A bibliometric analysis of ecotourism: A safeguard strategy in protected areas

doi:10.1016/j.regsus.2022.03.001

Abstract

Abstract:

Ecotourism projects are mostly implemented in naturally fragile ecosystems as a savior of nature, culture, and indigenous people. This paper aims to make quantitative study of ecotourism in protected areas by using bibliometric analysis. VOSviewer, a popular bibliometric software, was used to analyze as many as 1182 research articles published from 2002 to 2020. Those articles were collected from the Scopus database. The study measured three distinct types of bibliometric indicators (quantity, quality, and structural indicators) to analyze the published articles scientifically. The analysis uncovers ecotourism research in protected areas as an emerging and predominant field of research with a sound growth in annual publications and citations. Importantly, the majority of ecotourism research articles are published in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, South Africa, Canada, and China. Nevertheless, ecotourism as a relevant research theme of is getting due importance in African and Asian countries for two key reasons: (1) wildlife and tribal populations, and (2) uncontaminated ecology and environment of ecotourism sites. Further, the main research themes of articles in the field of ecotourism in protected areas are broadly focused on conservation, visitor management, and community. Our findings reveal that controversial issues surrounding ecotourism and its relationship to protected areas, dominated by human-wildlife conflict, gender, and climate change, are attracting the attention of researchers worldwide.

Key words: Ecotourism, Protected areas Bibliometric analysis Sustainable development, VOSviewer

Uswathul HASANA, Sampada Kumar SWAIN, Babu GEORGE. A bibliometric analysis of ecotourism: A safeguard strategy in protected areas[J]. Regional Sustainability, 2022, 3(1): 27-40.

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No.	Keywords	Number of articles
1	“Ecotourism” AND “Protected Area”	778
2	“Ecotourism” AND “Strict Nature Reserve”	4
3	“Ecotourism” AND “Wilderness Area”	32
4	“Ecotourism” AND “National Park”	608
5	“Ecotourism” AND “Natural Monument”	4
6	“Ecotourism” AND “Natural Feature”	11
7	“Ecotourism” AND “Habitat Management Area”	1
8	“Ecotourism” AND “Species Management Area”	1
9	“Ecotourism” AND “Protected Landscape”	5
10	“Ecotourism” AND “Protected Seascape”	0
11	“Ecotourism” AND “Protected Area with Sustainable Use of Natural Resources”	0
12	“Ecotourism” AND “Protected Area” OR “Strict Nature Reserve” OR “Wilderness Area” OR “National Park” OR “Natural Monument” OR “Natural Feature” OR “Habitat Management Area” OR “Protected Landscape”^*	1182

Rank	Title	Total citations	Authors	Journal name
1	Ecological footprint analysis as a tool to assess tourism sustainability	344	Gossling et al. (2002)	Ecological Economics
2	Towards a synthesized critique of neoliberal biodiversity conservation	293	Büscher et al. (2012)	Capitalism, Nature, Socialism
3	Testing the dimensionality of place attachment and its relationships with place satisfaction and pro-environmental behaviours: A structural equation modeling approach	264	Ramkissoon et al. (2013)	Tourism Management
4	Can ecotourism interpretation really lead to pro-conservation knowledge, attitudes and behaviour? Evidence from the Galapagos Islands	207	Powell and Ham (2008)	Journal of Sustainable Tourism
5	Collaboration theory and tourism practice in protected areas: Stakeholders, structuring and sustainability	205	Jamal and Stronza (2009)	Journal of Sustainable Tourism
6	A spectacular eco-tour around the historic bloc: Theorising the convergence of biodiversity conservation and capitalist expansion	187	Igoe et al. (2010)	Antipode
7	Place attachment and pro-environmental behaviour in national parks: The development of a conceptual framework	172	Ramkissoon et al. (2012)	Journal of Sustainable Tourism
8	Community participation in ecotourism benefits: The link to conservation practices and perspectives	163	Stem et al. (2003)	Society and Natural Resources
9	Overnight ecotourist market segmentation in the gold coast hinterland of Australia	162	Weaver and Lawton (2002)	Journal of Travel Research
10	Minimizing visitor impacts to protected areas: The efficacy of low impact education programs	160	Marion and Reid (2007)	Journal of Sustainable Tourism