International Journal of Tourism ISSN: 2963-4288.
Vol 3.
No.
2, 2024, 1-11
https://ejournal.
A Bibliometric Analysis of Ecotourism Development for Sustainable Tourism Eko Haryanto1*.
Kiki Rizki Makiya2.
Fitria Noviati3 Sekolah Tinggi Pariwisata Ambarrukmo Yogyakarta.
Indonesia thomexs@stipram.
id, kikirizkimakiya@stipram.
id, fitrianoviati@stipram.
Abstract: Sustainable tourism development is a widely applied concept in various regions, both in Indonesia and Ecotourism, in particular, is a form of tourism activity that ensures the implementation of sustainable tourism.
The theme of ecotourism has been extensively researched in various countries.
Ecotourism has become a significant research theme over the last two decades, yielding critical results on environmental and natural conditions.
Purpose: This study aims to examine research in the field of ecotourism and sustainable tourism from 2018 to 2023.
Research methods: Using Publish or Perish (PoP) software to gather data from the Google Scholar database, specifically focusing on journal articles with the keywords "ecotourism" AND "sustainable tourism.
" A total of 500 journal articles were collected and the data in the Research Information System (RIS) format.
I then entered this data into the Mendeley Article History References application and processed the tabulated data Received on 09 July 2024 using Microsoft Excel.
The data was further analyzed using Revised on 25 July 2024 VosViewer software to map research topics and interpret their Accepted on 10 August 2024 relationships and relevance values.
Results and discussions: The results of the analysis show that research with the theme of ecotourism has indeed been widely carried out and has a close relationship with similar research themes as following existing research clusters.
Conclusion: Specific themes such as marine ecotourism, ecotourism management, local communities, ecotourism projects, sustainable development, relationships, and sustainable tourism are likely to be important research areas in the future.
It's worth noting that the journal articles obtained from the Google Scholar database may include articles from both accredited and non-accredited journals.
For future research, it would be beneficial to use more credible databases such as Web of Science or Scopus to ensure that the articles collected are widely reviewed and credible, as they are published in reputable journals.
Keywords: Sustainable Tourism.
Ecotourism, bibliometric INTRODUCTION Sustainable tourism development is a widely applied concept in various regions, both in Indonesia and abroad.
Ecotourism, in particular, is a form of tourism activity that ensures the implementation of sustainable tourism.
It is considered a tool for protecting the environment economically, socially, culturally, and environmentally in the process of developing tourism in a region.
Most ecotourism development occurs in fragile ecosystems, serving as a means to preserve nature, culture, and indigenous people (Hasana et al.
, 2.
Additionally, developing tourism with the ecotourism concept provides educational learning and experiences for tourists, contributing to the goal of protecting the interconnected ecosystem between humans, animals, and nature.
Furthermore, ecotourism empowers local communities to be directly involved in the management and development of facilities and Therefore, the infrastructure necessary for ecotourism development needs to be seriously considered.
Regional governments and various local stakeholders must unite and share a common vision in their efforts to develop appropriate ecotourism (Heshmati et al.
The theme of ecotourism has been extensively researched in various countries.
Most of the research on ecotourism is published in the United States.
United Kingdom.
Australia.
South Africa.
Canada, and China.
Nonetheless, it is increasingly important to carry out research on ecotourism in African and Asian countries (Hasana et al.
, 2.
Ecotourism has become a significant research theme over the last two decades, yielding critical results on environmental and natural conditions (Fennell, 2.
The development of ecotourism can provide effective solutions for implementing various conservation activities essential for environmental sustainability in the future (Das & Chatterjee, 2.
To attract tourists, tourist destinations must provide unique environmental and local cultural values (Asadpourian.
Furthermore, ecotourism activities can contribute to the economic resilience of a region (Tawfik & Sarhan, 2.
LITERATUR REVIEW
Ecotourism is responsible travel to this natural area protecting the environment, supporting the well-being of local communities, and including interpretation and education (Stronza et al.
Ecotourism is a strategy that supports the conservation and provision of Income for communities in and around the reserve.
The declaration states that ecotourism:
A actively promote the conservation of natural and cultural heritage.
A involving local and Indigenous communities in planning, development, and operations and improving their welfare.
A interpreting the destination's natural and cultural heritage for visitors, e.
A Ideal for independent and organized travelers, and small group tours (Das & Chatterjee, 2.
Sustainable tourism is the development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs (Stronza et al.
, 2.
Furthermore, sustainable tourism is how tourism has improved living standards and introduced positive cultural changes at the local level.
Such changes can also occur at a global level as an effort to promote sustainable tourism is increasingly being framed within climate management change Stakeholders hold difficult dialogues and tourism promotion authorities who recognize the need for sustainable tourism products are also working to create tourism more sustainable.
Travelers who care about sustainability do too aiming to create a 'better world', as they journey with social responsibility in mind.
Generally, the host community and tourists work together to create a more sustainable environment world although the process is uneven and often difficult (Budeanu et al.
, 2.
RESEARCH METHODS
This research uses the Bibliometric analysis method.
In general, bibliometric analysis can be used to analyze scientific literature quantitatively with the help of bibliometric indicators (Choudhri et al.
, 2.
There are four stages in this research, including the stage of determining data search keywords, the data search stage, data preparation/tabulation, and the last is data analysis.
Determining keywords In 2023, we conducted research using "Ecotourism" and "Sustainable Tourism" as keywords for data searches.
We used the Publish or Perish (PoP) software with a database from Google Scholar (GS).
We chose Publish or Perish for its quick, precise, and accurate data collection capabilities, which have been widely used in bibliometric research worldwide.
Google Scholar was selected as the data source due to its extensive database of research results and easy International Journal of Tourism ISSN: 2963-4288.
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Data Search Data searches using the Publish or Perish software were carried out with several restrictions, including only 500 types of publications in scientific journal articles published in the last 6 years .
8 Ae 2.
Next, the data search results from Publish or Perish are saved in Research Information System (RIS) format.
Data compilation/tabulation The data collected was checked for completeness of the article components, including the year of publication, volume, number, edition, and number of pages, using the Mendeley Reference application.
Data analysis The data analysis process in this research utilizes Vos Viewer software to visualize the bibliometric network.
Vos Viewer is chosen for its quick and efficient data analysis capabilities, providing compelling visualizations.
The software can generate publications, authors, and journal maps based on keyword similarities.
The data analysis process can be outlined as Figure 1.
Design of the Study RESULT AND DISCUSSIONS The search results using the Publish or Perish software from the Google Scholar database for the period of the last 6 years .
yielded 500 articles on the topic of Ecotourism.
Upon further scrutiny, 3 articles were deemed unsuitable and subsequently excluded from the tabulated data.
A comparison between the initial raw data and the refined data can be found in Table 1.
Table 1.
Raw Data Matrix and Refinement Data Keywords journal, "ecotourism" and "sustainable tourism" from 2018 Source Google Scholar Google Scholar Raw Data Repair Data Papers Citations Years Cites_Year Cites_Paper Cites_Author Papers_Author Authors_Paper h_index International Journal of Tourism ISSN: 2963-4288.
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g_index hc_index hI_index Cites_Author_Year According to the data in Table 1, the Publish or Perish (PoP) software collected a total of 500 articles using the search keywords "Ecotourism" and "sustainable tourism," which have been cited 6,684 times.
This indicates that research on ecotourism and sustainable tourism is both widely studied and frequently cited.
The researcher's productivity index .
is 38, and the research citation distribution index .
is 56, showing that these topics are of significant interest.
Additionally, there is no notable disparity between the raw and adjusted data in terms of the number of citations, h index, and g index.
Table 2.
Number of Publications Total Average Year Total Citations Publications citations/publications According to the data presented in Table 2, the number of publications on ecotourism and sustainable tourism was highest in 2021 and 2022, with 109 publications each.
The articles published in 2019 received the highest number of citations, totaling 1670 since their On the other hand, articles published in 2018 had the highest average number of citations per publication, with 66 articles cited a total of 1436 times, resulting in an average of 54 citations per publication.
Table 3.
Ranking Top 5 Publishers Publishers Number of Publications Taylor & Francis Elsevier Cujo.
The period from 2018 to 2023 saw numerous publishers releasing research articles on the topic of Ecotourism and Sustainable Tourism.
However, the number of articles varied widely among the publishers.
In the provided Table 3, you can see the top 5 publishers ranked by the volume of articles published during this period.
Taylor & Francis topped the list by publishing 141 articles, followed by Researchgate.
net with 31 articles.
Elsevier with 24 articles, and Cujo.
id and Emerald.
com with 15 articles each.
Other publishers not included in the table published less than 15 articles each.
Table 4.
Top 10 Cited Articles Cites Author Title Publisher GSRank CitesPerYear 174 T.
Lee.
Ecotourism behaviour of Jan nature-based tourists: An .
integrative framework 156 E.
Mondino.
Ecotourism as a learning Taylor &Francis Beery tool for sustainable .
The case of International Journal of Tourism ISSN: 2963-4288.
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Cites Author Fletcher Tseng.
et all .
Li.
, et all .
Mtapuri.
Giampiccoli .
Title Monviso Transboundary Biosphere Reserve.
Italy Ecotourism after nature:
Anthropocene tourism as a new Capitalist AufixAy Ecotourism development in Thailand: Community participation leads to the value of attractions using linguistic preferences Experiences, post-trip destination image, satisfaction, and loyalty: A study in an ecotourism Tourism, communitybased tourism and ecotourism: a definitional Publisher GSRank CitesPerYear Taylor & Francis Elsevier Journals.
Elsevier In table 4, we can see that the article "Ecotourism behavior of nature-based tourists: An integrative framework" by Lee .
received the most citations, with a total of 174.
This article was published by Sage Journal and has an average of 34.
80 citations per year.
second place is "Ecotourism as a learning tool for sustainable development.
The case of Monviso Transboundary Biosphere Reserve.
Italy" by Mondino .
, published by Taylor & Francis, with 156 total citations and an average of 39 citations per year.
The article "Ecotourism after nature: Anthropocene tourism as a new Capitalist 'fix'" by Fletcher .
, also published by Taylor & Francis, follows in third place with 128 total citations and an average of 32 citations per year.
Furthermore, an article by Tseng et al.
on "Ecotourism development in Thailand: Community participation leads to the value of attractions using linguistic preferences," published by Elsevier, has been cited 101 times, with an average of 25 citations per year.
Lastly, an article by Li et al.
on "Experiences, post-trip destination image, satisfaction, and loyalty: A study in an ecotourism context," published by za, has been cited 92 times, with an average of 23 citations per year.
Additionally, based on table 4, the article with the highest average citations per year is "Tourism, community-based tourism and ecotourism: a definitional problematic" by Mtapuri & Giampiccoli .
, published by Elsevier.
This article has been cited 92 times since its publication in 2021, which means it has received an average of 46 citations per year.
Table 5.
Publication Mapping Cluster Relevance Cluster Term Occurrences ecotourism area ecotourism management local community marine ecotourism sustainable ecotourism International Journal of Tourism ISSN: 2963-4288.
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sustainable tourism ecotourism project ecotourism industry ecotourism potential sustainable development protected area According to table 5, there have been 5 research clusters related to ecotourism over the past 5 years.
In cluster 1, the widely used keywords are ecotourism, ecotourism area, ecotourism management, local community, marine ecotourism, perspective, sustainability, and sustainable ecotourism.
The research on ecotourism has been conducted 368 times from 2018 to 2023, with a relevance value of 15.
The sustainability research topic has the highest relevance value in cluster 1 at 18.
In cluster 2, the research topics include environment, nature, sustainable tourism, tourism, and tourist, with occurrence rates ranging from 11 to 80 times, but the relevance value is low, less than 1%.
In Cluster 3, the research topics include Challenges.
Ecotourism projects.
Importance, and Opportunities.
Out of the 4 research topics, only one topic has a high relevance value of 16,709 or 16.
7%, while the other research topics have a relevance value of less than 1%.
Moving to cluster 4, the research topics include Ecotourism industry.
Ecotourism potential.
Prospect, and Sustainable In this cluster, two research topics have a high level of relevance, with the ecotourism potential research theme having the largest relevance value of 25.
research cluster 5, the topics include Cluster Protected area.
Relationship, and Satisfaction.
Out of the three research topics, only one topic has a relatively large relevance value of 10,106 10%, while the other two research topics have a relevance value of less than 1%.
Figure 2.
Visualization of Publication Network Mapping in the Ecotourism Sector International Journal of Tourism ISSN: 2963-4288.
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The image in Figure 2 displays 24 research topics divided into 5 clusters, each represented by a different colour: red for cluster 1, green for cluster 2, blue for cluster 3, yellow for cluster 4, and purple for research cluster 5.
In addition to the color-coded clusters, the visualization shows the closeness of the relationship between research topics through the distance of the lines connecting them.
The size of the label for each research topic indicates the volume of research done on that topic.
In the visualization above, the research topic of ecotourism has the largest label, indicating that it is the most frequently researched topic, with a total of 119 links and a network strength of 497.
Figure 3.
Visualization of Mapping of Cluster 2 Research Publications The visualization in green shows the research area of cluster 2, which includes research topics such as environment, nature, sustainable tourism, tourism, and tourists.
This means that within this cluster, research has been conducted on these topics.
An opportunity for further research could involve linking the topics of ecotourism management and local community, creating an interesting subject for discussion.
Figure 4.
Visualization of Cluster 3 Publication Mapping International Journal of Tourism ISSN: 2963-4288.
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In the visualization of cluster 3 publication mapping, represented by the blue line, there is a clear connection between research themes within the cluster itself.
These themes include challenges, ecotourism projects, importance, and opportunities.
Additionally, there are also links between research topics from different clusters, such as ecotourism, sustainable development, ecotourism management, and tourism.
Furthermore, there are potential research opportunities to explore connections with topics like local communities, marine tourism, and sustainable tourism in future studies.
Figure 5.
Visualization of Mapping of Cluster 4 Research Publications Visualization of cluster 4 research field mapping shows research topics related to the ecotourism industry, ecotourism potential, prospects, and sustainable development.
The ecotourism industry is closely related to ecotourism potential and prospects.
Therefore, future research development can be carried out by linking research topics between the ecotourism industry and ecotourism management, as well as tourist or customer satisfaction.
Figure 6.
Visualization of Mapping of Cluster 5 Research Publications The visualization of the 5th cluster research mapping in this research is purple, and it links research topics related to satisfaction and relationships.
Upon reviewing this research checklist, it is apparent that the research topics with purple lines are not connected to research International Journal of Tourism ISSN: 2963-4288.
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topics related to sustainability or management.
This presents an opportunity for the development of research topics in the future.
Figure 7.
Overlay Visualization Ecotourism The visual representation from VOSviewer, created through keyword co-occurrence analysis, demonstrates the evolving trends in recent research.
The visualization indicates various research topics color-coded in purple, blue, green, and yellow to represent the significance and novelty of each topic.
Journals colored blue generally have an impact factor below 1, while those in green have an impact factor around 2, and those in yellow have an impact factor of 3 or higher (Van Eck & Waltman, 2.
According to this representation, it seems that significant research has been conducted on the topic of ecotourism, given its large label with a bluish-green color.
This suggests that ecotourism research was prevalent in mid2020.
On the other hand, themes such as sustainable ecotourism, ecotourism industry, tourist, nature, relationships, and satisfaction appear as relatively new research themes, indicating potential opportunities for further investigation in these areas.
Figure 8.
Visualization of Research Density with the Ecotourism Theme International Journal of Tourism ISSN: 2963-4288.
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Based on Figure 8, which visualizes research density related to the theme of ecotourism, it's evident that ecotourism has the largest label size and the brightest colors.
According to Van Eck & Waltman .
, the larger the label size and the brighter the color, the more research has been conducted on a particular theme.
This indicates that a significant amount of research has been carried out on the topic of ecotourism.
However, there are still numerous opportunities for future research that can be connected to ecotourism.
Figure 7 also highlights that research on themes such as marine ecotourism, ecotourism management, local communities, ecotourism projects, sustainable development, relationships, and sustainable tourism has not been extensively explored yet.
CONCLUSION
In this research, bibliometric analysis was used to provide a comprehensive overview of the ecotourism research literature from 2018 to 2023.
The analysis of 500 journal articles revealed that research on ecotourism has been conducted globally, with specific themes such as marine ecotourism, ecotourism management, local communities, ecotourism projects, sustainable development, and sustainable tourism likely to be prominent in future research.
The study utilized the Google Scholar database, which includes articles from both reputable and non-accredited journals.
However, it is recommended that future research uses more credible databases like Web of Science or Scopus to ensure that the data collected are from reputable and widely reviewed journals.
REFERENCES