Pedagogical practices in tourism higher education: a systematic literature review

Introduction This paper focuses on teaching in higher education within the field of Tourism, presenting results of a systematic literature review (SLR) of academic papers published from 2019 to 2025 across various academic repositories. The study aims to answer the research question: What is the dominant educational discourse for knowledge production in tourism teaching practices? Methods The review identifies patterns, gaps, and dominant trends, focusing on academic literature from the Global North and Global South. Journal articles in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Icelandic, Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish were included due to the author's language fluency. The analysis was conducted in English and followed the PRISMA protocol for systematic reviews. Results The findings reveal an understanding of the academic publications concerning teaching practices in higher education for tourism, the theoretical and methodological approaches employed, and the types of knowledge most highly valued in academic contexts. Discussion The results highlight the importance of incorporating diverse perspectives and epistemologies through a decolonizing lens in tourism studies, aiming to promote more sustainable teaching approaches in the field. Furthermore, the study identifies existing gaps and encourages critical reflection on potential pedagogical innovations that support the epistemological decolonization of knowledge in tourism education.