Mapping Creative Tourism Research: Reviewing the Field and Outlining Future Directions. (November 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Galvagno, Marco; Giaccone, Sonia C.
• Is Part Of: Journal of hospitality & tourism research. Volume 43:Number 8(2019)
• Page Start: 1256
• Page End: 1280
• Publication Date: 2019-11
• Subjects: creative tourism -- tourist experience -- co-creation -- bibliometric analysis -- co-citation -- bibliographic coupling; Hotel management -- Study and teaching -- Periodicals; Restaurant management -- Study and teaching -- Periodicals; Food service management -- Study and teaching -- Periodicals; 647.068
• DOI: 10.1177/1096348019862030
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1096-3480

Abstract

This study presents a bibliometric review of creative tourism literature aimed at understanding the main research topics and approaches, theoretical foundations, and the most recent areas of investigation. Sixty-four articles on creative tourism were selected and analyzed using co-citation analysis, content analysis, and bibliographic coupling. Findings reveal that creative tourism is a well-defined field of studies with three main research topics; namely, Tourist Experience and Co-Creation, Creativity in Tourism, and Cultural Tourism and Events. Furthermore, several theoretical approaches can be applied to a different set of empirical contexts, among which co-creation and experience economy play a major role. An analysis of the most recent publications identifies five promising research trends and allows some conclusions about the opportunities for future research to be drawn.