A bibliometric analysis and systematic literature review of tourism-environmental degradation nexus

This study aims to provide a comprehensive knowledge map of tourism and environmental degradation literature review based on scientific articles published between 1999 and 2020. The study provides an overview of research, influential authors, and journals. The PR China has maintained the lead in academic research with the most contribution in academic research in recent years. Sustainability, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Katircioglu are the most productive journal, academic institution, and author in the field of tourism and environmental degradation, respectively. The degree of research contribution among researchers, institutional and national level, has an upward trend in recent years, but the research contribution among author level is higher than the institutional and national level. Furthermore, co-citation analysis suggests that research articles in the field are closely related. “Investigating the influence of tourism on economic growth and carbon emissions: Evidence from panel analysis of the European Union” authored by Lee is the most cited article. Our analysis of abstracts and keywords shows that climate change, ecotourism, carbon emissions, economic growth, and energy consumption are the hot spots of academic literature. We suggest that research collaboration between developed and developing nations should be promoted in creating sustainable tourism reforms.