Cognizant Communication Corporation

08/06/2025

🌊 CALL FOR PAPERS: Marine Tourism and the Blue Economy in Asia Pacific🏝️
**Tourism in Marine Environments - Special Issue**

Asia Pacific borders the world’s largest ocean, yet little is known about how marine tourism and blue economy concepts are embedded in the region. Marine tourism has rapidly risen within the continent and raises the stakes in pursuing a sustainable blue economy. Although island tourism is on the rise, discussions on island tourism and islandness are still limited across different regions.

First Round Submission Due Date: 31st December, 2025
Publication of Special Issue: End 2026/ Early 2027
Journal guidelines at: https://cognizantcommunication.com/publication/tourism-in-marine-environments/ -id-3

Seeking conceptual, methodological, and empirical studies on:

08/04/2025

🌍 Marine Tourism Facts Worldwide | TiME

🦪 What if the secret to responsible tourism lies in what’s on your plate?

This Southeast USA study surveyed 941 coastal tourists to explore how attitudes toward shellfish mariculture influence travel decisions. Researchers examined tourists' knowledge about marine farming and attitudes toward seafood quality and community benefits in South Carolina and Florida coastal communities.

🧠 Knowledge drives community awareness, not quality perceptions.
The study found that tourists’ subjective knowledge about marine farming significantly influenced their attitudes toward its benefits to the community, but had no significant effect on their attitudes toward the quality of marine farmed seafood compared to wild-caught alternatives.

⚖️Both quality AND community benefits drive tourism intentions.
Both attitudes toward seafood quality and perceived community benefits were significant predictors of tourists’ intention to participate in marine farming-related activities like culinary events, farm tours, and cooking classes.

🤔 Could sustainable seafood give destinations a competitive edge?
The research suggests that destinations promoting the community benefits of responsible marine farming might attract tourists who want their travel choices to support local economic and environmental sustainability.

Read the full study here: https://doi.org/10.3727/154427320X15781713928749

07/31/2025

Event Management Special Issue: Interfaces of Innovation: Exploring Technology’s Expanding Role in Events. Read all articles for free for the next two weeks: https://jrnl.onl/em2906

07/28/2025

🌍 Marine Tourism Facts Worldwide | TiME

🐋What if swimming with dolphins is actually giving them ulcers?

This comprehensive New Zealand study explores whether cetacean-based tourism is causing chronic stress in whales and dolphins – stress that could be as harmful as the title suggests. Researchers examined multiple species across New Zealand waters and found concerning patterns of behavioural changes in response to tourism activities.

🔬The findings reveal species-specific impacts: bottlenose dolphins in the Bay of Islands showed increased avoidance of swimmers overtime, becoming “sensitised” rather than habituated; dusky dolphins had elevated whistle rates when people entered the water; s***m whales displayed shortened breathing intervals near whale-watching boats; and Hector’s dolphins used preferred areas less frequently when swimmers were present.

⚠️The study highlights a critical research gap: while behavioural studies can detect immediate responses to tourism, they cannot assess potential long-term chronic stress. Just like humans who “turn on” stress responses continuously can develop serious health problems, marine mammals may suffer reduced immunity, reproductive success, and survival – impacts that remain invisible to current monitoring approaches.

🤔Are we studying the wrong thing entirely? If chronic stress from repeated tourism encounters is affecting whale and dolphin health, current “no significant adverse effect” regulations may be difficult to implement effectively for protecting these long-lived, social marine mammals.

Read the full story here: https://doi.org/10.3727/216901925X17364076067648

07/23/2025

Last month, several of our journals ranked in the top 100 again of total downloads on Ingenta Connect. Full-text downloads were over 2,300! See the numbers at

Cognizant Communication Corporation journals rank in the top 100 out of more than 10,000 titles on Ingenta Connect for number of full-text downloads.

07/21/2025

🌍 Marine Tourism Facts Worldwide | TiME

💡When tourists enjoy marine wildlife experiences while animals suffer – whose interests should matter more?

🤔 This thought-provoking study tackles one of tourism’s most uncomfortable ethical questions by applying utilitarian philosophy to marine wildlife activities. The research examines whether activities like catch-and-release sport fishing and marine aquariums can be ethically justified when they cause animal suffering.

🐋The utilitarian approach demands that we consider the interests of ALL sentient beings – both human and animal – equally. This means weighing tourist enjoyment and economic benefits against animal pain and stress. The study uses examples like orcas living only 10 years in captivity versus 70 – 100 years in the wild, and questions whether educational claims about marine parks actually change visitor behaviour.

⚖️The ethical challenge runs deeper: utilitarianism requires PROOF that claimed benefits (like conservation funding or education) actually outweigh animal suffering. When only 13 out of 1,500 tagged billfish were ever recaptured, does the “scientific research” justification for sport fishing really hold up?

🤯What if our entire moral framework for wildlife tourism is fundamentally flawed? If we truly accepted that a fish’s pain matters as much as human pleasure, would any form of marine wildlife entertainment survive ethical scrutiny? Or would we need to completely reimagine how we connect with ocean life?

Read the full study here: https://doi.org/10.3727/216901925X17364076067639

07/18/2025

🌟 Peer Review Excellence in Action | TiME

What makes a journal truly exceptional? When researchers actively choose to come back!

📝 Recent feedback from a researcher: "The whole experience of the submission and review process was comfortable, especially reviewers significantly contributed to the quality of the research, which I also acknowledged in the paper... I am grateful to the Journal for providing such a great platform for researchers to share their work regarding coastal tourism. I will share my future projects for publication."

✨ The real win? When researchers feel so supported they're already planning their next submission with us.

🤝 Grateful to our associate editors and reviewers who make this happen daily!

07/17/2025

This past May, our Event Management journal had over 38,000 abstract views and over 1,600 articles downloaded!

Learn more about Event Management and all of our journals at https://cognizantcommunication.com/journals/

07/13/2025

🌍 Marine Tourism Facts Worldwide | TiME

🐋 What happens when an entire tourism industry emerges from scratch in just 12 years?

🇵🇪Northern Peru’s humpback whale watching industry has exploded from its 2008 beginnings to generate an estimated US$ 3 million annually! This economic input didn’t exist in the region just over a decade ago, yet now brings 8,500 tourists during a 4-month season (July – October).

🔍Researchers surveyed 199 whale-watch tourists and six tour companies to calculate the economic impact. The findings reveal that 8,500 tourists travelled to see humpback whales in 2018 alone, with most visitors (78%) being Peruvians discovering their own marine wildlife for the first time.

📈But here’s the growth challenge: tourist numbers at Los Organos pier have increased dramatically, meaning over 15 boats now search for whales simultaneously – sometimes crowding around the same whale groups. While this economic boom benefits fishing communities seeking alternative livelihoods, it raises a crucial question…

🤔Can rapid tourism growth actually threaten the very wildlife it depends on? With Ecuador’s similar whale watching industry growing 51% in just 7 years using the same humpback population, how do we balance economic opportunity with species protection before we love these whales to death?

Read the full story here: https://doi.org/10.3727/154427320X15819596320544

07/08/2025

The May, 2005 numbers are in. See how our journals ranked at https://jrnl.onl/iah013

07/07/2025

🌍 Marine Tourism Facts Worldwide | TiME

How do you monitor visitors in a marine park that covers over 1.3 million hectares with no clear boundaries and multiple entry points?!

🚢 Researchers in Western Australia’s Lalang-gaddam Marine Park faced this exact challenge as expedition cruise tourism exploded, with passenger numbers per vessel nearly tripling from 19 to 58 between 2006 and 2022.

The team tested nine different monitoring techniques, from commercial tour operator logbooks to aerial surveys and electronic vessel tracking. They combined crowd-sourced methods, direct observation, and indirect monitoring to build a comprehensive picture of visitor use.

⚠️ But here’s the sobering reality: after field trials, three techniques were scrapped entirely. Aerial surveys proved too expensive for minimal data return, targeted visitor surveys couldn’t reach adequate sample sizes, and staff lacked capability for drone monitoring. The marine environment’s unique challenges (i.e. remoteness, weather dependency, and scattered visitation) made many “proven” methods impractical.

🤝 The real breakthrough? This became the first visitor monitoring plan developed through joint management with Traditional Owners in the Kimberley, demonstrating that meaningful collaboration with Indigenous partners isn’t just culturally appropriate – it’s essential for effective marine park management.

Read the full study here: https://doi.org/10.3727/216901925X17376098263922

07/05/2025

Tourism Analysis, Vol 30, Num 3 is now up at https://jrnl.onl/ta303
All articles available as Open Access for the next 2 weeks.