ESG research trends in tourism: A bibliometric analysis and future directions

Type of the article: Research ArticleAbstractThis bibliometric analysis aims to delineate the dominant research trends in the existing literature and identify prospective avenues for future inquiry regarding ESG in tourism. Drawing on 478 peer-reviewed publications from the Scopus database (1978–2024), the analysis utilizes the PRISMA framework for systematic screening and VOSviewer software for visualization. The findings indicate that although ESG-related concepts began to emerge in the late 1970s and the term “ESG” was officially introduced in 2004, its integration into tourism research has only accelerated since 2016. The study identifies the United Kingdom, China, and Spain as the leading contributors to this domain, with significant research activity also observed in other European and Asian countries. Additionally, journals such as Sustainability, International Journal of Hospitality Management, and Journal of Sustainable Tourism serve as the primary publication platforms. Keyword co-occurrence analysis reveals five dominant thematic clusters: (1) CSR toward customers and financial performance, (2) CSR toward destinations and communities, (3) CSR toward employees, (4) CSR in the context of COVID-19, and (5) ESG and sustainable development. This study identifies two primary gaps in the existing literature: first, a predominant focus on CSR, suggesting that in-depth studies specifically dedicated to ESG remain relatively limited; and second, a significant dearth of research on digital transformation. The study proposes a comprehensive future research agenda for ESG in tourism, with a specific focus on exploring the integration of digital transformation across all ESG-related topics as a critical driver for advancing ESG practices in the tourism industry.AcknowledgmentThis study was partially funded by University of Economics, Hue University, under grant number NNC.ĐHKT.2023.09.