Abstract
Thirty years after the emergence of the term “sustainable tourism” and in view of the proliferation of literature on the subject, it seems appropriate to carry out a bibliographical review, based on empirical bibliometric data, in order to find out who the leading research pioneers are for this type of tourism, discover gaps in our understanding, and redefine the concept’s frontiers. This paper focuses specifically on sustainable tourism in sensitive areas, in a first attempt to provide understanding of the accumulated knowledge of the sub-theme by looking at research presented by impact publications. A total of 985 papers published on this topic on Web of Science were selected to this end, and after applying the H-Classics methodology, a content analysis of the forty papers with the greatest impact was carried out. This has led to the discovery of research trends, gaps in the analysis of polar and mountainous areas, and a lack of a core group of highly productive researchers in this area.
Highlights
In accordance with the definition in UNEP UNWTO (2005), sustainable tourism is “Tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment and host communities” [1]
The methodology proposed by Martínez et al [20] to identify the classics of literature of a scientific area through the H-Classics concept and the H-Index indicator was used to select the works considered “classics” in this discipline, and to determine the most influential studies of sustainable tourism in sensitive areas within the 985 documents that make up the initial sample
This paper focuses on sustainable tourism in sensitive areas, in a first attempt to provide understanding of the accumulated knowledge of the sub-theme by assessing research published by impact publications
Summary
In accordance with the definition in UNEP UNWTO (2005), sustainable tourism is “Tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment and host communities” [1] (pp. 11–12). The second part of the paper carries out a meta-analysis of the 40 articles included in the H-Core For this purpose, the methodology proposed by Martínez et al [20] to identify the classics of literature of a scientific area through the H-Classics concept and the H-Index indicator was used to select the works considered “classics” in this discipline, and to determine the most influential studies of sustainable tourism in sensitive areas within the 985 documents that make up the initial sample. This paper focuses on sustainable tourism in sensitive areas, in a first attempt to provide understanding of the accumulated knowledge of the sub-theme by assessing research published by impact publications By focusing on this very specific and interesting topic, the study strengthens its underlying intellectual structure and knowledge base, and complements the bibliometric studies mentioned above. This is achieved by covering a greater time period, a larger number of journals and articles, and a different set of analyses that will allow the creation of future research agendas
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