Tourism and metaverse: A bibliometric exploration of virtual experience in digital tourism (2020-2024)

Main Article Content

Nataly Vanessa Murcia Murcia
Jeidy Katherine Claros Monje
Salomón Calvache López
Azael Correa Carvajal
Lina Marcela Medina Malaver

Keywords

Digital tourism, Bibliometric analysis, Metaverse

Abstract

The article presents a bibliometric analysis that examines the scientific production on digital tourism and the metaverse during the period 2020-2024, highlighting the main trends, authors, sources, and themes that have emerged in this field. The study reveals a considerable increase in the number of academic publications related to the topic, with a significant rise in indexed articles, particularly following the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the study also identifies a notable dispersion of research themes within this area. The results indicate that the main thematic areas associated with research in this field are the metaverse, smart tourism, and e-tourism. Likewise, the study reveals that the leading countries in scientific production on this subject are China, the United Kingdom, and the United States, respectively. Finally, the study concludes that although digital tourism and the metaverse represent an innovative alternative that expands the possibilities for exploration and consumption of tourist experiences, they also face significant challenges that warrant critical and analytical examination in future studies.

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