Protected Areas and Nature-Based Tourism: A 30-Year Bibliometric Review

Sara Silva, Luís Filipe Silva and António Vieira ()
Additional contact information
Sara Silva: Communication and Society Research Centre (CECS), Institute of Social Sciences, University of Minho, 4800-058 Guimaraes, Portugal
Luís Filipe Silva: Centre for Research in Economics and Management (NIPE), School of Economics and Management, University of Minho, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal
António Vieira: Communication and Society Research Centre (CECS), Institute of Social Sciences, University of Minho, 4800-058 Guimaraes, Portugal

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 15, 1-25

Abstract: Nature-based tourism constitutes a major segment of world tourism. Protected areas are considered a popular theme in the literature, which is characterised by a great heterogeneity in concepts, contents, and purposes. This study analyses many of the indicators of interest related to the research on the themes of protected areas and nature-based tourism. Consequently, we aim to offer a global and updated vision of the research produced regarding these themes over the last 30 years. With bibliometric tools (Bibliometrix and VOSviewer), 1033 scientific articles were analysed. The results indicate that the research in this area exponentially increased in the last decade. Using a co-occurrence network of keywords, five major themes in this study were identified: (1) ecotourism; (2) nature conservation, biodiversity, and sustainability; (3) national parks, recreation, and climate change; (4) sustainable management and development; and (5) with a lesser degree of representation, themes related to China and ecosystem services. A timespan analysis on this network enabled the identification of six trends in the research over the last years: (i) sustainable tourism; (ii) climate change; (iii) geotourism and rural tourism; (iv) ecosystem services and cultural ecosystem services; (v); visitor studies; and (vi) wildlife tourism. Nature-based tourism plays a significant and crucial role in sustainable development. Analysing research in protected areas and nature-based tourism provides insights into key themes and emerging trends, serving as a valuable resource for knowledge advancement.

Keywords: protected areas; nature-based tourism; sustainability; bibliometric analysis; literature review (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/15/11698/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/15/11698/ (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:15:y:2023:i:15:p:11698-:d:1205549

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 ().