Digital tourism: A bibliometric study of trends and research

Digital advances are profoundly impacting consumer behaviour and industry dynamics, and the tourism sector stands to benefit significantly from these advances. This paper conducts a comprehensive bibliometric analysis focusing on the convergence of tourism and digitalisation. The study starts with the keywords ‘tourism’ and ‘digitalisation’ as the fundamental pillars of the study. With the help of a quantitative bibliometric analysis methodology, the current research seeks to delineate the prevalence and trajectory of these concepts within the scholarly literature. Using data from academic studies published between 2000 and 2024 and archived in the SCOPUS database, this study examines the development and prominence of relevant themes. The analysis identified 1437 studies. The number of studies conducted, especially after 2019, has increased significantly. When the keywords are analysed, the top three are ‘smart tourism,’ ‘big data,’ and ‘blockchain,’ respectively. When the link strength of the authors is examined, Chulmo Koo is in the first place, Dimitrios Buhalis is the most cited author, and among the journals, ‘Electronic Markets,’ ‘Tourism Review,’ and ’Sustainability’ are leading, respectively. In this context, some theoretical and practical suggestions are presented.