Shaping smart tourism: a bibliometric and benchmarking analysis of IoT trends

Abstract This work aims to analyze the emerging trends in IoT (Internet of Things) and how they can shape the future of the tourism sector. It uses the tool Biblioshiny for a bibliometric analysis on the Web of Science and a benchmarking exercise for a comparison with the global IoT trends. The cluster map obtained suggests that IoT, together with Big Data, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Blockchain, are the main pillars in leveraging service-scape toward a smarter/safer tourism. These trends converge into optimization, communications security, renewable energy, city automation, and customization. The benchmark analysis suggests that those pillars tend to join toward a level of more inclusive and co-creation supportive systems. This can revolutionize business models and can contribute to more sustainable digital services. Developing effective and sustainable IoT systems requires interdisciplinary research across tourism, data science, and public policy. Collaboration among academia, industry, and government is key to creating solutions that meet technical, social, and economic goals.