Mapping Contemporary Tourism Research: A Systematic Literature Review on Sustainable, Smart, and Inclusive Tourism Development
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.51713/jotis.2026.61138Keywords:
sustainable tourism, smart tourism, inclusive tourism, systematic literature review, tourism developmentAbstract
Contemporary tourism research has increasingly shifted toward integrated perspectives that combine sustainability, digital transformation, and social inclusion. This study aims to systematically map and synthesize scholarly developments in sustainable tourism, smart tourism, and inclusive tourism over the period 2015–2025. A Systematic Literature Review (SLR) approach was employed following the PRISMA framework to ensure transparency and rigor in the selection and analysis of relevant studies. Data were collected from major academic databases and screened based on predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria, resulting in 82 eligible articles for final analysis. The findings reveal four dominant thematic clusters, namely sustainable tourism governance, smart tourism technologies, inclusive tourism development, and post-pandemic tourism transformation. Sustainable tourism remains the most established research area, focusing on environmental management and community-based development, while smart tourism is rapidly expanding through the adoption of artificial intelligence, big data, and digital platforms. Inclusive tourism, although growing, remains comparatively underdeveloped and fragmented. The study also identifies an emerging convergence between sustainability and smart tourism, while inclusivity is still weakly integrated within existing frameworks. Methodologically, qualitative and bibliometric approaches dominate the literature, with limited longitudinal and comparative studies. This research contributes by providing a comprehensive conceptual mapping and highlighting the need for an integrated tourism development framework that unifies sustainability, smart technologies, and inclusivity. The findings offer theoretical and practical implications for researchers, policymakers, and destination managers in advancing holistic and future-oriented tourism development models.
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