Tourists’ perception of distance: a thematic review and conceptual framework

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Modelling the perceived distance in tourists’ decision-making remains a problem that requires a rigorous and structurally-sound approach in conceptualisation. This paper aims to review past research concerning how distance might influence tourists’ decision-making by presenting a qualitative thematic review and conceptual framework. We analysed indexed academic articles (n = 66) in peer-reviewed journals to organise and critically assess the growing knowledge of distance across Scopus, Web of Science, and EBSCOhost (Hospitality & Tourism Complete) databases. The findings revealed seven significant themes in the literature over time: perceived time, geographic, transport, economic, cultural, and social distance, and a moderating variable theme. These seven themes are connected, and the distance relation matrix constructs their correlation strength. Based on the themes and their correlations from the social network analysis, we propose a conceptual framework for perceived distance. We attempt to conceptualise perceived distance to further explain the themes that emerged in the distance-related analysis, identify the gaps in methodology, and propose suggestions and directions for future research. This framework not only provides a clearer conceptualization of perceived distance but also highlights existing methodological gaps and offers recommendations for future research directions. Our study contributes to advancing both theoretical understanding and empirical investigation into the complex nature of perceived distance and its effect on tourism behaviors and destination marketing strategies.