Wetland Tourism: A Bibliometric Analysis (1985-2022)

The peculiarity of wetlands tourism has become an important component of the worldwide tourism industry. This study aims to conduct a bibliometric analysis of wetland tourism from 1985 to 2022. To accomplish this goal, the search terms "Wetland" AND"Ecotourism" OR "Tourism" were entered into the "Scopus" database, and bibliometric information about the publications was gathered. During the initial search using the “Scopus” database, 1162 papers were found. After applying different filters 533 articles to conduct bibliometric analysis. The authors used performance analysis and science mapping methods along with data visualisation software, i.e. VOS viewer and RStudio (Biblioshiny). The results included citations analysis, most frequently cited papers, the most productive authors, countries, year-wise publications, co-occurrence of authors’ keywords and co-citation analysis, word cloud. The study enhanced wetland tourism by identifying the most influential authors, top journals, top keywords, themes, and future research directions. The findings revealed three papers with more than 350 “Scopus” citations. The paper by Lee, TH received 51.18 citations per year and China made the most contribution in terms of articles on wetland tourism according to “Scopus” database. This study helps to understand current trends and suggest new directions in the field of wetland tourism.