THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN NATURE TOURISM AND LOCAL PEOPLE: A BIBLIOMETRIC ANALYSIS REVIEW

This study analyzes 1,997 studies in the Web of Science database from 1982 to 2025 through a systematic literature review to determine the general trends in academic research examining the relationship between nature tourism and local communities.The review covers publications containing the terms "nature tourism" and "local community" in their titles, abstracts, and keywords.The data were evaluated using bibliometric analysis methods with VOSviewer, BibExcel, and Excel software.The findings show that most of the studies were written in English (1.893 documents) and were largely open access (94.8%).The year with the highest number of publications was 2024 (n=198), and the country with the most publications was the USA (n=443).Keyword analysis revealed that concepts such as "ecotourism," "sustainability," "conservation," and "climate change" were prominent.When looking at the keyword list, newly emerging terms include 'cultural ecosystem services', 'social-ecological systems', 'human-wildlife conflict', 'forest management', and 'nature-based solutions'.Geoffrey Wall was identified as the most prolific author, while the most frequently cited work was by Andereck K. L. et al. (2005) and Ap, J. (1992).When examining the results of the coauthorship/citation network, Butler, R. W. (1980) emerges as the most-cited author.The findings indicate that local community involvement is critical in the development of sustainable tourism policies; policymakers and practitioners can enhance inclusivity and long-term effectiveness by adopting community-centered approaches and prioritizing ecosystem conservation.