review · Sustainable Development
The COVID-19 pandemic heavily disrupted worldwide economies and hindered progress toward the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, with the tourism and hospitality sector experiencing severe impacts. To understand how academic research responded to these challenges, an investigation using bibliometric analysis and science mapping examined Scopus literature published between January 2020 and September 2022. The study evaluated leading journals, organisations, nations, authors, impactful publications, and emerging thematic structures. Findings indicate that research addressing sustainability within tourism and hospitality during this era remains at an early stage. Most existing studies focus on responsible consumption and production, good health and well-being, and decent work and economic growth. From the mapping of emerging knowledge areas, eight core propositions were developed alongside an agenda to direct future academic investigations.
The global health crisis disrupted tourism and slowed progress on international sustainability targets. By identifying where current research is concentrated and revealing knowledge gaps across sustainable development goals, this synthesis provides a clear roadmap for researchers and sector leaders seeking to align recovery strategies with wider environmental and economic priorities.
The work represents early-stage bibliometric research that charts academic literature rather than testing a direct market intervention. While sector strategists, tourism operators, and policymakers could consult the identified themes to guide sustainable recovery priorities, the abstract does not indicate an immediate commercialisation pathway.
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Abstract The onset of COVID ‐19 has challenged economies and industries globally and thwarted their contributions towards the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals ( UNSDGs ). In coping with the COVID ‐19‐related challenges, the global tourism and hospitality industry is also affected to its worst level. Thus, researchers employed bibliometric analysis and a science mapping approach to investigate the structure of the contemporary sustainable issues in tourism and hospitality research during COVID ‐19, the most productive and impactful research constituents (journals, organizations, countries, and authors), the most impactful research works, the major emerging research themes, and the agenda for future research. The results of the bibliographic data (Scopus, Jan 2020–Sep 2022) analysis revealed that research in the selected field is still at a very nascent stage. The majority of the research papers focus on ‘responsible consumption and production ( UNSDG ‐12)’, ‘good health and well‐being ( UNSDG ‐3)’, and ‘decent work and economic growth ( UNSDG ‐8)’. The science mapping approach led to the development of eight propositions related to the emerging themes of knowledge. The researchers have discussed each research theme in detail and laid out an agenda for future research.
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DOI: 10.1002/sd.2636
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