Bibliometric analysis of literature on mountain tourism in Scopus

Abstract

Although mountain tourism has been developing rapidly in recent decades, it is a new research field and our knowledge about its development is still limited. This study presents a bibliometric review of the literature on mountain tourism in Scopus. The results indicate that there are three main research areas of mountain tourism, namely “sustainable development,” “tourism development,” and “mountain destinations.” While early authors were more interested in practical issues, such as tourism management and tourism market, recent interests have shifted towards sustainability and multi-dimensional considerations. On the other hand, a few key documents and leading authors form the core research community in the field of mountain tourism. Popular publication outlets for mountain tourism studies are not mainstream journals, but a few European journals and those on the strong ascents of mountains. Journals related to sustainable development are also sensible choices. Lastly, geography plays a significant role in affecting the productivity of mountain tourism research. Mountainous countries are often more productive than those that are poor in mountain resources in terms of publications. In addition, geographical proximity enhances academic exchange and collaboration in mountain tourism research. Mountains exist in 139 countries, accounting for approximately a quarter of the world's land area. Because mountains possess a great variety of tourist resources, mountains ranked second most popular destinations. Currently, mountains account for 15–20% of the global tourism market. The number of publications on mountain tourism has been increasing in recent decades. However, there is a lack of comprehensive review on mountain tourism research and thus, its trends and structures have not been fully explored and clarified yet.Because academic research is important for effective tourism management of mountain regions, this study aims to present a in-depth review of mountain tourism research by analyzing relevant literature using multi-leveled bibliographic methods. It is hoped that the findings of this study can supplement the knowledge body and cast light on future research.