Conclusion: Synthesis and a research agenda for nature-based tourism

Purpose This paper concludes the special issue “Reimagining Nature-Based Tourism: Innovations, Experiences and Sustainability in Tourism Destinations” by synthesising the 11 contributions through a thematic synthesis approach and outlining an agenda for future research. Design/methodology/approach The paper adopts a thematic synthesis approach. The eleven articles included in this special issue were coded against the issue's guiding research question and three derived sub-questions, and grouped into six cross-cutting themes. The contributions span qualitative interview-based case studies, analysis of visitor-generated online content and bibliometric analysis. Findings The synthesis shows that nature-based tourism destinations convert natural resources into sustainable visitor value only when aesthetic appeal is matched by interpretive depth and infrastructural investment; that human intermediaries, community enterprises and certification bodies jointly, and sometimes unevenly, mediate conservation outcomes; and that digital methods and artificial intelligence are reshaping both how sustainability discourse is understood and how destinations might be managed, while introducing new risks of standardisation and dehumanisation. Originality/value This original concluding article brings together eleven geographically and methodologically diverse studies through a structured, research-question-driven synthesis, translating individual contributions into a shared reference framework and research agenda for nature-based tourism scholarship and destination practice.