Tourist Tracking Techniques and Their Role in Destination Management: A Bibliometric Study, 2007–2023

Yarlein Ivama Julio Guerrero () and Francisco Teixeira Pinto Dias
Additional contact information
Yarlein Ivama Julio Guerrero: CiTUR Centre for Tourism Research, Development and Innovation, Polytechnic of Leiria, 2411-901 Leiria, Portugal
Francisco Teixeira Pinto Dias: CiTUR Centre for Tourism Research, Development and Innovation, Polytechnic of Leiria, 2411-901 Leiria, Portugal

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 9, 1-24

Abstract: The tourism industry has recently undergone a significant evolution because of the implementation of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). These changes have raised new conceptions of destinations, thus giving rise to smart destinations. In this context, digital tracking of tourists has become of great interest. This article aims to analyze the research landscape on tourist tracking through a bibliometric study, which allows the evaluation of the performance of publications, recognition of the prominent SciVal topics, analysis of the evolution of the techniques, and recognition of their use as a tool that contributes to the development of smart destinations. Unlike prior studies in this area, in addition to the performance analysis of publications, this paper focuses only on empirical studies on tourist tracking, identifies the prominent SciVal topics, and analyzes the linkage thereof with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The bibliometric study was carried out based on articles on tourist tracking extracted from the Scopus database and published between 2007 and 2023. This research is mainly quantitative, based on research performance analysis (journals, authors, institutions, and countries) and science mapping (citation analysis, co-word analysis, co-authorship analysis). Results show the quality of the publications made in the 2007–2023 period and indicate that the most used techniques have been GPS devices, social media, and app-based GPS/GNSS. In addition, it was found that the evolution of the techniques occurred at the same time as the development of ICT and that the prominent SciVal topic that covers the largest number of publications is associated with destination management. It is concluded that the application of tourist tracking techniques contributes to the transformation of destinations into smart destinations, as they provide useful relevant information to tourism market stakeholders for the development of strategies that improve decision-making and allow for the sustainable management of destinations.

Keywords: tourist tracking; big data; topic prominence; smart destinations; SDGs (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/9/3708/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/9/3708/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:9:p:3708-:d:1385265

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().