Image of sustainable tourism destinations in social media: a literature Review

Abstract

Introduction: The tourism sector faces increasing pressures to adopt sustainable practices that balance economic development, environmental protection, and social equity. This literature review examines research on sustainable tourism, user-generated content (UGC), and destination image, identifying trends and challenges. Materials: English articles indexed in Web of Science. Methodology: Through a bibliometric analysis using VOSviewer and Biblioshiny. Results and discussion: The results show an increase in scientific production between 2017 and 2024, with a notable increase in the use of terms such as "destination image" and "sustainable tourism". China, Spain and Portugal stand out as leaders in research, with China showing strong centrality and international collaboration. Conclusions: The study reveals the need to integrate sustainability terms into social media promotion by Destination Management Organizations (DMOs) and underlines the impact of Big Data on sustainable tourism. It is recommended to expand the review by using additional databases and further explore how sustainable practices can improve the image of the destination and mitigate the externalities of tourism, influencing UGC.