Contributions of people with disabilities to the research on the intellectual structure of the hospitality and tourism literature

Abstract

This study attempts to identify the role of research related to people with disabilities in the intellectual structure of the hospitality and tourism (H&T) literature through bibliometric analysis. A total of 119 articles related to people with disabilities, published between 1980 and 2021 in the H&T field, were extracted from the Scopus database. VOSviewer and BibExcel software were used to visualize the bibliometric and intellectual structure. The findings show an increasing trend in disability research. Five research clusters were identified, and the customer perspective outweighed the other stakeholder perspectives. In addition, qualitative research and case study approaches slightly predominated for exploratory research purposes. Finally, the heterogeneity of disability communities requires further research in the future.