RT Journal Article
T1 Establishing the Theoretical Foundations of Metaverse-Sustainable Tourism Nexus. Mapping the Research Front
A1 López Cabarcos, María Ángeles
A1 López Carballeira, Analía
A1 Miramontes Viña, Vanessa
K1 Digital technologies
K1 Metaverse
K1 Sustainable tourism
K1 Bibliometric analysis
AB The tourism sector is widely recognized as a pivotal catalyst for global development and economic growth. However, it faces significant challenges, which have intensified the search for alternative and more sustainable tourism models. Digital technologies have become essential tools for transformation, with the metaverse emerging as a disruptive and promising innovation strategy for the tourism industry. Thus, this study aims to provide a comprehensive review of all previous scientific literature related to the adoption of the metaverse in the context of sustainable tourism, developing a bibliometric analysis (through techniques such as co-citation analysis of references and author keyword co-occurrence) of all articles indexed in Web of Science database from January 2021 to September 2025. Specifically, the references co-citation analysis has concluded three main thematic clusters related to conceptual foundations, technological advances, and metaverse adoption possibilities, respectively. The results obtained indicate that research on the metaverse in sustainable tourism is still at an early stage of development and is primarily conceptual in nature. This study contributes to the emerging research field of metaverse and sustainable tourism by offering a comprehensive review to establish its theoretical foundations and identify opportunities for future research.
PB MDPI
YR 2026
FD 2026-03-07
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10347/46557
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10347/46557
LA eng
DS Minerva
RD 23 may 2026