A Bibliometric Analysis of Sports Tourism and Sustainability (2002–2019)

Mercedes Jiménez-García, José Ruiz-Chico, Antonio Rafael Peña-Sánchez and José Antonio López-Sánchez
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Mercedes Jiménez-García: Department of General Economy and INDESS, University of Cádiz, 11405 Jerez de la Frontera, Spain
José Ruiz-Chico: Department of General Economy and INDESS, University of Cádiz, 11405 Jerez de la Frontera, Spain
Antonio Rafael Peña-Sánchez: Department of General Economy and INDESS, University of Cádiz, 11405 Jerez de la Frontera, Spain
José Antonio López-Sánchez: Department of History, Geography and Philosophy and INDESS, University of Cádiz, 11405 Jerez de la Frontera, Spain
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Mercedes Jiménez García

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 7, 1-18

Abstract: Sports tourism is a relatively recent type of tourism, which has grown significantly in recent times. Not all effects of tourism are positive, so the analysis of its sustainability has particular relevance; especially since the publication of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015. The growing concern about tourism and sustainability makes it essential to examine how scientific research has adapted to new realities. This paper uses bibliometric techniques to investigate research trends related to sports tourism and sustainability. VOSviewer and SciMAT software were used. A total of 214 articles from Web of Science (WoS) indexed journals were analyzed. The results confirmed that interest in the study of these concepts has been growing, especially in the last four years. This is a comparatively new field of research (since 2002), so consolidated relations between thematic areas have yet to be observed, and there is a generally low concentration of authors and journals. Increases in several publications in this area are related to the celebration of mega sporting events or the publication of SDGs. The main contribution of this analysis lies in identifying important research issues, such as education and destination planning, which should continue to be addressed.

Keywords: sustainable; SciMAT; VOSviewer; research trends; tourism; sport (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (28)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:7:p:2840-:d:340727

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