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Purpose: This research explores how protest events can change and develop over time, through an analysis of stakeholder perceptions of the EXIT festival in Serbia. In doing this, it builds on previous research into protest events from a critical events studies perspective and has implications for the management and understanding of events linked to social movements. Design/methodology/approach: This research took a neo-institutionalist perspective and is based on 18 stakeholder interviews, which were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Purposive sampling in the highly-networked city of Novi Sad, Serbia, allowed for the inclusion of diverse participants from politics, NGOs, media and the festival itself. Findings: The findings reveal that the EXIT festival has departed significantly from its original protest roots. Although it is now perceived as part of the dominant political culture in Serbia, it still has the potential to campaign on issues of relevance to the region, which is unrealised. This research demonstrates that the neo-institutionalist perspective can offer fresh insights for research into protest events. Taking this perspective suggests practical implications for the managers of events with protest roots and for social movements seeking to use protestival-style methods to achieve social change. Originality/value: This paper provides a new theoretical perspective on protest events and proposes a new model that can be used in future research into protest events that persist over time. It also suggests implications for the management and development of protest events within social movements.

Many technologically driven societies currently experience a “pandemic of loneliness“. The purpose of this viewpoint paper is to conceptualize loneliness as a persistent and widespread issue among consumers that has been amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic and increasingly spills over into the travel and tourism domain. This issue creates many challenges for smart tourism design as it implies changed consumer perspectives on smart tourism and needs for smart tourist experiences. This viewpoint paper is based on a review of relevant academic literature and online resources regarding the issue of loneliness, before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, and potential solutions in smart tourism settings. Loneliness has been completely overlooked by the smart tourism research agenda despite its tremendous implications for engagement, value co-creation, and the need for experience enhancement. This viewpoint paper proposes a framework for designing a loneliness-sensitive smart tourism ecosystem (LoSSTE). The purpose of this paper is to start a debate on how to mobilize smart tourism research for combating loneliness in the post-pandemic era and to outline areas for further research.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to introduce e-mindfulness as a tourism trend. Mindfulness meditation is becoming increasingly mainstream, which is reflected in a rapidly growing number of related technology applications. Such technology-assisted mindfulness is typically referred to as e-mindfulness. The e-mindfulness trend creates opportunities for the tourism industry but also implies changed consumer perspectives on tourist experiences. Design/methodology/approach: The paper is based on a general review of academic literature, news reports and online resources regarding the offerings of related technologies. Findings: Implications of e-mindfulness for consumers, tourism service providers and designers of future tourism experiences are outlined. Originality/value: This is the first paper to conceptualize e-mindfulness as a tourism trend.

Loess is wind-blown sediment that covers extensive areas in the middle latitudes. Much of the loess in Eastern and Central–Eastern Europe has been redeposited by the River Danube and its tributaries. The case study area (Vojvodina region) encompasses the confluence area of the Danube, Sava and Tisa rivers. This region includes the most complete and the thickest loess–palaeosol sequences found in Europe, a valuable record of palaeo-climates over the past two million years only recognized in the closing decades of the twentieth century. Long before then however, several enthusiasts, engineers and travellers recognized and appreciated loess as a significant natural phenomenon. Among them was Luigi Ferdinando Marsigli (1658–1730) who gave the first scientific description of European loess in his outstanding multivolume work Danubius Pannonico Mysicuswhere he drew and explained notable loess–palaeosol exposures along the Danube River. Many other loess observations were also recorded by a number of international travellers, whose illustrated travelogues (mainly published in the nineteenth century) mentioned and illustrated loess observations along the Danube and its major tributaries. This chapter explores the interplay of scientific loess research and its geo-historical literary aspects as the foundations of modern loess geotourism.