. Bolshoi Theatre

Bolshoi Theatre translates to “The Big Theatre” in Russian, and the building is home to both the Bolshoi Ballet and Bolshoi Opera — among the oldest and most famous ballet and opera companies in the world.

Pro Tip: It’s hard to get an inexpensive ticket, so if you’re reading well in advance of going to Moscow then try buying tickets on the official website . Last-minute tickets cost around $250 per person. If this is out of your budget, about an hour before a performance, you can try buying a ticket at the entrance from a reseller. Most can speak enough English to negotiate the price.

Tour the Bolshoi Theatre: You can take a group guided tour of the Bolshoi Theatre which focuses on the history and architecture of the theatre and behind the scenes. There’s an English language tour that lasts 2 hours and costs around $300 for a group of up to six.

GUM, a popular department store in Moscow

3. Luxury Shopping At GUM And TSUM

Russia’s main department store, GUM, has a stunning interior that is home to over 100 high-end boutiques, selling a variety of brands: from luxurious Dior to the more affordable Zara. Even if shopping is not on your Moscow to-do list GUM is still worth a visit; the glass-roofed arcade faces Red Square and offers a variety of classy eateries. TSUM, one of the biggest luxury malls in town, is right behind the Bolshoi and GUM. It’s an imposing building with lots of history, and worth a visit just for its design and its glass roof.

Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow

4. Christ The Savior Cathedral

This is one of Russia’s most visited cathedrals and is a newer addition to the gorgeous array of Muscovite cathedrals, but don’t let its young age fool you. After perestroika, in the early 90s, the revived Russian Orthodox Church was given permission to build a cathedral on this site. It did the location honors and built the largest temple of the Christian Orthodox Church. The façade is as grand as you’d expect, but it’s the inside that will mesmerize you, with its domes, gold, gorgeous paintings, and decor!

The cathedral is located just a few hundred feet away from the Kremlin and was the site of the infamous Pussy Riot protest against Putin back in 2012.

Pro Tip: Bring a shawl to cover your hair as is the local custom.

Gates at Gorky Park in Moscow

5. Gorky Park

Moscow’s premier green space, Gorky Park (Park Gor’kogo) is the city’s biggest and most famous park. There is entertainment on offer here for every taste, from outdoor dancing sessions to yoga classes, volleyball, ping-pong, rollerblading, and bike and boat rental in summer. In winter, half the park turns into a huge ice skating rink. Gorky Park is also home to an open-air movie theater and the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art. There is also Muzeon Art Park, a dynamic contemporary space with a unique collection of 700 sculptures. It is located right in front of Gorky Park.

6. Sparrow Hills Park

If you take a walk from Gorky Park, along the Moscow River embankment, you’ll end up in the city’s other legendary park, Sparrow Hills. Although the park doesn’t offer as many activities as its hip neighbor, it has a great panoramic view of the city

Pro Tip: You can take a free walking tour to all of the above attractions with an English-speaking guide.

River cruise in Moscow

7. River Cruising

One of the best ways to experience Moscow, and see all the famous landmarks, but from a different angle, is from the Moscow River. Take a river cruise. Avoid the tourist crowds. There are little nameless old boats that do the cruise, but if you are looking for a more luxurious experience take the Radisson Blu cruise and enjoy the sights with some good food and a glass of wine.

Moscow Metro station

8. Metro Hopping

Inaugurated in the 1930s, the Moscow Metro system is one of the oldest and most beautiful in the world. Started in Stalinist times, each station is a work of art in its own right. I’d recommend touring the stations between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. This way, you’ll be able to properly see it without the crowds. Ideally, I’d recommend taking a tour with a knowledgeable guide with GuruWalk, who will tell you stories of forgotten stations and how the history of the country is interconnected with the metro development. If going by yourself, then I definitely recommend checking out: Mayakovskaya, Ploschad Revolutsii, Kievskaya, Kropotkinskaya, Kurskaya, and Novoslobodskaya stations.

Visit the free Moscow Metro Museum: For real train enthusiasts, located in the southern vestibule of Sportivnaya station is a small free museum. Here you can take a peek into the driver’s cabin, see a collection of metro tokens from different cities, and see different models of a turnstile, traffic lights, escalator, and more.

Moscow State University at dusk

9. Moscow State University View

In his effort to create a grander Moscow, Stalin had seven skyscrapers built in different parts of town; they’re called the Seven Sisters. The largest of these buildings and the one with the best view is the main building of the Moscow State University. Although this is a little outside the city center, the view is more than worth it.

Izmailovsky Market in Moscow, Russia

10. Izmailovsky Market

Mostly known for the city’s largest flea market, the district of Izmaylovo is home to a maze of shops where you can get just about anything, from artisan crafts to traditional fur hats, handcrafted jewelry, fascinating Soviet memorabilia, and antiquities. It’s also one of Moscow’s largest green spaces. There are often no price tags, so be prepared to haggle a bit. Head to one of the market cafes for a warming mulled wine before continuing your shopping spree.

The History of Vodka Museum is found here, and the museum’s restaurant is the perfect place to sample various brands of the national drink.

Once you’ve covered the more touristy spots, Moscow still has plenty to offer, and the places below will also be full of locals! So for some local vibes, I would strongly recommend the spots below!

The skyscrapers of Moscow City

11. Moscow City

With a completely different vibe, Moscow City (also referred to as Moscow International Business Center) is like a mini Dubai, with lots of impressive tall glass buildings. Here is where you’ll find the best rooftops in towns, like Ruski Restaurant, the highest restaurant both in Moscow City and in Europe. Moscow City is great for crowd-free shopping and the best panoramic views of the city.

Art in the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow

12. Tretyakov Gallery

Tretyakov Gallery started as the private collection of the Tretyakov brothers, who were 19th-century philanthropists. They gave their private collection to the government after their deaths. If there is just one museum you visit in Moscow, I recommend this one!

Tsaritsyno Museum Reserve, former residence of Catherine the Great

13. Tsaritsyno Museum-Reserve

Tsaritsyno was a residence of Catherine the Great more than two centuries ago. It became derelict during the Soviet era but has now been fully renovated. With its opulently decorated buildings, gardens, meadows, and forests, Tsaritsyno Park is the perfect place for a green respite in Moscow.

Kolomenskoye Museum-Reserve in Moscow

14. Kolomenskoye

A 10-minute metro ride from the city center is Kolomenskoe Museum-Reserve, where you can get an idea of what Russia looked like 200 years ago. You’ll find ancient churches (one dating back to the 16th century), the oldest garden in Moscow, and the wonderful fairytale wooden palace of Tsar Alexey Mikhailovich, father of Peter the Great.

Ostankino TV Tower in Moscow at night

15. Ostankino TV Tower

Built in 1967, Ostankino TV Tower was the tallest free-standing construction in the world at the time, it’s still the 8th tallest building in the world and the highest in Europe. It’s also the best observation deck, with a glass floor and 360-degree views. The speedy elevators take you 1,105 feet in next to no time.

Pro Tip: You need to book in advance; entrance is based on specific ticket times and the capacity is limited and only a certain number of tourists are allowed per day. Don’t forget your passport, you’ll need it to get through security.

The floating bridge of Zaryadye Park in Moscow

16. Zaryadye Park

Zaryadye is a newly opened, landscaped urban park so new you won’t find it in a lot of tour guides. The park is near Red Square and is divided into four climatic zones: forest, steppe, tundra, and floodplains, depicting the variety of climatic zones in Russia.

These last three suggestions are a little quirky, but all are really worth checking out.

17. Museum Of Soviet Arcade Games

Release your inner child playing on 66 arcade machines from the Soviet era! What a great way to spend a couple of hours when tired of visiting museums and palaces. The staff speaks excellent English and are happy to explain how the games work.

The rooftops of Moscow, Russia

18. Moscow Rooftop Tour

Take a 1-hour private Moscow rooftop tour with an experienced roofer. I can just about guarantee none of your friends will be able to say they’ve done it! For your comfort, I recommend wearing comfortable shoes. Take your camera, there are some amazing photo opportunities out there!

A pool at Sanduny Banya in Moscow

19. Sanduny Banya

This classical Russian bathhouse opened its doors in 1808 and is famous for combining traditional Russian banya services with luxurious interiors and service. If you enjoy spas and saunas, then you should experience a Russian bathhouse at least once in your life! Go with an open mind and hire a specialist to steam you as it’s meant to be done — by being beaten repeatedly with a besom (a leafy branch)! This is said to improve circulation, but is best done by a professional!

So there you have my list of things to do in Moscow. I could have gone on and on and on, but I didn’t want to try your patience! There are so many things to do in this vibrant city that you’ll definitely need to allocate several days for exploring.

Here are some other reasons to visit Moscow and Russia:

  • 7 Reasons To Put Moscow On Your Travel Bucket List
  • Russia 30 Years (And 30 Pounds) Ago
  • Massive Mysterious Craters Appearing Again In Siberia

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Born and raised in Sydney, Australia, before moving to Africa at the age of 21, Sarah Kingdom is a mountain climber and guide, traveler, yoga teacher, trail runner, and mother of two. When she is not climbing or traveling she lives on a cattle ranch in central Zambia. She guides and runs trips regularly in India, Nepal, Tibet, Russia, and Ethiopia, taking climbers up Tanzania’s Mount Kilimanjaro numerous times a year.

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Discover Moscow: the best Moscow has to offer

A city for everyone, a unique experience for each person

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Moscow is a megacity with a distinct character, rich history, and a multitude of possibilities. Any time, any day, the city is always full of surprises.

Discover Moscow: the best Moscow has to offer. A city for everyone, a unique experience for each person. The website offers information on hundreds of places for you to visit: museums, theaters, parks, restaurants, cafés, shopping malls, and various tourist attractions, as well as articles on current events, recommendations, news reports, and tips on how to plan your trip and itinerary and not miss out on anything interesting. It provides plenty of information about the city so you can find what interests you most.

The project was created by the Moscow City Tourism Committee. The website is available in Russian, English, and Chinese.

Discover Moscow has a section titled #MoscowWithYou, which was created in collaboration with the city's cultural venues. It features dozens of online exhibitions, virtual tours, and interviews with the city's heroes.

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Your 2024 Guide to Covid Symptoms and Treatment

Rest, fluids and medications are your friends.

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A woman laying in bed grabs a tissue from a box on her bedside table.

By Dana G. Smith

We’re four years into the pandemic, and by this point, most Americans have had Covid at least once. But when the virus comes for us (again), it can still feel just as alarming as your first bout.

Here’s a guide to what Covid looks like now and how to treat it.

The most common Covid symptoms haven’t changed much since the start of the pandemic, and they remain consistent for the latest dominant variant, JN.1 , said Dr. Soniya Gandhi, the associate chief medical officer at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. They include fatigue, sore throat, congestion, runny nose, headache, body aches and cough.

“All or any of those in isolation can still be Covid,” Dr. Gandhi said.

Some people may develop conjunctivitis, also known as pink eye, or experience gastrointestinal issues, like nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, but those symptoms are rarer. Anecdotally, experts said, one of the most notable symptoms early in the pandemic — the loss of taste and smell — also appears to be less common these days.

“The biggest change is that people are having milder symptoms overall,” said Dr. Amanda Casto, an acting assistant professor of allergy and infectious diseases at the University of Washington. That’s because virtually everyone has some pre-existing immunity from vaccines, a prior infection or both.

While Covid is mild for most people, it can be dangerous and even fatal for some. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicated that, as of mid-February, more than 21,000 people were hospitalized with Covid, and there had been roughly 10,000 Covid-related deaths in 2024.

Severe illness is a lot less prevalent now than during the first few years of the pandemic, “but we’re still seeing it,” said Dr. Stuart Ray, a professor in the division of infectious diseases at Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore. The people who are getting sickest tend to be those with compromised immune systems and underlying health conditions, such as heart disease, diabetes or lung problems. Adults over age 65 are also at higher risk for severe infections.

Since mild Covid can look like a cold or the flu, it’s important to test yourself if you have symptoms or have had a known exposure, Dr. Gandhi said. Knowing what you have can affect your treatment and how long you isolate from others.

On March 1, the C.D.C. updated its guidance for preventing the spread of Covid and other respiratory viruses. The agency recommended that people isolate until their symptoms have started to improve and they have been fever-free for at least 24 hours. The agency acknowledged that people may still be contagious at this point and should continue to take precautions, like masking and physical distancing, for the next five days.

The antiviral pill Paxlovid is very effective against severe Covid, reducing the risk of death by 73 percent if taken within the first five days of an infection, according to a preliminary study conducted by the National Institutes of Health. Experts urged people who are high-risk to contact their doctors about getting a prescription as soon as they have symptoms or test positive.

“If you’re elderly or you have comorbidities, before you even get worse, you should already seek medical care,” said Dr. Bernard Camins, the medical director for infection prevention at the Mount Sinai Health System in New York. “Your health care provider will then evaluate you if you’re a candidate for antivirals.”

Paxlovid isn’t recommended for everyone. It can interact with several medications, including common ones used to lower blood pressure or prevent blood clots, and it’s also not advised for people with severe kidney disease. If you can’t take Paxlovid, the drug remdesivir could be an option, but it has to be delivered intravenously, so it’s less convenient and harder to obtain.

Paxlovid also doesn’t appear to provide much benefit to young, healthy adults whose risk of severe infection is low, so it isn’t broadly recommended for those groups.

For most people, Covid symptoms can be managed at home and treated like any other respiratory illness, with an emphasis on rest and staying hydrated. “If you have congestion or cough, you’re losing more fluids than you normally would,” Dr. Casto said. “So I would definitely recommend that people stay on top of fluid.”

If you have a fever or body aches, take acetaminophen (Tylenol) or ibuprofen (Advil or Motrin). You can also take over-the-counter cold and flu medicines with decongestants or cough suppressants, though the experts didn’t recommend them strongly because they don’t work for everybody and can cause drowsiness.

When to seek medical care

If you’re experiencing shortness of breath — meaning you can’t catch your breath or are taking quick and shallow breaths — it’s important to seek medical attention right away.

“The thing that I worry most about is the breathing,” Dr. Casto said. “That’s the most concerning sign, because people can get” worse really quickly. If you’re having trouble breathing, she advised going to the emergency room rather than to your doctor or an urgent care clinic. Experts also said you should see a provider if you experience confusion or chest pain.

If your symptoms don’t improve after several days, or improve and then regress, it could be a sign you have a secondary infection like pneumonia, Dr. Casto said. In that case, or if you’re concerned about your symptoms at all, don’t hesitate to call your doctor.

Dana G. Smith is a Times reporter covering personal health, particularly aging and brain health. More about Dana G. Smith

Tourist couple alleges gang rape in India, sparking outrage and the arrests of 3 men

A tourist has alleged she was gang-raped and her partner was attacked while camping in India , sparking outrage and the arrests of three male suspects.

The woman, who has Brazilian-Spanish dual nationality, shared her account of the incident on Instagram, where the couple has drawn a large following tracking their motorcycle tour of Asia.

Police in India's eastern state of Jharkhand, where the alleged incident took place, said that three men had been arrested and that they were hunting for four more.

The couple looked to have been beaten up when local police found them late Friday by a roadside, Pitamber Singh Kherwar, superintendent of police in the state's Dumka district, told reporters Sunday.

“Since the victims were speaking in Spanish and English, our police officers could not properly understand what they were saying, but it looked like they were injured,” he said. 

Kherwar said the couple, whose identities were not disclosed, were taken to a nearby hospital where doctors said the woman had been raped.

The three suspects were arrested Sunday, Kherwar said, adding that investigators had identified the four other men and they would be arrested “very soon.”

“Our priority is to get them maximum punishment so it is never repeated,” he added. Kherwar also said the couple will get compensation of up to $12,000. 

The Indian National Commission for Women asked the police to charge those accused with gang rape, which is punishable by at least 20 years in prison, it said in a post on X on Saturday.

'Something has happened to us'

“Something has happened to us that we would not wish on anyone,” the woman, who appeared with bruises on her face, said through tears in a video posted on her Instagram page, which has almost half a million followers.

“Seven men have raped me, they have beaten us and robbed us,” she said, according to an accompanying caption in English. The video is no longer available.

In a separate video posted Sunday on their joint Instagram page, which has over 250,000 followers, the couple said that “the police are doing everything possible to catch them. They already know who they are.”

They added: “We ask that justice be done, not only for us but also for all the other women and girls who have gone through this.”

In an interview with the Spanish TV channel Antena 3, the couple said the men raped the woman and hit her partner repeatedly. 

“They raped me, they took turns while some watched and they stayed like that for about two hours,” the woman said in the interview, adding that they had decided to camp in the town since they found no hotels to stay at overnight.

NBC News is not naming the couple due to laws in India that prevent disclosing the identities of sexual assault victims. NBC News has reached out to the couple for comment.

The woman was on a motorbike trip with her Spanish partner, the Brazilian Embassy in New Delhi told NBC News in a statement, saying it had registered its “strong repudiation of the barbaric crime against the couple.”

They are being “looked after by the Indian emergency services,” the statement added.

The Spanish foreign ministry told NBC News that its embassy in New Delhi had been in contact with the couple to provide any consular assistance. 

The couple had been documenting their trip to more than 200,000 followers on their joint Instagram account, with recent posts from neighboring Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

In their post on Sunday, they added that they had camped in 66 countries, many of which are considered “dangerous.”

“This can happen to any traveler, anyone,” they said.

Prominent Indian celebrities reacted to the incident, calling for the seven suspects to be swiftly apprehended. It was a “shameful act that we MUST show will not be tolerated,” Emmy winner and comedian Vir Das said in a post on X on Sunday.

Despite stringent laws, India has long struggled to tackle male violence against women.

An average of 86 rape cases were registered every day in the country in 2022, according to a report by the National Crime Records Bureau . However, many women still do not report cases of sexual violence to the authorities, especially in rural areas, where a stigma persists that such a disclosure may affect a family's social standing.

In 2013, a year after the  fatal gang rape  of a young woman in the capital, New Delhi, authorities doubled the prison term for rapists to 20 years, criminalized acts such as stalking and voyeurism and lowered the age at which a person can be tried as an adult from 18 to 16.

But under current Indian laws, marital rape is still not a crime as long as the woman is above the age of 18.

Mithil Aggarwal is a Hong Kong-based reporter/producer for NBC News.

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  5. (PDF) Emotional Intelligence in Tourism and Hospitality

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  6. (PDF) Awe: An Important Emotional Experience in Sustainable Tourism

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COMMENTS

  1. Emotions in tourist experiences: Advancing our conceptual, methodological and empirical understanding

    The papers address measurement issues as well as identifying antecedents and outcomes of tourist emotional experiences in a range of novel contexts. 2. The papers in this special issue. Whilst most previous research on tourist emotions has focused on positive feelings, such as joy, love and positive surprise, negative emotions are also possible ...

  2. The experience of emotion: Directions for tourism design

    Thus, tourism destinations should seek to fully engage with tourists in those environments that can foster emotional processes. Tourism experience designers should also consider fostering novelty and surprise in tourism environments as research demonstrates that they have significant effect on emotional and memorable tourism experiences (e.g ...

  3. The role of emotional experience and destination image on ecotourism

    2.2 Emotional experience. The tourist destination sector is a fully challenging and dynamic one. Therefore, it is believed that attention should be paid to tourists' different experiences because of the importance of those experiences in respect of their satisfaction and behavioral intentions (Yoon and Uysal, 2005; Maroofi and Dehghan, 2012).

  4. Emotions in Tourism: Theoretical Designs, Measurements, Analytics, and

    Tourism researchers tend to borrow and adapt emotion measures from psychology. Since these scales are not developed for tourism research, they unlikely capture the entire domain (type, nature, and intensity) of tourism-related emotions. Emotional experiences vary from one situation to another and are reliant on the measurement tool.

  5. Understanding the Relationships between Tourists' Emotional Experiences

    Birgit Muskat, PhD, is a senior lecturer at MCI Management Center Innsbruck, Austria.Her research concentrates on overlapping areas in management, and tourism and services. She is involved in several funded international research projects; her current research explores leadership, innovation, and knowledge transfer in the context of tourism, events, and services.

  6. A Theoretical Framework to Explain the Impact of Destination

    In particular, up to the present time, there is a very limited number of studies which empirically investigated the dimensions of tourists' emotional experience responses toward tourism destination, despite the fact that emotional responses of tourists toward their immediate environment have been recognized (Machleit & Eroglu, 2000) expect ...

  7. Emotions in Tourism: Theoretical Designs, Measurements, Analytics, and

    In tourism studies, self-reports remain the most popular method to capture emotional experiences (Li, Scott, and Walters 2015). Typically, respondents rate their emotional reactions to a stimulus. Self-reports effectively and effi-ciently capture emotional states (Parrott and Hertel 1999). Tourism scholars often borrow and adapt self-report emotion

  8. Emotions in Tourism: From Consumer Behavior to Destination ...

    In fact, emotion research in tourism was mostly borrowed from marketing studies, which limits its application mainly to customer satisfaction and customer loyalty issues. Little is known as yet about the complex nature of the emotion concept and the dynamic relationship between tourist experiences and emotional states.

  9. Emotions in tourist experiences: Advancing our conceptual

    "Emotions are core to tourism experiences'' [12] and it is this emotional connection they create with their guests that increases the value of the overall travel experience and creates a strong ...

  10. Emotions in Tourism: From Exploration to Design

    The recent interest in the contribution of emotions to tourism experiences is also well justified by the needs of the industry to use scholarly findings to better design services and products. Tourism experiences are a bundle of perceptual, cognitive and emotional aspects and tourists' behaviors are strictly influenced by them (Oh et al. 2007 ...

  11. Emotions in Tourism: From Exploration to Design

    Human emotions are an important part of the tourism process and play an essential and prominent role in framing memorable experiences (Li et al., 2015;Tung & Ritchie, 2011). Due to the complex ...

  12. (PDF) TOURISTS' EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCES AT TOURISM ...

    Thus, this study was conducted to identify the salient domains of emotional experiences remembered and recalled by tourists in the online social environments. Content analysis method was utilized ...

  13. The role of tourists' emotional experiences and satisfaction in

    Tourist experiences include satisfying and pleasurable emotions (Aho, 2001, Coghlan et al., 2012, Gnoth, 1997). Positive emotions are associated with memorable experiences ( Tung & Ritchie, 2011 ). However, the emotional content of destination experiences remains under-researched ( Hosany & Gilbert, 2010 ).

  14. Exploring the relationship between emotions and memorable tourism

    Next, the code system generated was used to analyse the effect of the emotional narration on the tourism experience. Moreover, the complexity of the narrations produced by participants was evaluated by computing the Gulpease index. The Gulpease index (Lucisano & Piemontese, 1988) measures the easiness of textual comprehension. Readability ...

  15. Full article: Tracing emotional responses to nature-based tourism

    Nature-based tourism campaigns. Ambler and Burne (Citation 1999) compared cognitive and affective advertising stimuli and demonstrated that ads with higher affective components yielded better recall and recognition.According to Van Raaij (Citation 1989), especially positive emotional reactions lead to further processing and learning about the benefits of the brand and, subsequently, to the ...

  16. Awe: An Important Emotional Experience in Sustainable Tourism

    Awe is one of the most anticipated emotional experiences for tourists [ 2 ]. Awe is a comprehensive feeling, including confused, exclaimed, fear, humility, and other complex emotions [ 3 ]. The awe emotion can be generated when individuals confront the natural wonders, the sacred religions, and other environments [ 3 ].

  17. PDF The Impact of Emotional Experience on Tourists Cultural Identity and

    beyond one's perception [19]. The emotional experience of happiness positively influences revisit intention [20]. Xu et al. concluded through an empirical study that both the natural and humanistic environments in the tourism context can induce tourists' positive emotional experience, and in terms of the intensity of induced emotional ...

  18. PDF Exploring the Relationship Between Tourists' Emotional Experience

    The Emotional Experience of a Tourism Destination Cohen and Areni (1991) defined emotions as "affective states characterized by episodes of intense feelings associated with a specific referent (e.g., person, object, event) that instigate specific response behaviors" (p.188). For instance,

  19. The 25 Travel Experiences You Must Have

    1. Taste Wood-Smoked Sorcery at Asador Etxebarri in Spain's Basque Country. Asador Etxebarri is located in the Basque village of Axpe, roughly half an hour's drive from Bilbao. Gunnar Knechtel ...

  20. Measuring Tourists' Emotional Experiences: Further Validation of the

    His main research interests lie at the intersection of marketing and tourism, focusing on tourist behavior and emotional experiences. Sameer's academic work is primarily grounded in survey research methods and multivariate modeling techniques. Girish Prayag, PhD, is a lecturer in marketing at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. His ...

  21. As over-tourism grows, are there places on Earth we should be barred

    Tourism makes up almost 40 per cent of the country's export revenue. ... Now Halls Island risks being transformed into a last-whiff consumer experience for the wealthy, who need only be able to ...

  22. Tourist's achievement emotions and memorable experience in visiting the

    This study attempted to investigate, through an emotional perspective, the concept of achievement within the context of tourism to focus more on the emotional facets of tourism experiences (de Coelho et al., 2018; Knobloch et al., 2014). The AE concept was applied to investigate tourists' experiences when visiting Middle East destinations.

  23. 19 Unique And Fabulous Experiences In Moscow

    5. Gorky Park. Moscow's premier green space, Gorky Park (Park Gor'kogo) is the city's biggest and most famous park. There is entertainment on offer here for every taste, from outdoor dancing sessions to yoga classes, volleyball, ping-pong, rollerblading, and bike and boat rental in summer.

  24. Is It Safe to Travel to Egypt? The Data—and Travelers—Say Yes

    Tourism in Egypt was roaring back with a vengeance in 2023: The land of the pharaohs welcomed 14.9 million international visitors throughout the year, a record number since the pro-democracy ...

  25. New DO-IT Organization Promotes Authentic Indigenous Tourism

    Once it's been formally created, Destination Original International Tourism (DO-IT) will focus on the development and marketing of truly authentic Indigenous tourism destinations across the world.

  26. PDF Exploring the Relationship Between Tourists' Emotional Experience

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  27. About

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