ANNIVERSARY EDITORIAL: 15 YEARS OF CACTUS - THE TOURISM JOURNAL FOR RESEARCH, EDUCATION, CULTURE AND SOUL

under the umbrella of the Faculty of Business and Tourism of the Bucharest University of Economic Studies, thanks to the soulful commitment of Professor Gabriela Stnciulescu, the first editor-in-chief of the journal, since whose departure to the eternal world one and a half years have already passed.From a rather humble beginning, we have evolved into an internationally recognized platform, indexed in RePEc, DOAJ, and ERIH Plus, connecting researchers, educators, and practitioners in tourism through an interdisciplinary vision.These years have been a fascinating journey, during which we have documented important changes -from the digitalization of the industry to the impact of the pandemic -and given a voice to young researchers through the "Student's Corner".The diversity of our articles -from cultural tourism to ecotourism and many other societal challenges -reflects our commitment to exploring not just the numbers, but the soul of tourism and society in general.This journey would not have been possible without our global community of authors, reviewers, and readers, to whom I am deeply grateful.As Editor-in-Chief, I am looking ambitiously to the future: we are aiming for top indexing (e.g.Scopus, Web of Science) to increase the impact of CACTUS.In this context, we are also considering a name adjustment -perhaps CACTUS -The Tourism Journal for Research, Education, Culture and Society -which would emphasize the role of tourism in shaping society and better position us in the academic landscape.On this anniversary, I invite you to celebrate these 15 years together and write the next chapter of CACTUS.We will explore new frontiers -societal dynamics, the impact of new technologies (e.g.AI in tourism), post-crisis resilience, and analyzing how security concerns influence tourist behaviorwith the same passion that brought us here to bridge the gap between research and real impact.These topics, together with a geographical expansion of contributions, will reinforce the relevance of CACTUS.