Sustainable Tourism Research Research Articles

Revisiting sustainable tourism research: bibliometric insights and future research agenda

ABSTRACT This bibliometric review synthesizes sustainable tourism research over the past three decades, focusing on its alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Based on 1,383 journal articles from the Web of Science database, the RStudio Bibliometrix package analysed bibliometric performance, thematic maps, and co-occurrence networks. The findings highlight the role of sustainable tourism in advancing different SDGs. Findings also indicate three broader thematic areas for future research, including regenerative tourism ecosystems, responsible tourism behaviours, and right-sizing tourism. Through this review, we propose future research directions to enhance knowledge on sustainable tourism and its contribution to the SDGs, providing a strategic roadmap for researchers and policymakers.

Trends in Sustainable Tourism Paradigm: Resilience and Adaptation

In recent decades, sustainable tourism has emerged as a central paradigm, attracting growing scholarly interest. External factors, such as the SDGs, climate change agendas, smart and digitalized tourism, cyber and astronaut travel, pandemics, and shifting trends in economic competitiveness, mass tourism, and overtourism, are shaping the 21st-century paradigmatic landscape, challenging both the theoretical “what” and practical “how” of the sustainable tourism paradigm. Using Kuhn’s paradigmatic framework and the Web of Science bibliometric database from 1991 to 2022, this analysis traces trends in sustainable tourism research, advances in academic communication through influential co-citation networks and interdisciplinarity, and the emergence of alternative and quasi-paradigms. The findings suggest, first, a positive trend in tourism scholarly research production; second, weak and diverse communication and interdisciplinarity, as scholars do not sufficiently collaborate in co-citations; and third, the coexistence of the sustainable tourism paradigm with numerous alternative, rival, and quasi-paradigms. The lack of influential knowledge communication highlights the need for the academic tourism community to reconsider its knowledge generation practices. Enhanced collaboration through co-citation and interdisciplinary cooperation is crucial for fostering a deeper and shared understanding of multiple tourism-related concepts. Further thematic and interactive research is needed on the resilience and adaptability of the sustainable tourism paradigm. This article contributes to advancing sustainable tourism scholarship by advocating for a more influential and adaptable paradigm to ensure its relevance amidst emerging challenges.

A Bibliometric Review of Innovations in Sustainable Tourism Research: Current Trends and Future Research Agenda

This bibliometric review explores the existing publications regarding innovations in sustainable tourism. The aim of the review was to determine the existing research trends in the field of innovations in sustainable tourism by mapping the research on the innovations and “smart” aspects in sustainable tourism and contributing to the field by outlining the recent research trends, identifying the general topics and subtopics, and thus guiding future researchers in choosing an attractive research direction. The bibliometric analysis based on the PRISMA guidelines was provided to extract 179 all-open-access documents (articles, research papers, conference papers, and book chapters) from the Scopus database. As the research field was found to be expanding (thirty-eight documents were dated 2023 compared to one dated 2010), its attractiveness was confirmed. The analysis of the most-cited publications showed the existence of three research trends: (1) management-focused, (2) sustainability-focused, and (3) smart/ITCs-focused. Moreover, the analysis of the author keywords enabled outlining the main future research themes, namely tourism, sustainability, management, scope, innovation, smart, and method, and providing considerations for the future. For a broader dissemination of their findings, authors are encouraged to pay greater attention to these factors: inter-country collaboration, leading institution, journal choice, and topic choice.

The relationship research between restorative perception, local attachment and environmental responsible behavior of urban park recreationists

The environmentally responsible behavior of tourists has been one of the focal points in the field of sustainable tourism research in recent years. Taking Guangzhou City Park as an example, this study investigates the relationship between restorative perception, place attachment, and environmentally responsible behavior of urban park recreationists by constructing the theoretical framework of "cognition-emotion-behavior" of recreationalists via online questionnaire surveys and using the test method of structural equation mode. Studies have shown that: (1) When the restorative perception of the environment is compatible, malleable, and attractive, the recreationist will produce environmentally responsible behavior. Meanwhile, when the environment has a sense of distance and compatibility, it will promote the active environmentally responsible behavior of tourists; (2) the path of perceptual environmental compatibility in the restorative perception of recreationists being → place dependence→ place identity → environmentally responsible behavior has a positive impact on environmentally responsible behavior; (3) place attachment has a significant positive impact on environmentally responsible behavior. This paper suggests that urban park management governors should focus on improving the charm and attractiveness of parks, diversifying recreational activities, and creating emotional attachment places, so as to promote the development of urban parks and meet the diverse needs and experiences of park recreation.

Exploring Trends and Future Paths in Tourism Villages Research: An Intellectual Mapping

Sustainable tourism development in rural villages requires in-depth literature exploration. Bibliometric analysis reveals new themes and trends in village tourism research. The use of strategic diagrams enhances understanding of sustainable tourism research, particularly in rural villages. This approach uncovers new research opportunities and areas for future studies. Researchers searched the WOS database for rural tourism and tourist villages, focusing on scholarly journal publications from 2014 to 2023 in English. They employed advanced bibliometric techniques to examine the changing landscape of village and rural tourism research. Key identified themes include place attachment, traditional villages, and destination image. The analysis shows the importance of interdisciplinary approaches in creating sustainable tourism strategies, with a focus on understanding emotional ties to destinations and enhancing the significance of traditional villages. Future research should integrate cultural, social, and environmental dimensions into village tourism development, involving tourists in creating memorable experiences. The research underscores the significance of holistic and interdisciplinary approaches in promoting sustainable development. Nevertheless, constraints encompass scant bibliographic information, regional partiality, and inadequate examination of stakeholders' viewpoints regarding sustainable tourism growth.

Responsible Behaviour and Psychological Well-being in Tourism: The Triple Helix Model

While the conceptually related fields of sustainability and psychological well-being have been informed by extensive research in recent years, efforts to integrate these fields are yet to be systematically advanced. This lack of integration has left the nexus between sustainability and well-being largely underexplored and conceptually underdeveloped. Tourism offers a novel context within which to explore the intersection. Consequently, this paper critically assesses the relationship between sustainability-related decisions and tourist well-being. It is informed by the analysis of thirty semi-structured in-depth interviews that critically explored the holiday experiences of tourists while travelling internationally. Analysis revealed that both responsible and irresponsible tourist behaviours are interconnected with tourists’ psychological well-being and are influenced by external barriers and internal conflicts. Responsible behaviours were found to contribute to eudaimonic well-being through a heightened sense of perceived integrity. Conversely, irresponsible behaviours trigger negative self-appraisals, enacting coping mechanisms and generating guilt. This manuscript presents the triple helix model detailing the complex and interconnected relationship between (ir)responsible behaviour and psychological well-being in tourism experiences. Future research should consider the intricate connections between tourists’ sustainability-related decisions and psychological well-being as central to the developing sustainable tourism research agendas.

Natural and Sociocultural Values of a Tourism Destination in the Function of Sustainable Tourism Development—An Example of a Protected Area

The Special Nature Reserve “Kraljevac” (RK) is located in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, in southern Banat. This first-category reserve covers an area of 264.3 ha and represents a natural item of exceptional importance. The reserve is characterized by significant geological heritage such as loess sections and dune relief, a lake with famous floating peat islands that form the physiology of this wetland, and very rare representatives of flora and fauna. The RK is characterized by the rich cultural heritage of the population living in South Banat. The different ethnic composition of the population and multiculturalism are the main sociocultural tourist motives of this protected area. The Deliblato Sands, known in Europe for their rare geological features, flora and fauna, are located in the immediate vicinity. This significantly increases the value of the RK. Quantitative methodology was used in the paper, which included interviewing respondents as a research technique. The research was conceived according to the Prism of Sustainability (PoS) model. For this sustainable tourism research, a total of 750 respondents (470 residents and 280 visitors) were surveyed. A written and online questionnaire was used in the survey of respondents. By using a questionnaire, respondents expressed their views on certain statements that were grouped into two categories. The claims refer to the natural and sociocultural factors of tourism development in this protected area. Both categories of tourism destination factors can significantly influence sustainable tourism. In addition, we examined the impact of sociocultural and natural factors on respondents’ satisfaction with sustainable tourism. The research results indicate that there is a significant influence of these factors on the satisfaction of residents and visitors with sustainable tourism. The results of this research can provide important information when planning the development of tourism in this protected area. Also, the results can help in the evolution of tourism development at the local, national and regional levels. The forms of tourism that could be central in the RK are scientific research, sports–recreational, ecotourism, bird-watching, events, cultural, gastronomic, and other tourism forms. These forms of tourism can provide environmental, economic and social benefits for this protected area as a tourism destination.

A multidimensional perspective on the relationship between tourism and green growth

This paper examines the various channels through which the tourism ecosystem can affect green development, utilizing a configurational approach to identify underlying mechanisms. Fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis and necessary condition analysis are employed. The findings reveal that tourism does not act as either a necessary component or bottleneck to green development. Four models of tourism-driven high green development are identified including migration-based, growth-based, government-led tourism-driven, and government-led non-tourism-driven. Additionally, the causal relationship between tourism and green development is apparent primarily in less economically-developed regions. The study affirms the asymmetric causal impact of tourism on green development and presents a systematic and in-depth understanding of the asymmetric multivariate pathways that tourism can use to promote green development. These findings represent a significant contribution to the current literature and offer new perspectives for the field of sustainable tourism research.

Does Attitude or Intention Affect Behavior in Sustainable Tourism? A Review and Research Agenda

This study presents a critical literature review on the tourist attitude–behavior gap and intention–behavior gap in sustainable tourism research and proposes future research directions. A systematic review was conducted using preferred reporting items for systematic review and meta-analysis (PRISMA) on the existing literature from the Scopus and Web of Science databases. Key research topics in attitude–behavior gaps are the role of environmental knowledge, protected area management, the role of service quality, risk perception, moral licensing, sustainability communication, business owners in tourism, environmental concern, tourist psychology, and intervention. Key research topics in the intention–behavior gaps of sustainable tourism are green certification or label, value, rationality and social desirability, motivation, trust, inconvenience, and quality. Four emerging research trends were discovered in recent years: (1) increased use of mixed methods and surveys; (2) consideration of green or environmental knowledge; (3) role of green certification; and (4) consideration of tourist moral values. Recommended future research directions include theoretical development studies in the hospitality sector, cross-cultural comparisons, investigation, of under-researched tourism sectors, and new research methodologies. This review provides an overview of research on the attitude–behavior gap and the intention–behavior gap in sustainable tourism. Our study proposes a new framework for the attitude–behavior gap and the intention–behavior gap, departing from the theory of planned behavior. We identify direct and indirect factors that influence sustainable tourist behavior, with sustainable tourist attitude and intention serving as mediators. Overall, our findings offer valuable insights into the complex relationship between attitudes, intentions, and behaviors in sustainable tourism.

Current issues in tourism: Mitigating climate change in sustainable tourism research

This paper adopts a problematising review approach to examine the extent of mitigating climate change research in the sustainable tourism literature. As climate change has developed into an existential global environmental crisis and while tourism's emissions are still increasing, one would expect it to be at the heart of sustainable tourism research. However, from a corpus of 2573 journal articles featuring ‘sustainable tourism’ in their title, abstract, or keywords, only 6.5% covered climate change mitigation. Our critical content analysis of 35 of the most influential papers found that the current methods, scope and traditions of tourism research hamper effective and in-depth research into climate change. Transport, the greatest contributor to tourism's emissions, was mostly overlooked, and weak definitions of sustainability were common. Tight system boundaries, lack of common definitions and incomplete data within tourism studies appear to hamper assessing ways to mitigate tourism's contribution to climate change.

The contribution of economics to sustainable tourism research

This paper aims to identify and explore the interlinkages between sustainable tourism research and the study of economics with the goal of identifying main themes and gaps in the economics of sustainable tourism. It contributes to identifying the unique perspective that economics has contributed and can still contribute towards the sustainable tourism discourse. This review article retrieved and analysed 5593 papers using scientometric analysis. The findings indicate that economic theory and/or methods have had a clear influence on some, but not all clusters of sustainable tourism research. Clusters that are dominated by economic theory and methods include economic growth, climate change, the sharing economy and evolutionary framework. Current themes in economics, including migration, declining labour shares and rising inequality have not attracted attention in sustainable tourism research. Additionally, a much clearer focus on inter- and intragenerational effects, shadow prices and dealing with externalities deserves further scrutiny. Gaps also exist in terms of laboratory studies, field experimental studies and the application of behavioural economics. This article also launches the special issue – the Economics of Sustainable Tourism – which includes ten blind-peer-reviewed papers.

Elements of Food Service Design for Low-Carbon Tourism-Based on Dine-In Tourist Behavior and Attitudes in China

One of the key issues in sustainable tourism research is the gap between tourists’ expressed friendly attitudes towards sustainable behaviors and their actual behaviors. Although many “low-carbon” themed restaurants have emerged during the low-carbon transformation of the Chinese tourism industry, low-carbon food services have not been significantly improved. This study takes food as the entry point to explore tourists’ behavior and attitudes towards low-carbon tourism in relation to food. We conducted two interviews. The first interview was a semi-structured contextual interview with 120 tourists who had experiences in food streets, aiming to identify the core user group: low-carbon attitude-friendly tourists with high-carbon food behaviors. The second interviews was an in-depth interview based on grounded theory with 29 core users, analyzing the four main reasons for their high-carbon food behaviors and their requirements for low-carbon food services in tourism. Based on this, we extracted four design elements for low-carbon tourism food services: low-carbon information show service, low-carbon service product attractiveness improvement, low-carbon food environment atmosphere creation, and service providers’ low-carbon behaviors. Through these four service elements, we constructed a low-carbon tourism food service design framework based on the core users’ needs, discussed the mechanism of service elements, and provided service design suggestions accordingly. The research results can be helpful for tourism providers, low-carbon tourism researchers, and designers.

Environmental CSR, Customer Equity Drivers, and Travelers’ Critical Outcomes: A Stimulus–Organism–Response Framework

While environmental corporate social responsibility (CSR) has gained increased attention in sustainable tourism research, little is known about its impacts on customers in the context of the airlines. This study investigates the impact of environmental CSR on two critical customer outcomes, namely, purchase intention (PI) and switching behavior (SB). In light of the stimulus–organism–response (S-O-R) framework, this study further examines the joint mediating impact of customer equity drivers (CEDs) in the previously mentioned relationships. With a sample of Iranian air travelers, the results of the structural equation model revealed that environmental CSR significantly affects CEDs. While CEDs predict PI, they failed to reduce SB. Hence, CEDs jointly mediate the impact of environmental CSR on PI only. The results of the current study reveal nuances in the service marketing research by extending the impact of environmental CSR on travelers’ PI and SB via CEDs. Theoretical and practical implications are provided.

Progress in Sustainable Tourism Research: An Analysis of the Comprehensive Literature and Future Research Directions

Sustainable tourism must maintain a high level of customer satisfaction, raise awareness of sustainability concerns, and spread sustainable tourism practices among them. Several earlier studies have measured sustainable tourism in various regions of the world, but a thorough review of it is rare. Thus, the study is founded on a comprehensive literature review to evaluate the current research level and to provide guidelines for future research on sustainable tourism. The paper’s first section clarifies and analyzes a broad overview of existing studies. While a tabulated presentation of studies, which consists of the author, significant objectives, methods, and critical results, is broadly given in the second part. The third part of the study highlights the critical analysis of the existing literature on sustainable tourism and research gaps. This study makes a significant positive contribution to sustainable tourism research. It is beneficial for aspiring researchers conducting subsequent research studies since it offers a research pathway to advance the field’s literature. The broad domains of sustainability, issues related to sustainable infrastructure and services, livelihood, and management of tourism destinations are the critical areas that scientific research studies could further explore. The results of this study show that most studies lack depth in proper analysis, methodology, geographical variances, empirical analysis, and real-world application.

Sustainable tourism: analysis of methods and applications in the Indonesian tourism journals

This study departs from an observational study of sustainable tourism research articles published in the Indonesia tourism journals, which was analyzed by content analysis. This study aims to get a complete picture of what and how the manifestation of sustainable tourism research articles in Indonesia has been carried out, especially in methods and its applications. The authors found that tourism journals only occupied a small fraction (0.43%). Twenty-six tourism journals and 304 articles were identified. This study found that most methods used by sustainable tourism researchers generally replicate existing methods; there has been rarely development and or innovation of research methods. Qualitative research far outperforms quantitative and mixed methods, where descriptive qualitative research is the most significant. The application of the study is relatively evenly distributed on the dimensions of sustainable tourism and geographic area, but less on stakeholders and management functions. The authors conclude that the trend of sustainable tourism research published in Indonesian tourism journals is increasing. Tourism researchers are scattered from various parts of Indonesia, but tourism journals in Indonesia have not been able to attracted significant interest of the international research community yet. There has never been an assessment of the journal's methods and applications for sustainable tourism research in Indonesia. Therefore, this paper is beneficial as a reference for sustainable tourism researchers in the future.

Research on the Impact of Media Credibility on Risk Perception of COVID-19 and the Sustainable Travel Intention of Chinese Residents Based on an Extended TPB Model in the Post-Pandemic Context

This study is the first to examine the impact of media credibility on the sustainable travel intention of Chinese residents in the post-pandemic context. Specifically, the mechanisms by which media credibility influenced the sustainable travel intentions of Chinese residents through risk perception are studied. This study developed an extended theory of planned behavior (TPB) model and used a structural equation model (SEM) to analyze the 1219 valid samples received from online questionnaires. The results revealed that media credibility has a negative impact on risk perception of COVID-19 in the post-pandemic context. This suggested that trusted media, messages, and information sources can reduce the risk perception of COVID-19 when individuals contemplate travel. Risk perception negatively affects subjective norms, attitudes, and perceived behavioral control, while these three variables positively influence sustainable travel intention. Significantly, subjective norms have a stronger impact on the sustainable travel intention of Chinese residents than the remaining variables, demonstrating that, in a collective society, an individual’s intention to travel is more susceptible to influence by government sanctions as well as the unsupported opinions of their family and friends. This study makes up for the lack of focus on the media in sustainable tourism research and provides novel insights for future studies.

What Motivates Tourists’ Responsible Behavior? An Investigation Based on the Extensive Socialized Model of UTAUT

Motivating tourists’ responsible behaviors during their trip has emerged as an essential yet insufficient investigated topic in sustainable tourism research. Ration-based and socialization-based motivators have to be integrated to address the lack of a holistic antecedent framework of responsible tourism behavior. Thus, this study extended the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) into responsible tourism behavior learning and combined the theory of social influence to establish an extensive socialized model of UTAUT to explain tourists’ adoption of responsible behavior behaviors. This model includes three tourism elements—sustainable benefits, sustainable facility accessibility, social interaction engagement as antecedents, and two types of mediators: ration-based mediators of performance expectation and effort expectation and socialization-based mediators of informative influence and normative influence. 491 Chinese tourists were surveyed to confirm this model. It is found that all four mediators explain tourists’ responsible behaviors. Moreover, sustainable benefits positively influence tourists’ performance and effort expectation and social interaction engagement positively influences informative and normative influences, while sustainable facility accessibility positively leads to effort expectation and normative influence.

Voluntourism inspiring change in service of the common good: The mediating role of volunteer travelers

Voluntourism has always been portrayed as a crucial role in developing economies. However, as voluntourism evolves and expands, a question of sustainability arises. The majority of populaces served by short-term volunteer trips are predisposed communities. Thus, this raises ethical questions such as voluntourism as a savior or impediment to communities. This study examines the attractiveness of volunteer tourists in recent years in Cambodia and India and how it contributes to future sustainable tourism research. The paper uses KH Coder to collect primary data for the quantitative analysis of text data. Moreover, the paper applies an exploratory approach using content analysis of participant reviews to identify the critical dimensions of experiences. Based on the analysis of trends in voluntourism and their ecosystem, an approach to the sustainable development strategy of voluntourism actors is proposed. First, voluntourism operators and host organizations, a pivotal element of the development strategy of voluntourism infrastructure, are considered. It was revealed that there is a nexus between the well-being of the community/business opportunities and experienced voluntourists. Consequently, these voluntourism activities may provide intrinsic gains for them and the targeted communities, plus its support toward corporate social responsibility. Acknowledgment This study received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Exploring Various Tourism and Its Implication

This article reviews the development of tourism. Indigenous communities to stabilize Tourism as a tool is increasingly viewed, Many of them are looking forward to tourism for a better future. The Australian federal and, more recently, emerging interventions of state / territorial governments seek to develop tourism policies that facilitate market growth and product development in the domestic sector. Two discussions will explore the effects of tourism on their livelihood and Botany in terms of lifestyle. Interviews and Based on personal observations with Potek, we consider Impact of the tourism community. There is no limit to tourism, along with Podek's responses to tourists' expectations and their native development. Evaluating and adequately considering the views of residents when planning tourism development, in any kind of tourism activities before investing Is an important step, as it is an important element in enhancing the sustainability of tourism and the traditional Proximity. That is, “ Between apartments Perceptual distance and traditional development in a particular area. A series of trends have been identified that describe the development of sustainable tourism research. Theoretical discussions of these findings, Proper technique and For practical implications for sustainable tourism development Present the contribution of the magazine. For sustainable tourism research Future directions are also discussed.

Predictors of Viewing YouTube Videos on Incheon Chinatown Tourism in South Korea: Engagement and Network Structure Factors

YouTube has become an increasingly popular source of tourism information. The purpose of this study is to explore the network structures of YouTube videos about Incheon’s Chinatown in South Korea and investigate the potential factors that can predict the viewing of these videos. The analysis of 104 videos about Incheon Chinatown revealed that the engagement factors assessed by the number of comments and likes, and the running time of content, were significant predictors of viewing. However, network structure factors did not predict viewing. These findings make valuable contributions to sustainable tourism research and provide practical guidance for tourism management.