Island tourism: destinations: an editorial introduction to the special issue

Purpose – This editorial aims to situate the papers chosen for this special issue within academic literature and identify their contributions to new knowledge. Design/methodology/approach – The editorial first discusses tourism research literature pertinent to the idiosyncrasies of destination management in island contexts. Second, the paper identifies the contributions made to this field by the authors and the implications of their innovative research for island tourism and destination management. Findings – Each paper contributes, in its way, to the field of island tourism, either by integration of explorations of theory, shifting paradigms or revealing new knowledge. This special issue contains two seminal papers by top academic leaders of the fields of islandness and HRM in island destinations. It also presents papers that comment on destination management issues at macro and micro levels. Originality/value – Collectively this collection of papers offers new perspectives concerning the challenges of creating destination image in peripheral locations, the impacts of global mobilities (inward and outward) on destination labor markets, models for sustainable destination development, the welcome extended to visitors and returning locals by island communities, destination positioning strategies and service interactions.