New Developments in Affection and Behavior of Inbound Tourism:

Despite the global prominence of inbound travel, research has rarely examined travelers’ internal psychological processes, particularly in the Japanese context. This preface reviews five featured articles that collectively advance a deeper understanding of how inbound travelers perceive, decide, and evaluate their experiences within multicultural tourism environments. The first article investigates how travelers make dining decisions when confronted with conflicting evaluations from different social groups, highlighting the role of social identity motives. The second examines how inbound tourists dynamically update their internal reference prices as they adapt to Japanese market conditions. The third analyzes how metaphor-based advertising shapes destination image formation across cultural contexts. The fourth explores cross-national differences in country stereotypes—specifically warmth and competence—and their influence on intentions to visit Japan. The fifth article evaluates the dual effects of cross-cultural service on domestic tourists’ satisfaction, revealing both positive and negative consequences. Drawing on quantitative data collected in travelers’ home countries and in Japan, these studies offer theoretical contributions to tourism psychology and practical implications for destination marketing, pricing, and service management. Together, they illuminate emerging directions in the study of inbound tourism behavior.