Evolution of Sustainable Tourism Concepts

This paper aims to present the evolution and change in content in tourism, over time, as well as the emergence of different sustainable tourism concepts (ST). For this purpose, a comparative Automated Content Analysis (ACA) is herein applied to scientific articles published between 1990, when the first article in this field was published in the Web of Science, and the end of 2020. The results show some overlaps between the concepts that have emerged over the periods. According to the analysis results, it can be concluded that the theme focuses on business model changes, adoption of organizational processes related to the provision of mitigation measures, implementation of cleaner and smarter technologies, the importance of cultural heritage for sustainable tourism product concepts, rural development, green investment, sustainable standards and sustainable reporting.