A Global Scientometric Visualization Analysis of Rural Tourism from 2000 to 2021

Abstract

Rural tourism, as an emerging industry formed by the integration of various industries, has gradually become an essential method of rural economic development. However, few studies have comprehensively addressed how it develops. This paper aims to reveal the major trends and hotspots in the field of rural tourism in the past two decades. A scientometric visualization analysis was applied to the publications on this theme collected from the Web of Science database between 2000 and 2021. The results are shown as follows: (1) There was an overall increasing trend in rural tourism research globally from 2000 to 2021, with an average increase of 74 papers per year. However, the average citations for these papers are declining in recent years, dropping from 20.1 in 2016 to 13.2 in 2020. China, Spain, and the United States ranked in the top three in terms of the number of papers. (2) The most cited journals were The Journal of Agriculture and Environment, Tourism Planning and Development, and Tourism Management, with an average of 45.62, 39.15, and 29.22 citations, respectively. (3) The research hotspots showed obvious differences and characteristics in the two stages of 2000–2007 and 2007–2021. The sustainable development of rural tourism has become a hot topic, and will play an important role in achieving integrated urban and rural development and rural revitalization.