Mapping knowledge structures, research concentration, and governance visibility in technology-related sustainable tourism research

Abstract

Abstract This study maps the knowledge structures, research concentration, collaboration patterns, and governance visibility of technology-related sustainable tourism research. The analysis draws on 1,044 Scopus-indexed publications issued between 2010 and 2023 and applies bibliometric performance analysis and science-mapping techniques using VOSviewer. Publication growth, country and author co-authorship, keyword co-occurrence, and the occurrence and connectivity of governance- and evaluation-related terms were examined. A retrospective source-type audit and a sensitivity analysis based on a conservative journal-only subset (n = 611) were also conducted to assess the robustness of the findings. The results reveal rapid publication growth after 2020 and a prominent sustainability-technology core centred on sustainable development, smart tourism, artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, big data, and digital transformation. Publication output, citation visibility, and collaboration were concentrated within a limited group of countries and author communities. Governance- and evaluation-related terms were identifiable but remained less prominent and less connected than the dominant sustainability and technology concepts. The sensitivity analysis confirmed the stability of the principal patterns: the annual publication trends were nearly identical (r = 0.999), while nine of the ten leading countries and 18 of the 20 leading keywords were retained. The study contributes a diagnostic framework that combines knowledge structure, research concentration, and governance visibility to assess how technological sustainability claims are organised within tourism scholarship.