Investigating the Evolution of Sport Tourism: Identifying Future Research Trends

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 PhD of Business Management, Faculty of Management and Accounting, Farabi College, University of Tehran, Iran.

2 College of Farabi, University of Tehran, Iran

3 Master Student of Business Management, Faculty of Management and Accounting, College of Farabi, University of Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate the evolution of sport tourism research and identify research gaps in the field. This descriptive-analytical research utilizes a bibliography and illustration method to achieve these goals. A total of 644 articles were extracted from the Web of Science database, and their bibliometric data were analyzed using VOS viewer software. The findings reveal the trend of publishing articles and citing them in recent years, while also outline the most cited articles, researchers, journals, and universities. Additionally, the primary country in the collaboration network was identified. Keyword co-occurrence analysis indicates that the majority of research in this field pertains to sport events and their management. The results also underscore a limited focus on the approach of service dominant logic and its derived concepts. Additional areas for future research include examining tourists' behavior as customers throughout all travel stages, investigating the impact of technology on sports tourism, and exploring tourists' behaviors.

Keywords