Rural Tourism and Sustainable Development Research: Bibliometric Insights

Abstract

This study presents a bibliometric review of research on Rural Tourism and Sustainable Development published between 2015 and 2026, using a PRISMA-guided selection process and performance-based bibliometric indicators. Data were retrieved from the Scopus database using the keyword strategy “Rural Tourism” AND “Sustainable Development”. Following screening and eligibility restrictions (English language; article type; and subject area limits to Social Sciences, Business/Management/Accounting, and Economics/Finance), 1,386 articles were included for analysis. Results show strong growth in research output up to 2025, high collaboration intensity, concentration of publications in a few outlets (notably Sustainability), and a geographically dominant contribution led by China. Thematic mapping indicates that “sustainable development” and “rural tourism” remain central motor themes, while some geographically anchored and method-driven themes appear emerging.

Introduction

Rural tourism has become one of the fastest-growing segments of the global tourism economy, linking travel with local culture, nature-based resources, and community livelihoods. Unlike mass tourism concentrated in urban or coastal areas, rural tourism focuses on villages, agricultural landscapes, heritage sites, and ecologically sensitive regions. It provides authentic experiences such as farm stays, local cuisine, handicrafts, festivals, and indigenous traditions, while offering rural communities opportunities to diversify income, reduce poverty, promote entrepreneurship, and curb out-migration.

However, the expansion of tourism raises sustainability concerns. While it can stimulate economic growth and infrastructure development, it may also generate environmental degradation, waste, water stress, land-use change, rising costs of living, and cultural disruption. Rural destinations are particularly vulnerable due to fragile ecosystems, limited governance capacity, and weaker infrastructure. Therefore, integrating sustainable development principles into rural tourism planning is essential to ensure environmental protection, socio-cultural preservation, and long-term economic viability.

Given the growing academic interest in this intersection, research has expanded significantly over the past decade, covering themes such as community participation, governance, entrepreneurship, eco-tourism, heritage conservation, resilience, climate adaptation, and smart technologies. However, the rapid growth and diversification of literature make it difficult to systematically understand the field’s evolution, key contributors, collaboration networks, and emerging themes.

To address this gap, the study conducts a PRISMA-guided bibliometric analysis of Scopus-indexed articles published between 2015 and 2026 using the search terms “Rural Tourism” AND “Sustainable Development.” After applying filters (English language, peer-reviewed articles, relevant subject areas), a final dataset of 1,386 articles was analysed using Bibliometrix/Biblioshiny. The study evaluates annual publication trends, influential journals and authors, country contributions, collaboration patterns, citation impact, and thematic structures through keyword and science mapping techniques.

Findings show that although the dataset reports a negative annual growth rate (-8.09%), longitudinal analysis indicates a strong upward trend in publications, particularly after 2019, with a peak of 314 articles in 2025. The field demonstrates high scholarly impact (18.57 average citations per article) and strong collaboration patterns (average 3.47 co-authors per article; 26.26% international collaboration). The presence of over 4,000 author keywords reflects thematic diversity and intellectual expansion.

Overall, the study provides a structured knowledge map of rural tourism and sustainable development research, helping scholars identify influential contributors and emerging themes, while supporting policymakers in understanding research concentration areas and future directions.

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Conclusion

This bibliometric study mapped the scientific landscape of Rural Tourism and Sustainable Development research published in Scopus between 2015 and 2026, based on a final dataset of 1,386 peer-reviewed articles after systematic screening and subject-area refinement. The findings confirm that the field has moved from a relatively steady early phase (2015–2018) into a strong expansion stage after 2019, reaching its highest publication volume in 2025; the low count in 2026 should be treated as partial-year coverage rather than an actual decline. Overall, the literature demonstrates meaningful scholarly influence, reflected in a strong citation average, and a clear pattern of teamwork-driven knowledge production, with most studies being multi-authored and a moderate level of international co-authorship. The study also highlights a high concentration of publications in a small number of journals, with Sustainability (Switzerland) emerging as the dominant outlet, indicating that sustainability-oriented journals serve as key platforms for disseminating rural tourism research. Author productivity is distributed among a core group of recurring contributors, while country-level output is strongly led by China, followed by a second tier of countries such as Portugal, Indonesia, Spain, and Italy, showing that both fast-developing rural regions and established tourism economies are shaping the research agenda. The thematic analysis further confirms that “sustainable development” and “rural tourism” remain the central driving (motor) themes, while broader sustainability and rural development themes function as foundational knowledge areas. Specialized topics such as regional planning and rural landscapes appear as niche clusters, and method- or geography-driven themes (e.g., spatiotemporal analysis and village-focused studies) indicate emerging directions that may gain stronger centrality in future research.

References

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Copyright

Copyright © 2026 Dr. Shyni Thankachan, Dr. P. N. Harikumar. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.