Digital Marketing Innovation and Sustainable Tourism Performance in Emerging Economies: Empirical Evidence from Algerian Tourist Destinations

Abstract

The intersection of digital marketing innovation and sustainable tourism performance remains underexplored in emerging economies, particularly in North African contexts where rapid digitalisation coincides with growing environmental concerns. This study investigates the mediating role of sustainable practices in the relationship between digital marketing innovation adoption and tourism destination performance in Algeria. Drawing on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and the Resource-Based View (RBV), a quantitative survey was administered to 312 tourism professionals and destination managers across six Algerian wilayas. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis and PROCESS macro-based mediation analysis (Hayes, 2022) were conducted using IBM SPSS Statistics 27. Results reveal that digital marketing innovation adoption exerts a significant positive effect on destination performance (beta = 0.487, p < 0.001), and that this relationship is partially mediated by sustainable tourism practices (indirect effect = 0.198, 95% CI [0.121, 0.281]). Social media engagement and content marketing emerged as the most influential digital innovation sub-dimensions. The study contributes novel empirical evidence from an emerging economy context rarely represented in Scopus-indexed tourism literature and offers actionable guidance for Algerian destination management organisations and policymakers navigating the digital sustainability nexus.