In tourism, entrepreneurial internationalisation is considered a measure of the development of the industry and a key driver of innovation, competitiveness and image enhancement. In nautical tourism, research is still scarce in terms of supporting business’ internationalisation. This paper analyses factors constraining the international growth of island-based nautical tourism organisations. For the research, a sample of 60 nautical tourism SMEs´ owners of six different islands in the Macaronesia Region (Canary Islands, Madeira and Cape Verde archipelagos) were interviewed. As a result, we provide up to date information about current conditions and barriers to the internationalisation process within the segment and also identify the profile of the firms with the best international performance. The study is of great usefulness for the industry as it guides on the areas that require special attention to enhance those social, environmental and economic conditions of nautical tourism firms that ensure sustainable international growth. Moreover, it helps policymakers of island destinations seeking specialisation and positioning within the international nautical tourism market to raise the efficiency of current incentive mechanisms for internationalisation, thus contributing to increase tourism competitiveness. Finally, the study highlights the importance of fostering wider cooperation among islands with common interests in nautical specialisation and the challenges that this represents for the tourism management.

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The degradation of terrestrial ecosystems may change the perceived value of destinations for tourists. This article analyses tourists’ travel decisions when the land ecosystems of the destinations they are planning to visit are threatened by climate change impacts. More specifically, it analyses tourists’ willingness to pay for their holidays at island destinations endangered by the increase in forest fires, terrestrial wildlife losses, water shortages, and damages to infrastructure and cultural heritage. With this aim in mind, a discrete choice model was designed and empirically tested with a representation of European travellers, using an alternative specific conditional logistic regression. The results show that the sharp increase in the occurrence of wildfires has had the greatest negative impact on tourists’ willingness to pay for their next holiday at the affected tourist destination, followed by severe losses in terrestrial wildlife and significant damage to cultural heritage. This study highlights the importance of having accurate information on future climate change conditions impacting land attributes at the local level, not only to be more effective in the early prevention of threats to prioritise but also to confront the potential damage to the tourism economy more efficiently.