Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine how crises impact overall tourist behaviour and travel preferences in times of crisis events, both man-made and natural disasters. In doing so, the present paper has been designed to provide a new conceptualization of travellers’ shifting preferences in terms of the selection of holiday destinations through the new concept of tourophobia and to classify this as a new type of tourist behaviour. Design/methodology/approach The present study uses a literature review as a qualitative deductive content analysis of 58 field studies published by major hospitality and tourism journals. By using a deductive content analysis approach, the current paper is designed to delineate tourist behaviour through a generic review of relevant literature detailing travellers’ preferences in times of crisis. Findings The developed concept of tourophobia and the suggested model, which proposes two possible scenarios, shows that traveller behaviour is heterogeneous in terms of the destination selection process; this finding is based on a content analysis of the articles chosen. Further, by using the developed model, the decline in travel and tourism can also be explained by an increase in what is termed in this paper “tourophobia”, which results from the various devastating effects of crises. Research limitations/implications The proposed model is expected to help destination managers and marketers to segment and forecast the future market demand of tourist travel preferences, thereby enabling them to form effective marketing strategies and increase their responsiveness during difficult times. Only articles from hospitality and tourism journals were subjected to content analysis; this is a major limitation of the study. Originality/value The present research contributes to current knowledge by describing the concept of tourophobia as a tourist behaviour in times of crisis. As an emerging phenomenon, it is also introduced as being one criterion for the selection of destinations and, therefore, is regarded as a driver for tourist behaviour, thus generating the originality of the paper. This study strives to provide a new direction for future studies on tourist behaviour, rather than offering new empirical data.

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate travellers’ behaviour and examine their reactions to high-tech hotels offering robotic services to customers. Design/methodology/approach Data were gathered from user-generated content within the context of a qualitative research method by analysing the online narratives of travellers at TripAdvisor who visited robotic hotels. Data analysis was realised through content analysis, which revealed various themes and categories of traveller behaviour and reactions to technology. Findings Results show that robotic services significantly improve the quality of service offered to travellers, while positively affecting travellers’ intention to revisit robotic hotels within the context of customer engagement behaviours. Research limitations/implications The results of the present research reveal that the introduction of new technologies in the service industry, such as the robotic butler, can have considerable effects on guest behaviour and attitudes. This field has emerged as a new sub-dimension of customer engagement. Practical implications The use of robots will most likely enhance experiences through interaction between customers and robots. Additionally, in cases where social distancing is required, the use of robots in the hospitality and tourism industry may increase the mobility of people wishing to travel by applying social distancing through use of robots in services. Originality/value The study contributes to the extant literature by identifying the concept of adoption as a sub-dimension deriving from human–robot interaction, thus generating the novelty of the research.

The aim of the present study is to explore the role of tourism stakeholders in the sustainable degrowth of tourism, within the context of overtourism and destination governance. Data was gathered from document analysis and in-depth, face-to-face interviews with key tourism stakeholders in Istanbul, the most popular tourist destination in Turkey. A qualitative case study approach was adopted and content analysis was utilized as a data treatment technique. The results indicate that demarketing and applying "localhood" tourism activities are key drivers behind degrowth. Findings have also confirmed that degrowth is one solution in response to the concept of overtourism.

The present study strives to understand the travel motivations and experiences of both domestic and international travellers visiting the Gallipoli Peninsula. Qualitative research methodology was utilized for this study, with a case study approach employed for the qualitative research design. Data were gathered using face-to-face interviews (n=44), participant observation and document analysis, and an inductive content analysis was then used to analyse the data. The research findings revealed that travellers visiting the site have different motivations and experiences, as well as some commonalities. The findings also indicate that those visiting the site have different travel motivations and experiences, as well as commonalities. Their travel motivations form a heterogeneous pattern, including push and pull motivational factors, while experiences can be grouped into psychological and sociocultural categories; these are useful contributions to the existing literature in the field. As a consequence, the results of this study are unique as they show that battlefield sites within the scope of the dark tourism phenomenon may offer visitors memorable tourism experiences and socio-cultural experiences.