Nostalgia has long been recognised as an important factor in tourism (Hewison, 1987). However, the relationship between nostalgia and tourism is complex, with its explanatory power of nostalgia as a travel motivation predominantly focusing on tourism at culture heritage sites (Dann, 1994; Park, Hwang, Lee, & Heo, 2018). Hence, heritage tourism is the most common theoretical lens through which the relationships between nostalgia and tourism, and related notions such as nostalgia tourism, has been explored. The common assumption that underpins the existence of nostalgia is some degree of dissatisfaction with the present, which encourages tourists to engage with the past because the past is associated with positive memories (Hewison, 1987). However, this assumption is somewhat problematic because it is based on often framed negatively with respect to historical understandings of nostalgia and it ignores the possibility of nostalgia having a positive connotation to the whole tourism experience.

The academic inquiry into nostalgia-related tourism has been examined through such topics as: the experience of a tourist; the effect of nostalgia in branding, advertising and marketing of tourism sites; personal nostalgia and historical nostalgia; film tourism; as well as sport tourism (Dann, 1994; Fairley, 2003; Li, Lu, Bogicevic & Bujisic, 2019; Kim, 2005; Kim, Kim & Petrick, 2019; Vesey & Dimanche 2003). However, an integrative understanding of nostalgia and its relationships with different aspects of tourism is lacking. This special issue is motivated by the fragmented state of research and aims to both take stock of recent studies on nostalgia and tourism, as well as to encourage further theoretical development and empirical inquiries in this promising research area.

This special issue aims to showcase the latest developments in and future direction of research on how nostalgia tourism can be conceptualised and understood. Moreover, we hope to extend and clarify our understanding of nostalgia and tourism from a positive perspective. We invite both theoretical and empirical papers of nostalgia tourism.

The topics below provide an indicative, but non-exhaustive, list of themes and questions that can be tackled through conceptual and empirical approaches.

• How is nostalgia related tourism different from other types of tourism?
• How does institutional change influence the relationship between nostalgia and tourism?
• Factors effecting nostalgia tourism
• Relationship between nostalgia and heritage tourism and interpretation
• Profile of a nostalgic tourist
• The temporal and spatial dimensions of nostalgia and tourism
• Nostalgia and place in a tourism context
• The use of nostalgia in heritage marketing and management
• How does nostalgia impacts tourism organisational structures?
• Nostalgia and tourism in indigenous societies
• The influence of sanctions on promoting nostalgia tourism
• Personal reflections on experiencing nostalgia in tourism
• Nostalgia, tourism and social media
• The marketing and promotion of nostalgia and tourism
• Nostalgia, tourism and societal well-being