Knowing the State of the Art of the Application of Technology in Tourism: A Bibliometric Analysis

With a view to ascertaining the state of the art of technology research in the tourism sector, a bibliometric analysis was carried out of papers published in the Web of Science (WoS) database. VOSviewer software was used to conduct this bibliometric analysis. It has been collected data from 654 articles published between 1993 and 2021 with the words “Tourism” and “Technology”. The analysis identified five research streams in the application of technology in tourism. Firstly, its use to foster the collaborative economy between customers and the accommodation sector. Secondly, the contribution of technology to develop a new tourist experience in the framework of smart tourism. The use of Industry 4.0 tools with tourism experiences to achieve loyalty and high perceived value for tourists. The third trend explores “sustainable tourism” and the future of the industry considering climate change. The fourth stream studies the importance of tourist attitude and behavior, considering user trust and acceptance of new technologies. The last stream is represented by a cluster related to the management of tourism communication with booking and review websites. Finally, this study sets out future lines of research. New needs have emerged in this sector such as Metaverse.