<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>In recent years, governments of developing countries have been much more active in destination management and development than they used to be in the past. However, the challenge many governments face is to determine an appropriate level of involvement. This study investigates the role government plays in tourism competitiveness by applying a panel data analysis to the Central American region. The results reveal that government plays an important role in tourism. The data provide evidence that a new theory may emerge as it pertains to tourism and developing countries. Furthermore, such discovery only reinforces the issue of free riders tourism faces and the role of ‘shadow’ economy in the Central American region.</abstract>

The Role of Government in Tourism: Linking Competitiveness, Freedom, and Developing Economies

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title> Geotourism is a new form of tourism based on the geological environment. Whilst ecotourism and biodiversity have been described in the academic literature for over thirty years, geotourism and its attendant concepts of geoheritage, geodiversity, geoconservation, and geotours , is relatively new. Geotourism is defined as tourism which focuses on an area’s geology and landscape as the basis of fostering sustainable tourism development. It begins with an understanding of the Abiotic (non-living) environment, to build greater awareness of the Biotic (living) environment of plants and animals as well as the Cultural environment of people, past and present. It is argued that geotourism offers a new form of sustainable tourism which is more holistic than previous niche forms of tourism.</abstract>

Global Geotourism – An Emerging Form of Sustainable Tourism

<abstract xml:lang="en"><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title> Visitor management is often too narrowly connected with mass/individual tourism in protected areas. Generally, visitor management can be used in any destination for mass and individual tourism also in connection with optimization of visitor flows, visitor concentration, and optimization of visitor impacts in a very broad sense. This paper focuses on the introduction of the theoretical concept of visitor management; it discusses different visitor management approaches and their principles, compares these approaches, and shortly describes typical visitor management tools. The discussion focuses on the appropriate use of chosen selected tools, mainly carrying capacity approaches, zoning and optimization of tourism infrastructure and monitoring, including tourism sustainability indicators. The computer simulation and prediction of qualitative and quantitative characteristics of the phenomena in destination is also shortly described. The typical application of visitor management in protected areas is described as a case study and a set of recommendations for visitor management are declared.</abstract>

Visitor management in protected areas

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title> The article briefly examines the relationship between geodiversity, geoheritage (represented by geosites and geomorphosites) and geotourism. It is obvious that geosites and geomorphosites represent a fundamental resource for geotourism. As geosites are defined as sites that present particular importance for the comprehension of the Earth history and bear mainly scientific values, geomorphosites concept is wider and includes also added values (e. g. cultural, aesthetic and economic). Therefore, for assessing the importance of the geological and geomorphological sites for geotourism purposes, the concept of geomorphosites is more appropriate. The article presents several assessment methods that represent a significant tool for geoconservation and geotourism purposes. The assessment is carried out from several perspectives with an emphasis on scientific, cultural and economic parameters of the sites. The results of the assessment can serve as a basis for appropriate use of geoheritage, its management and generally for identification of geotourism potential of the geological and geomorphological sites. To find out which method is suitable for geotourism purposes, it is necessary to take into account the definitions and principles of geotourism. Different assessment methods are analysed and discussed. Based on this, the proposal for criteria for geosite and geomorphosite assessment for geotourism purposes is presented.</abstract>

Geomorphosite assessment for geotourism purposes

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title> This study presents an interpretation system model of geoheritage to facilitate the understanding of geoscience knowledge by the common lay person. Interpretation system construction is crucial to geoparks and is a shared value. The improvement of the effectiveness of geoheritage interpretation is still under exploration. Therefore, the interpretation systems of two global geoparks in China are outlined and compared with the interpretation system in Zion National Park in the United States. From lessons and experiences, this paper suggests utilizing geotourism as a complete contextual communication system, in which a geopark (source) delivers information about its unique cultural and natural values to target tourists (receivers) through tourism activities (channels). The communication effect of geotourism is monitored by feedback from tourists through the post-travel surveys or activities. We expect that this model will provide a better interpretation of geoheritage with a new perspective.</abstract>

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Saint Louis University, St. Louis, MO, USA

School of Geography and Planning, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China

Interpretation of Geoheritage for Geotourism – a Comparison of Chinese geoparks and National Parks in the United States

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>Anthropogenic landforms (especially the mining landforms – quarries, pits, mines) have undoubtedly a great potential for the geotourism development. In addition, they are important from the geoconservation and geoeducation point of view as they allow to see the Earth-science features that would normally remain hidden (e.g., stratigraphic boundaries or soil profiles). However, the potential of these landforms in some case is not fully recognized and the sites themselves can even be endangered. The article presents guidelines for inventorying and assessment method for geotourism and geoeducational purposes of these specific landforms (respectively, the mining geosites and geomorphosites which are going to be used for geotourism and geoeducation) and gives an example from the area in which geotourism has not been fully developed yet (Červený kopec/Red Hill in Brno, Czech Republic).</abstract>

Mining Landforms: An Integrated Approach for Assessing the Geotourism and Geoeducational Potential

<abstract>
<title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
During the last three years, significant changes have occurred on the labour market. We focused our research on the development and current state of turnover in tourism, which over the past three years have gone through perhaps the most turbulent period in their existence - the period of restrictive measures to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 disease. The purpose of the research was to focus mainly on the hypothesis there is increasing tendency of turnover in this industry and on the hypothesis, that the priority in the reasons for turnover has changed. We analysed reasons according to employees with intention to point out on their quantification and qualitative definition and comparison with the current development. We chose a structured questionnaire as the research method, which we submitted to employees in the hotel industry who had terminated their employment in the touristic industry in 2022 – 2023 in the Slovak Republic. We expanded on the questionnaire method with a semi-structured and a free interview with managers of operations in the tourism industry. Obtained results are processed into statistical outputs and analysis focused on the reasons with the highest share of employee terminations. We compared our conclusions with previous published statistical findings and also specified some new conclusions that follow the current socio-economic situation. It can help management in tourism eliminate some working conditions that lead to increased employee turnover.
</abstract>

A Current View of the Causes of the Increase in Turnover in the Field of Tourism

<abstract>
<title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
In line with the concept of sustainable development, the paper deals with the issue of environmental education and training to increase the awareness of tourism participants of their own responsibility for the practical implementation of sustainable tourism. The aim is to map the behavior of tourism participants and to propose some sustainable behavior principles in the form of a miniguide. The motto of the miniguide is not to simply see travel as just fun, or passive source of information, but as an incentive to learn about nature, culture and customs of local people, to promote and deepen language and other skills, including active protection of the environment. The miniguide might also be an incentive to sustainable tourism development. An important aspect of putting the principles of sustainability into practice is to publish and disseminate these principles so that they become freely available to the general public. That may be through information materials, educational signs, social networks, etc. Spreading awareness of the need to protect nature and the countryside will help to make people aware of their own responsibility for our common future.
</abstract>

Environmental Education of Tourists for Sustainable Tourism Development

<abstract>
<title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
This study aimed to find out the effect of interpretive signs on visitors’ behaviour and satisfaction at Lekki Conservation Center, Lagos State. Direct observation and well-structured questionnaire; directed at 200 respondents were used to obtain primary data at the site. Data was analysed descriptively and inferentially. Results revealed different forms of interpretive signages available at the site as well as their location. Also, the visitors were aware of interpretive signages at the site, and they comply with these signages. Furthermore, results revealed the effect of interpretive signages on visitors’ behaviour which showed “The interpretive signages are helpful” had the highest mean value (4.52). There is significant relationship between the visitors’ awareness of interpretive signages and their compliance (r=0.404, P&lt;0.01)), satisfaction (r=0.335, P&lt;0.01) and revisit intention due to interpretive signages (r=0.220, P&lt;0.01). Thus, this study which is valid for domestic tourism concludes that interpretive signages have positive effect on visitors’ behaviour and satisfaction and should therefore be managed well at tourism destinations. Findings from this study will help tourism industry professionals in creating strategies for effective inclusion and management of interpretive signages at tourism sites.
</abstract>

Effectiveness of Interpretative Signs on Visitors’ Behaviour and Satisfaction at Lekki Conservation Center, Lagos State, Nigeria

<abstract>
<title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
Every region has its unique natural, cultural, and historical wealth, as well as infrastructure, a range of attractions, and business opportunities that can attract a large number of visitors. Developing the potential of tourism in regions is important for stimulating economic growth, job creation, and improving the quality of life for local residents. Its development in regions involves mapping and analyzing available resources, opportunities, and competitive environments. The purpose of this article is to quantify the level of regional tourism development, assess its potential in Slovak regions, and identify their current disparities. For the purposes of this study, we will evaluate the potential of Slovak tourism regions using commonly used indexes - indicators of tourism intensity. The results of the analyses have demonstrated significant disparities among the individual tourism regions. We see that the development in different tourism regions varies greatly, and in some cases, there are pronounced disparities in terms of their development, visitor interest intensity in each region, and the economic benefits of tourism in the regions. These findings have served as the basis for proposing solutions that address the development issues in regions through the impacts of tourism.
</abstract>

Identification of the Level of Development and the Current State of the Tourism in Slovak Regions

<abstract>
<title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
The paper contributes to the extensive knowledge on the impacts of high-speed transport systems on transport-related human behaviour. The paper presents the case of the Czech Republic – a small transit country in Central Europe where the government plans to build high-speed transport systems to improve transport connectivity within Europe. This step will certainly be met with a response. So, the aim of the paper is to find out how high-speed rail (HSR) influences tourism development in the Czech Republic. Therefore, the paper focuses on behaviour of travellers and analyses its intention to switch from a certain mode of transport to HSR. In order to predict future tourism development, determinants of transport mode choice are analysed and tested to learn more about travellers’ preferences and their potential change in their behaviour. The findings reveal that HSR would stimulate international tourism and for certain circumstances it would help to recover MICE tourism.
</abstract>

Future tourism development based on the knowledge of preferential choice of HSR

<abstract>
<title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
Chatbots are rapidly growing application area of conversational artificial intelligence. The aim of the paper is to explore the evaluation of user experience with chatbot applications in museums and galleries. Introduction to principles of chatbots, their creation and testing is provided. Methods of user experience evaluation are explained and the indicators that can be used to assess user experience with chatbots are listed. History and classification of museum chatbots is briefly summarized. A systematic review according to the PRISMA methodology was conducted to map the latest trends in museum chatbots’ development and namely to answer two research questions: (1) What chatbots have been developed for the needs of museums and galleries? and (2) Was the visitor experience with these chatbots evaluated? The research gap in measuring visitor experience with chatbots was identified.
</abstract>

Chatbots in Museums: Is Visitor Experience Measured?

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>Urban tourism has become a significant phenomenon of tourism over the last decade. the importance of urban tourism has grown mainly due to the development of transport and information technologies. rapid advancement of low cost airlines and reduction of administrative barriers owing to the expansion of the schengen area caused not only the development of a number of urban destinations, including Prague, but also the growth of new source markets. this paper compares the development of urban tourism in Prague with the situation in Vienna and Budapest in the last decade. the aim of the paper is to describe the main trends of tourism development and the geographic distribution of tourism in Prague in comparison with culturally and historically similar cities - Vienna and Budapest. the analysis shows high load of tourism in Prague and its strong concentration in the old city. this causes congestion in the city centre and an extrusion of residential functions by the functions of tourism. As a result, a tourism ghetto has been formed in the centre of Prague and the urban society has been increasingly dualized.</abstract>

Tourist Intensity in Capital Cities in Central Europe: Comparative Analysis of Tourism in Prague, Vienna and Budapest

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>Geotourism is becoming a well established form of tourism based on the geological environment. It offers a new form of sustainable tourism which is more holistic then previous niche forms of tourism. However, with more people than ever visiting natural areas worldwide, the cumulative impacts of visitors on geological sites is increasing. This paper surveys visitor impacts and site management at geological sites which are geotourism destinations. We describe geotourism which is the engine driving the core activities of conservation, education and sustainable development in geoparks. We then outline some lessons learned from management in dealing with visitor impacts at a heavily visited geopark in Taiwan, a volcano in Indonesia, and a coastal World Heritage site in England. The importance of education is emphasized for geo-climbing in Spain and all-terrain vehicles in Poland. A number of site management approaches are noted, including the importance of guiding as a management strategy as well as the value of a positive involvement by the local community. Finally, some examples are given of the risks associated with tourism activities in volcanic areas as well as related appropriate management activities.</abstract>

Geotourism Destinations – Visitor Impacts and Site Management Considerations

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>Acknowledging the significant advancement of social media, the role and impact of social media has been widely discussed in tourism research. As a result, it has become increasingly difficult to obtain an overview of the knowledge produced in relation to the topic. Review studies provide such overviews to guide future research efforts. This study reviews and analyses 152 tourism-related social media publications since 2008. Based on a qualitative systematic analysis of publications that address the topic from a consumer perspective, the paper identifies publication trends and highlights patterns in the topics, aims, and research designs of existing publications. Specifically, it captures a broader array of consumer-centric topics than previous reviews and highlights methodological gaps. Moreover, the research argues that there is still ample room for more research on social media in tourism, particularly as the existing literature neglects social media beyond review platforms while demonstrating that user-generated content greatly influences tourist behaviours and experiences.</abstract>

Reviewing the Past to Inform the Future: A Literature Review of Social Media in Tourism

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Czech Journal of Tourism

The Journal of Masaryk University

 Czech Journal of Tourism is a peer-reviewed scientific journal primary focuses on research articles and studies reflected theoretical knowledge and scientific findings. The...

 Czech Journal of Tourism is a peer-reviewed scientific journal primary focuses on research articles and studies reflected theoretical...