Keep It Smart and Sustainable: A Bibliometric Analysis

Abstract

There is no doubt that tourism is one of the most important economic activities worldwide. Also, it is a scientific field of study with growing relevance in the academic circle. Smart tourism and sustainable tourism are two contemporary trends of tourism development. The combination of both smart and sustainable tourism paradigms is a brand-new concept in which smart tourism’s pattern of technology, tourism and local development, and sustainable tourism’s principles of development and equity in the economic, environmental, social and cultural spheres, can bring much more advantages for tourism as an economic activity and for all the stakeholders involved. Through a bibliometric analysis, a method of content analysis and metrics that makes it possible to delineate conceptual evolutions and trends in scientific fields, a total of 19 papers were found covering the two tourism paradigms. The results presented (only part of a more complete and in-depth analysis) reveal that this investigation theme is still scarce, very recent and mainly produced in Europe.