Sustainable Tourism: Systematic Literature Review and Future Research Agenda

Abstract

Sustainable tourism has become a prominent topic in both academic and policy debates because of its ability to harmonize economic growth with environmental protection and socio-cultural advancement. It is a responsible way of developing tourism activities by considering environmental, social, and economic impacts of tourism. The aim of the research is to probe the key trends of sustainable tourism research through reviewing existing literatures. The present study also tries to explore the challenges existing in the current research on sustainable tourism. The information search for the study was carried out in the Scopus database from 2020-2024 via systematic search of keywords such as “Sustainable tourism”, “Green tourism” and “Eco tourism”. The identified research studies were screen using inclusion and exclusion criteria by using Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMSA) guidelines. Nine articles were included for the study after a critical appraisal and screening. The results reveal dominant research areas, such as ecotourism, community- based tourism, and responsible tourism and also highlighting underexplored research areas like the digital transformation, climate resilience strategies, and stakeholder collaboration.