From Shores to Systems: The Evolution of Coastal and Island Tourism Research

Abstract

Coastal and island tourism represents a key and environmentally sensitive component of the global tourism system, integrating ecological, cultural, and economic dimensions within marine and insular environments. This study presents a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of 1226 Scopus-indexed journal articles in accordance with the PRISMA protocol. By combining performance analysis and science mapping, it examines publication dynamics, thematic structures, intellectual foundations, and global collaboration patterns. The results show steady growth that accelerates after 2010, reflecting the development of descriptive case-based studies to multidisciplinary research. The research landscape reveals four major thematic clusters focusing on tourism development and management, governance and sustainability, climate change adaptation, and technological innovation. The intellectual structure is characterized by seminal works and conceptual foundations that have shaped the development of the field. However, global productivity and collaboration show significant geographic imbalances. This study provides a consolidated understanding of how coastal and island tourism scholarship has evolved and highlights the need for greater theoretical integration, inclusivity, and cooperation to promote sustainable and resilient tourism futures.

1. Introduction

Coasts and islands are among the most sought after destinations in the global tourism industry [1,2]. The appeal of coasts and islands arises from a combination of natural and cultural assets such as beaches, coral reefs, fishing communities, heritage landscapes, and distinctive biodiversity [3]. Coastal and island tourism refers to activities and experiences that occur in coastal zones and on islands, ranging from beach recreation and marine engagement to cultural tourism and leisure activities such as cruising and water sports [4]. This domain integrates natural, cultural, and socioeconomic dimensions within ocean-adjacent settings and involves both domestic and international flows [1,2].

Coastal and island tourism is one of the largest ocean-based industries, supporting employment and GDP globally [5]. For small island developing states (SIDSs), tourism is a lifeline for livelihoods and development [1,6]. Yet such dependence also raises concerns about resilience and vulnerability to shocks [7]. Coastal zones likewise play an essential role, as tourism infrastructure often clusters along shorelines, attracting both domestic and international visitors [8]. However, ecological fragility creates a paradox. While tourism generates economic benefits, it simultaneously accelerates coastal erosion, habitat destruction, reef bleaching, and overfishing [9,10]. The challenge is not merely environmental but also social, as local communities may be displaced by expanding resorts, and traditional practices may be marginalized by externally driven tourism agendas [11]. These trade-offs have driven sustained scholarly attention.

Although coastal and island tourism generates significant economic and social benefits, it also brings a series of environmental problems which are compounded with the challenges of climate change [12]. The paradox is clear. Tourism sustains livelihoods and national economies, yet unchecked growth can erode the very assets that attract visitors [13]. This tension highlights the urgency of evidence-based approaches to planning and governance. For example, while beach resorts and cruise terminals bring substantial foreign exchange, tourism activities can generate large volumes of waste, exacerbate local inequalities and even accelerate shoreline erosion [14]. Similarly, while small islands benefit from the symbolic power of their distinctiveness and exotic appeal, they face significant constraints in infrastructure, freshwater supply, and energy resources, making them particularly sensitive to external shocks [15].

The enduring popularity of coastal and island tourism, combined with growing challenges, have drawn very much attention from scholars and policymakers. However, the literature and scholarship on coastal and island tourism has diversified across disciplines, covering topics from governance and environmental management to visitor behavior and adaptation strategies [4,16,17,18,19]. Recent contributions situate tourism within the blue economy and sustainability transitions [20].

Scholars are increasingly adopting interdisciplinary approaches that draw from geography, development studies, environmental sciences, and cultural studies, reflecting the complex and multifaceted nature of coasts and islands [21]. While both coasts and islands share many commonalities, research has often examined them separately, with studies tending to focus on either coastal zones [20] or island contexts in isolation [6,18]. This separation, combined with the broad diversification of themes in the field, highlights the need for systematic mapping to clarify intellectual linkages and thematic evolution. Despite the growing number of studies, no bibliometric synthesis has yet integrated both coastal and island tourism research into a single analytical framework. This lack of integration represents a critical gap that limits our understanding of how these two interconnected domains have evolved conceptually and geographically. Addressing this gap provides a foundation for advancing a more unified and comparative perspective on tourism in coastal and island contexts.

In this regard, this study aims to provide a comprehensive synthesis of coastal and island tourism research using bibliometric methods. The analysis integrates two complementary approaches, namely performance analysis and science mapping. Performance analysis is applied to examine publication dynamics, disciplinary distribution, and geographical patterns. Science mapping incorporates co-occurrence, co-citation, bibliographic coupling, and co-authorship analyses to explore thematic structures, intellectual linkages, and collaboration networks. Together, these methods enable this study to address the following research questions:

• What are the major publication trends, thematic concentrations, and conceptual foundations of coastal and island tourism research?
• How have the core concepts and debates in this field clustered and evolved over time?
• What collaboration patterns and geographic distribution characterize the knowledge production in coastal and island tourism?

This study contributes to the current body of knowledge in three important ways. To begin with, it consolidates separate strands of research into an integrated map of publication trends, thematic concentrations, and intellectual foundations. Furthermore, it clarifies how concepts and debates cluster and evolve, offering an evidence-based platform for advancing research on sustainability, equity, and adaptation. Finally, it identifies collaboration patterns and geographic imbalances, generating insights for capacity building and knowledge exchange. The synthesis is designed to inform researchers, practitioners, and policymakers engaged in the management of coasts and islands under intensifying environmental pressures.

2. Literature Review

The long history of coastal and island tourism reflects enduring human engagement with shorelines and islands. In the early twentieth century, visitors sought out seaside resorts and island retreats as exclusive enclaves of leisure [22]. The allure of coasts and islands is not only material but symbolic. Natural attributes such as reefs, lagoons, and headlands provide recreational and esthetic experiences [23]. Islands, in particular, evoke notions of distinctiveness and retreat [24]. Cultural traditions, including maritime heritage, artisanal fisheries, and place-based practices, further enrich visitor experiences and strengthen destination identity [25]. The mid-twentieth century saw the rise of mass tourism, facilitated by cheaper air travel, cruise ship expansion, and large-scale coastal development projects [26]. In recent decades, growing awareness of environmental and social impacts has shifted practices toward ecotourism, community-based initiatives, and regenerative models [27]. These transitions reflect changing market dynamics and societal values that continue to shape coastal and island destinations today [28].

The centrality of coasts and islands in global tourism industry is not only a matter of visitor numbers or market share but also of symbolic representation in promotional discourses, marketing campaigns, and destination branding strategies. The prominence of coastal and island tourism is highlighted by international organizations and is also visible in global policy frameworks. The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (particularly SDG 14 on “Life Below Water” and SDG 8 on “Decent Work and Economic Growth”) explicitly highlight the role of sustainable tourism in advancing human and ecological well-being [29]. The UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021–2030) places coastal and island tourism at the heart of efforts to balance economic benefits with conservation [30]. For SIDS, the Small Island Developing States Accelerated Modalities of Action (SAMOA) Pathway underscores tourism as both an economic pillar and a sector requiring urgent adaptation strategies [31]. The above frameworks underscore the significance of coastal and island tourism and their links to global governance and development agendas.

Although tourism partitioners and international organizations frequently consider coastal and island tourism a popular tourism form because of practical interconnectedness, tourism scholarship often treats coastal and island tourism as separate domains. Coastal tourism generally refers to activities along mainland shorelines, while island tourism incorporates cultural and developmental contexts. Yet islands are inherently coastal, and both domains face similar challenges including ecological fragility, climate vulnerability, and dependence on tourism for livelihoods. The scarcity of integrative syntheses reflects less a substantive divergence than a missed opportunity to bridge related research streams. Addressing this division is particularly urgent given the accelerating impacts of climate change, which do not respect boundaries between coastlines and islands.

Despite the importance of both sectors, no comprehensive effort has been made to systematically consolidate their shared conceptual and thematic evolution. This gap limits the understanding of how coastal and island tourism have co-developed as interconnected systems within the broader sustainability and resilience discourse.

Existing narrative reviews illustrate the dichotomous division of the existing literature, as they tend to focus on either coastal or island tourism. Previous studies have examined various aspects of coastal or island tourism [4,9,18]. Taken together, these reviews also reveal a few research strands.

The first strand, sustainability and environmental impacts, has dominated both early and contemporary work, ranging from concerns over mass tourism’s ecological effects [4] to later explorations of carrying capacity, ecotourism, and regenerative approaches [28]. Climate change has intensified this focus, with studies addressing sea level rise, flooding, and coral bleaching [32]. More recently, discussions of regenerative tourism have emerged, shifting attention from minimizing impacts to creating net-positive outcomes for ecosystems and communities [27].

The second strand, climate change adaptation and resilience, represents a rapidly expanding areas of inquiry [5]. Case studies document vulnerabilities in both island and coastal destinations while stressing adaptation strategies based on local knowledge, community resilience, and economic diversification [33,34]. Adaptation strategies range from hard engineering approaches such as seawalls to soft strategies including ecosystem-based adaptation, capacity building, and livelihood diversification [35]. The literature highlights both successful and failed attempts [36,37], demonstrating the complexity of embedding resilience within tourism systems. Regional patterns also emerge in the Pacific Islands where traditional ecological knowledge is often emphasized [38], while Caribbean research focuses more on the impacts of cruise tourism and hurricane-related vulnerability [39].

The third strand, governance and destination management, addresses institutional arrangements, conflicts between growth and environmental protection, and the governance of small island populations with limited resources [6,40]. Participatory and community-based approaches are frequently advocated, particularly in small islands where cultural identity is closely tied to tourism [41]. Governance also includes the role of international organizations and NGOs in shaping tourism agendas [42]. Comparative research identifies regional contrasts, such as the management of over-tourism in the Mediterranean [43] and rapid coastal urbanization in Asia [44].

The fourth strand, community involvement and socio-cultural dynamics, highlights the human dimensions of tourism. Studies explore how tourism shapes well-being, cultural identity, and equity [45,46]. Recent research examines gender, generational shifts, and migration [47]. Festivals, rituals, and cultural performances have been studied not only as tourist attractions but also as expressions of cultural resilience and continuity [48,49].

The last strand, the blue economy and sustainability transitions, connects coastal and island tourism to broader larger debates on ocean governance and sustainable development [20,50,51]. Tourism here is seen as both an opportunity and a threat, depending on how it aligns with the sustainable management of marine resources [52]. Discussions emphasize innovative approaches such as carbon-neutral resorts, e.g., coastal destinations are experimenting with circular economy initiatives in tourism in Europe [53], while low-carbon tourism strategies are promoted in the Asia–Pacific region [54].

While these narrative reviews provide valuable insights, they often rely on descriptive synthesis rather than systematic methods [55]. Their reliance on manual selection and thematic interpretation introduces bias and reduces objectivity and reproducibility [56]. Moreover, the rapid expansion of research complicates efforts to generalize findings. The growing diversity of research contexts and methodological approaches underscores the need for a comprehensive, data-driven synthesis. This challenge is particularly acute as the literature now spans multiple continents, from small islands in the Pacific and Caribbean to coastal zones in Europe, Asia, and Africa, creating a truly global but unevenly distributed body of scholarship [19]. Therefore, a systematic bibliometric synthesis is needed to map this expanding research landscape, reveal the field’s intellectual structure, and identify linkages that can guide future studies. In addition, certain themes remain underexplored, such as the role of digital technologies in destination promotion, the integration of indigenous knowledge in tourism planning, and the long-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on coastal and island destinations [57].

Bibliometric reviews address these limitations. Within tourism studies, bibliometric analyses have been applied to various forms of tourism, e.g., sustainable tourism [58], ecotourism [59], mountain tourism [60], geotourism [61], etc. In the coastal and island context, several studies have contributed partial mappings of the research landscape, either in coastal tourism [16,17,19] or island tourism [62,63]. There are also some bibliometric studies focusing on particular geographical destinations [64]. However, no study has yet provided a comprehensive integration of both coastal and island tourism. Addressing this gap, the present study offers a consolidated bibliometric synthesis to highlight linkages, trace thematic evolution, and identify emerging research fronts, thereby guiding future inquiry.

3. Methodology

3.1. Data Collection

To ensure the transparency and reproducibility, this study compiled the dataset following the PRISMA protocol [65], which structures systematic reviews into three stages: identification, screening, and inclusion (Figure 1).

Figure 1. PRISMA 2020 flow diagram of this study.

Scopus was chosen as the sole database for data retrieval because it provides the broadest coverage of peer-reviewed literature and captures an extensive range of journals across disciplines [66]. Furthermore, its rigorous indexing policies ensure that the materials included meet scholarly quality standards [66]. Although both Scopus and the Web of Science (WoS) are reputable bibliometric databases with high-quality metadata, Scopus provides broader coverage in tourism, environmental, and social sciences, as well as greater flexibility in data export, and was therefore deemed the most appropriate and comprehensive source for data collection.

The search was conducted on 25 September 2025. To identify the relevant literature, three criteria were applied. The search terms “coastal tourism” OR “island tourism” were entered in the Title, Abstract, and Keywords fields to capture studies that directly address these themes. Only journal sources were included, as they represent the peer-reviewed scholarly record, and the dataset was further restricted to original research articles. Reviews, editorials, conference proceedings, and book chapters were excluded, as their inclusion could have introduced inconsistencies in methodological rigor and comparability.

The initial search retrieved 1848 documents. No duplicates were identified and excluded. Screening led to the exclusion of 454 non-journal items and 90 documents that were not original articles. Titles, abstracts, and keywords were then examined to check for relevance, and 78 additional records were excluded. The final dataset consisted of 1226 journal articles that were secured for the bibliometric analyses.

3.2. Data Analysis

The dataset was cleaned prior to data analysis by correcting inconsistencies in author names, keywords, and institutional affiliations were corrected to ensure data consistency for the bibliometric analysis. Two complementary approaches, namely performance analysis and science mapping, were applied.

Performance analysis provided a descriptive profile of research productivity and influence. Publication and citation counts were summarized for documents, authors, institutions, journals, and countries. The data were organized using spreadsheets to display yearly output, geographical distribution, and other key bibliometric indicators. This approach offered a broad overview of the evolution and distribution of scholarship in coastal and island tourism.

Science mapping was undertaken to examine the intellectual, thematic, and collaborative structures of the field. Co-occurrence analysis was used to identify keywords that frequently appeared together, thereby revealing the main research themes and the relationships among them. Co-citation analysis highlighted intellectual linkages by identifying documents that were often cited together, which helped to uncover the foundational works and influential knowledge streams in the field. Bibliographic coupling traced thematic affinities by examining how often papers cited the same references, allowing the identification of publications that shared similar topics or perspectives. Co-authorship analysis revealed the social and collaborative dimension of the field by mapping researchers who had published together, thus exposing patterns of collaboration and international research partnerships. Together, these analyses provided a systematic understanding of the field’s performance, intellectual foundations, thematic structure, and research collaborations in coastal and island tourism [67].

The analyses were performed using VOSviewer (version 1.6.20). This software generates network maps in which items such as keywords, authors, or documents are represented as nodes, and relationships between them are represented as connecting lines. The size of each node reflects its relative frequency or citation count, while the thickness of lines indicates the strength of connections. The spatial distance between nodes demonstrates the degree of relatedness, and color coding identifies clusters of closely associated items.

4. Results

4.1. Overview

Figure 2 shows the temporal distribution of publications on coastal and island tourism. Three discernible phases of growth can be identified. The first phase (1982–1999) is characterized by sporadic publications, typically fewer than ten articles per year, representing the formative years of the field. The second phase (2000–2010) marks a period of consolidation and diversification. Annual output rose modestly from fewer than 10 papers per year in the early 2000s to 35 articles in 2010. The third and most dynamic phase (2011–2025) exhibits exponential growth. Annual publications surpassed 50 articles from 2016 onward, peaking at 117 in 2025 (partial-year data up to 25 September).

Figure 2. Number of articles on coastal and island tourism.

Table 1 illustrates the disciplinary distribution of relevant articles on coastal and island tourism. The field is highly interdisciplinary but shows a strong concentration in Social Sciences (670 articles), followed by Environmental Science (538 articles) and Business, Management and Accounting (456 articles). Beyond these three leading domains, a secondary tier of disciplines contributes valuable complementary perspectives. They are Earth and Planetary Sciences (266 articles), Agricultural and Biological Sciences (203 articles), Economics, Econometrics and Finance (91 articles) and Energy (86 articles). Furthermore, there are some smaller contributions from Engineering (80 articles), Computer Science (65 articles), and Arts and Humanities (40 articles).

Table 1. Subject areas of articles on coastal and island tourism.

Rank (nth)	Subject Area 1	Number of Articles 2
1	Social Sciences	670
2	Environmental Science	538
3	Business, Management and Accounting	456
4	Earth and Planetary Sciences	266
5	Agricultural and Biological Sciences	203
6	Economics, Econometrics and Finance	91
7	Energy	86
8	Engineering	80
9	Computer Science	65
10	Arts and Humanities	40

Note: ¹ Only the subject areas that have at least 40 articles are shown. ² The total count is larger than the total number of articles because some articles belong to more than one subject area.

4.2. Keywords

Table 2 lists the 22 most frequently occurring keywords in the corpus, each appearing at least 50 times. The dominant keywords are coastal tourism (271 occurrences), tourism (248 occurrences), tourism development (219 occurrences), coastal zone (214 occurrences), and tourist destination (169 occurrences), collectively revealing the field’s conceptual nucleus.

Table 2. Most frequently occurred keywords on coastal and island tourism.

Rank (nth)	Keyword 1	Occurrences
1	Coastal Tourism	271
2	Tourism	248
3	Tourism Development	219
4	Coastal Zone	214
5	Tourist Destination	169
6	Island Tourism	140
7	Ecotourism	123
8	Tourism Management	117
9	Sustainability	115
10–11	Climate Change; Sustainable Development	98
12	Beach	97
13	Coastal Zone Management	85
14	China	63
15	Tourism Market	61
16	Island	60
17	Tourist Behavior	59
18	Stakeholder	58
19	Sustainable Tourism	57
20–21	Spain; Tourism Economics	55
22	Perception	54

Note: ¹ Only the keywords that occurred at least 50 times are shown.

The prominent keywords such as tourism development (219 occurrences) and tourism management (117 occurrences) prompt the attention to the development and management of tourism. A few high-frequency terms centers on sustainability and environmental change, including sustainability (115 occurrences), climate change (98 occurrences), sustainable development (98 occurrences), ecotourism (123 occurrences), and sustainable tourism (57 occurrences), indicating the consolidation of sustainability discourse as a core pillar in coastal and island tourism research. The appearance of coastal zone management (85 occurrences) and beach (97 occurrences) emphasizes the interfaces between tourism and natural systems.

The presence of tourism market (61 occurrences), tourism economics (55 occurrences), and Stakeholder (58 occurrences) highlights the economic and institutional underpinnings of the field. Meanwhile, tourist behavior (59 occurrences) and perception (54 occurrences) indicate the consumer-oriented and perceptual studies exploring motivation, satisfaction, and environmental attitudes. Geographically, China (63 occurrences) and Spain (55 occurrences) emerge as notable keywords, corresponding to the rise of influential research networks and case studies in these two countries.

The co-occurrence network of keywords offers a visual synthesis of the conceptual architecture of coastal and island tourism research. Based on 20 keywords that co-occurred at least 45 times, four distinct clusters were identified (Figure 3). The visualization follows the conventions described in Section 3.2 (Data Analysis), where node size represents keyword frequency, link thickness indicates the strength of co-occurrence, and colors denote clusters of thematically related terms. Each cluster reflects a dominant intellectual theme, while the dense web of interconnections among clusters illustrates the interdisciplinary and integrative nature of this research field.

Figure 3. Co-occurrence clusters of keywords on coastal and island tourism. (Note: Colors indicate the cluster membership assigned by VOSviewer to group related keywords).

The green cluster “Coastal Tourism” is defined by keywords such as coastal tourism, coastal zone, and tourism, indicating a strong orientation toward coastal spaces and their role in the global tourism economy. Supporting keywords include tourism economics, marine environment, fisheries, economic development, economic growth, and economic impact, which may reflect the economic and environmental interface of coastal and island tourism. The inclusion of regional keywords, such as Europe, Eurasia, Spain, and China, demonstrates the geographical breadth of research, encompassing both mature and emerging tourism markets.

The red cluster “Island Tourism” is characterized by keywords such as island tourism, tourism destination, tourism management, and tourism development, reflecting a strong focus on destination-oriented research. Complementary keywords include sustainability, sustainable development, sustainable tourism, and ecotourism, which indicate the importance of destination management in island contexts. The inclusion of regional keywords such as Indonesia and small island state underscores the concentration of studies on SIDS.

The blue cluster “Climate Change” is characterized by keywords such as climate change, adaptation, adaptive management, resilience, risk assessment, and vulnerability. This group encapsulates an understanding of coastal and island tourism as systems exposed to climatic and environmental risks.

The yellow cluster “Environmental Management and Technology” is defined by keywords such as coastal zone management, environmental impact, beach, recreational activity, GIS, and United States. This cluster represents the spatial and technological aspects of coastal and island tourism research.

Color codes are assigned to co-occurring keywords according to the average time of occurrence (Figure 4). Purple and blue keywords appear earlier, while green and yellow keywords appear later. The sequence of keyword emergence illustrates how research interests have shifted over time.

Figure 4. Average time of occurrence of keywords on coastal and island tourism.

The earliest occurring keywords are tourism development, tourism economics, coastal zone management, environmental impacts, small island state, Europe, and Eurasia. These keywords mark the initial period of the field, emphasizing tourism growth, economic performance, and environmental management in European and small island contexts.

The field developed and expanded, coastal tourism, coastal zone, and island tourism became fundamental concepts and they have remained central throughout the evolution of the field. Furthermore, some new topics gained prominence, represented by coastal tourism, coastal zone, island tourism, island, ecotourism, sustainable tourism, tourism management, tourism market, sustainable development, sustainability, stakeholder, tourist destination, perception, tourist behavior, recreational activity, climate change, risk assessment, vulnerability, and adaptation. These keywords reflect the broadening of the field toward integrated perspectives that link sustainability, governance, human behavior, and climate change adaptation.

The most recent research topics are represented by Indonesia, China, COVID-19, resilience, and decision making. These indicate a growing focus on Asian contexts, adaptive governance, and crisis-responsive planning in tourism, especially in response to the uncertainties brought by pandemic and climate change.

4.3. Documents

The most cited articles reveal the intellectual milestones that have shaped the study of coastal and island tourism (Table 3). Important intellectual pillars are those which offered conceptual or analytical frameworks for coastal and island tourism research. For example, the synthesis of tourism’s ecological footprint and integrated coastal management [9], the positioning of ocean and coastal tourism in the global context of tourism development [4]. These discourses continue to guide research and practice today.

There is a growing intersection between tourism and the broader ecological and socioeconomic systems, e.g., the application of the ecosystem services concept to human well-being and poverty alleviation [68], and quantification of the global value of coral reef tourism [69]. These studies reflect a decisive shift toward integrating ecosystem valuation and blue economy principles into tourism research. Such approach that aligns with the broader evolution identified in the co-occurrence analysis, where coastal tourism, sustainability, and economic linkages form one of the most stable conceptual cores.

Human and community dimensions emerge as another strong perspective. Some popular topics are residents’ attitudes toward tourism development [70] and community integration [71]. These topics frame the social and participatory discourse that continues to inform island tourism governance. Some recent works focus on behavioral sustainability [72,73]. These studies resonate with the red cluster observed in the keyword analysis, where island tourism, sustainability, and management intersect to shape the governance of small island destinations.

The prominence of climate change-related research among the highly cited articles underscores the field’s responsiveness to global environmental challenges [74,75,76,77]. These articles provide critical insights into the vulnerability and adaptation of coastal destinations to climate-induced risks. Their collective contribution illustrates the transition from impact documentation to resilience and adaptive management, a hallmark of the blue cluster identified in the co-occurrence network. These works also reveal how tourism research increasingly interfaces with marine policy, climate science, and global sustainability frameworks.

Notably, several papers demonstrate methodological innovation in assessing energy use, environmental performance, and spatial planning in coastal contexts [78,79]. Their influence reflects the field’s gradual embrace of quantitative tools, which parallels the yellow cluster on spatial and technological aspects of coastal and island tourism research.

Table 3. Highly cited documents on coastal and island tourism.

Rank (nth)	Document 1	Title	Year	Journal	Citations
1	Davenport & Davenport [9]	The impact of tourism and personal leisure transport on coastal environments: A review	2006	Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science	636
2	Daw et al. [68]	Applying the ecosystem services concept to poverty alleviation: The need to disaggregate human well-being	2011	Environmental Conservation	518
3	Spalding et al. [69]	Mapping the global value and distribution of coral reef tourism	2017	Marine Policy	467
4	Hall [4]	Trends in ocean and coastal tourism: The end of the last frontier?	2001	Ocean and Coastal Management	453
5	Akis et al. [70]	Residents’ attitudes to tourism development: The case of Cyprus	1996	Tourism Management	393
6	Cheng & Wu [72]	How do environmental knowledge, environmental sensitivity, and place attachment affect environmentally responsible behavior? An integrated approach for sustainable island tourism	2015	Journal of Sustainable Tourism	392
7	Richlen et al. [80]	The catastrophic 2008–2009 red tide in the Arabian gulf region, with observations on the identification and phylogeny of the fish-killing dinoflagellate Cochlodinium polykrikoides	2010	Harmful Algae	309
8	Mitchell & Reid [71]	Community integration: Island tourism in Peru	2001	Annals of Tourism Research	251
9	Cheng et al. [81]	The influence of place attachment on the relationship between destination attractiveness and environmentally responsible behavior for island tourism in Penghu, Taiwan	2013	Journal of Sustainable Tourism	246
10	Wickens [82]	The sacred and the profane: A tourist typology	2002	Annals of Tourism Research	234
11	Moreno & Becken [74]	A climate change vulnerability assessment methodology for coastal tourism	2009	Journal of Sustainable Tourism	203
12	Kuo & Chen [78]	Quantifying energy use, carbon dioxide emission, and other environmental loads from island tourism based on a life cycle assessment approach	2009	Journal of Cleaner Production	191
13	Weatherdon et al. [75]	Observed and projected impacts of climate change on marine fisheries, aquaculture, coastal tourism, and human health: An update	2016	Frontiers in Marine Science	180
14	Scott et al. [76]	The vulnerability of Caribbean coastal tourism to scenarios of climate change related sea level rise	2012	Journal of Sustainable Tourism	180
15	Eusébio et al. [73]	Place attachment, host–tourist interactions, and residents’ attitudes towards tourism development: the case of Boa Vista Island in Cape Verde	2018	Journal of Sustainable Tourism	179
16	Najjar et al. [83]	The potential impacts of climate change on the mid-Atlantic coastal region	2000	Climate Research	177
17	Agarwal [84]	The resort cycle and seaside tourism: An assessment of its applicability and validity	1997	Tourism Management	171
18	Blancas et al. [79]	The assessment of sustainable tourism: Application to Spanish coastal destinations	2010	Ecological Indicators	162
19	Papageorgiou [85]	Coastal and marine tourism: A challenging factor in Marine Spatial Planning	2016	Ocean and Coastal Management	159
20	Arabadzhyan et al. [77]	Climate change, coastal tourism, and impact chains–a literature review	2021	Current Issues in Tourism	158
21	Klein et al. [86]	Tourism-generated earnings in the coastal zone: A regional analysis	2004	Journal of Coastal Research	155
22	Thur [87]	User fees as sustainable financing mechanisms for marine protected areas: An application to the Bonaire National Marine Park	2010	Marine Policy	151

Note: ¹ Only the articles with more than 150 citations are shown.

Table 3. Highly cited documents on coastal and island tourism.

Rank (nth)	Document 1	Title	Year	Journal	Citations
1	Davenport & Davenport [9]	The impact of tourism and personal leisure transport on coastal environments: A review	2006	Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science	636
2	Daw et al. [68]	Applying the ecosystem services concept to poverty alleviation: The need to disaggregate human well-being	2011	Environmental Conservation	518
3	Spalding et al. [69]	Mapping the global value and distribution of coral reef tourism	2017	Marine Policy	467
4	Hall [4]	Trends in ocean and coastal tourism: The end of the last frontier?	2001	Ocean and Coastal Management	453
5	Akis et al. [70]	Residents’ attitudes to tourism development: The case of Cyprus	1996	Tourism Management	393
6	Cheng & Wu [72]	How do environmental knowledge, environmental sensitivity, and place attachment affect environmentally responsible behavior? An integrated approach for sustainable island tourism	2015	Journal of Sustainable Tourism	392
7	Richlen et al. [80]	The catastrophic 2008–2009 red tide in the Arabian gulf region, with observations on the identification and phylogeny of the fish-killing dinoflagellate Cochlodinium polykrikoides	2010	Harmful Algae	309
8	Mitchell & Reid [71]	Community integration: Island tourism in Peru	2001	Annals of Tourism Research	251
9	Cheng et al. [81]	The influence of place attachment on the relationship between destination attractiveness and environmentally responsible behavior for island tourism in Penghu, Taiwan	2013	Journal of Sustainable Tourism	246
10	Wickens [82]	The sacred and the profane: A tourist typology	2002	Annals of Tourism Research	234
11	Moreno & Becken [74]	A climate change vulnerability assessment methodology for coastal tourism	2009	Journal of Sustainable Tourism	203
12	Kuo & Chen [78]	Quantifying energy use, carbon dioxide emission, and other environmental loads from island tourism based on a life cycle assessment approach	2009	Journal of Cleaner Production	191
13	Weatherdon et al. [75]	Observed and projected impacts of climate change on marine fisheries, aquaculture, coastal tourism, and human health: An update	2016	Frontiers in Marine Science	180
14	Scott et al. [76]	The vulnerability of Caribbean coastal tourism to scenarios of climate change related sea level rise	2012	Journal of Sustainable Tourism	180
15	Eusébio et al. [73]	Place attachment, host–tourist interactions, and residents’ attitudes towards tourism development: the case of Boa Vista Island in Cape Verde	2018	Journal of Sustainable Tourism	179
16	Najjar et al. [83]	The potential impacts of climate change on the mid-Atlantic coastal region	2000	Climate Research	177
17	Agarwal [84]	The resort cycle and seaside tourism: An assessment of its applicability and validity	1997	Tourism Management	171
18	Blancas et al. [79]	The assessment of sustainable tourism: Application to Spanish coastal destinations	2010	Ecological Indicators	162
19	Papageorgiou [85]	Coastal and marine tourism: A challenging factor in Marine Spatial Planning	2016	Ocean and Coastal Management	159
20	Arabadzhyan et al. [77]	Climate change, coastal tourism, and impact chains–a literature review	2021	Current Issues in Tourism	158
21	Klein et al. [86]	Tourism-generated earnings in the coastal zone: A regional analysis	2004	Journal of Coastal Research	155
22	Thur [87]	User fees as sustainable financing mechanisms for marine protected areas: An application to the Bonaire National Marine Park	2010	Marine Policy	151

Note: ¹ Only the articles with more than 150 citations are shown.

The co-citation analysis of 26 highly co-cited documents on coastal and island tourism reveals five distinct intellectual groupings that represent the field’s main conceptual foundations (Figure 5).

Figure 5. Co-citation clusters of documents on coastal and island tourism. (Note: Colors indicate the cluster membership assigned by VOSviewer to group related documents).

The red cluster centers on research addressing the vulnerability of coastal and island destinations to climate change and related environmental risks [36,88,89,90]. These influential works explore the exposure of tourism systems to sea level rise, temperature variation, and ecosystem stress. These studies view climate change as both a physical and governance challenge.

The second cluster brings together the foundational literature on island tourism and sustainable development. These edited volumes frame islands as discrete socioecological systems with high dependence on external markets and fragile natural environments [91,92,93,94,95]. These works established the intellectual base for sustainability discourse in island contexts, emphasizing small island economies, carrying capacity, and long-term policy planning.

The third cluster emphasizes community integration and residents’ perceptions of tourism development [70,96,97]. These studies conceptualize tourism as a process of negotiation between local well-being and economic opportunity. The theory of planned behavior [98] underpins much of this research, linking social attitudes and behavioral intentions to tourism participation.

The fourth cluster represents the conceptual foundations of coastal and island tourism. While tourism area life cycle model [99] provides a framework for understanding destination evolution, later studies extend the model to the restructuring of mature resorts and the developmental role of tourism [100,101]. Other researchers apply these ideas to ocean and archipelagic contexts [4,102], reinforcing the theoretical basis for coastal tourism research.

Finally, the fifth cluster focuses on tourists’ experiences and behavioral intentions, integrating psychological and marketing perspectives. Advanced quantitative models were used for analyzing quality, satisfaction, and destination image [103,104,105]. This body of work introduced methodological rigor through structural equation modeling, establishing a behavioral framework widely applied to coastal and island destinations.

4.4. Journals

Table 4 presents the journals that have published at least ten articles on coastal and island tourism. The publication landscape of coastal and island tourism research demonstrates a diverse mix of disciplinary orientations, yet three categorizes of journals can be identified.

Table 4. Productive journals on coastal and island tourism.

Rank (nth)	Journal 1	Articles
1	Ocean and Coastal Management	54
2	Sustainability Switzerland	47
3	Journal of Coastal Research	38
4	Journal of Sustainable Tourism	35
5	Tourism Management	30
6	Marine Policy	25
7	Tourism Geographies	25
8	Island Studies Journal	19
9–10	Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research; Current Issues in Tourism	18
11	Annals of Tourism Research	16
12–15	Frontiers in Marine Science; Geojournal of Tourism and Geosites; Tourism Planning and Development; Tourism in Marine Environments	14
16–18	Journal of Destination Marketing and Management; Journal of Marine and Island Cultures; Tourism Recreation Research	13
19	African Journal of Hospitality Tourism and Leisure	12
20–22	Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism; Land; Tourism and Hospitality	11
23–24	Coastal Management; International Journal of Tourism Research	10

Note: ¹ Only the journals that published at least 10 articles are shown.

The first group is the mainstream tourism journals, where coastal and island issues increasingly occupy central ground. The Journal of Sustainable Tourism (35 articles) and Tourism Management (30 articles) lead this group, accompanied by Annals of Tourism Research (16 articles) and Current Issues in Tourism (18 articles). Their contributions signal how core tourism debates in coastal and island contexts. A complementary stream, represented by Tourism Geographies (25 articles), Tourism Planning and Development (14 articles), and Geojournal of Tourism and Geosites (14 articles), approaches similar topics through spatial and developmental lenses.

A second group of outlets situates coastal and island tourism within the broader environmental and governance sciences, including Ocean and Coastal Management (54 articles), Journal of Coastal Research (38 articles), Marine Policy (25 articles), Island Studies Journal (19 articles), and Journal of Marine and Island Cultures (13 articles).

Bridging these disciplinary frontiers are multidisciplinary platforms such as Sustainability (Switzerland) (47 articles), and Frontiers in Marine Science (14 articles).

The bibliographic coupling analysis of journals reveals the structural and disciplinary composition of research on coastal and island tourism. The network map (Figure 6) displays 46 journals that are linked through shared citation patterns, forming three clusters that collectively reflect the multidisciplinary character of the field.

Figure 6. Bibliographic coupling clusters of journals on coastal and island tourism. (Note: Colors indicate the cluster membership assigned by VOSviewer to group related journals).

The red cluster encompasses coastal or island orientated journals such as Ocean and Coastal Management, Marine Policy, Journal of Coastal Research, Frontiers in Marine Science, Tourism in Marine Environments, Journal of Coastal Conservation, Water (Switzerland), and Regional Studies in Marine Science. Sustainability (Switzerland), Water (Switzerland), and Land situate coastal and island tourism in the broader context of marine sustainability.

The green cluster represents the core journals of tourism and hospitality scholarship, including Annals of Tourism Research, Tourism Management, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, Tourism Geographies, Tourism Economics, Tourism and Hospitality Planning and Development, Tourism and Hospitality, Tourism and Hospitality Research, and GeoJournal of Tourism and Geosites. These journals are widely regarded as the intellectual leaders of the field, setting theoretical, methodological, and conceptual standards for tourism research worldwide.

The blue cluster includes applied and practice-oriented tourism journals, such as Anatolia, International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research, Tourism Recreation Research, Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism, Tourism Planning and Development, Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research, International Journal of Tourism Research, Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Insights, Journal of Destination Marketing and Management, and Journal of Environmental Management and Tourism. These journals often focus on regional issues, local development, cultural dynamics, and managerial applications of tourism knowledge.

4.5. Countries

Figure 7 shows the geographical distribution of the articles on coastal and island tourism research, showing that scholarly contributions are geographically diverse but concentrated among a few key nations. The United States (171 articles) and China (168 articles) lead in publication output, followed by Spain (133 articles) and the United Kingdom (122 articles).

Figure 7. Global distribution of articles on coastal and island tourism.

Southeast Asia and Oceania are emerging centers of research activity. In particular, the growing output of Indonesia (96 articles), Malaysia (43 articles), Australia (63 articles), and New Zealand (28 articles).

Smaller but significant contributions come from southern Europe (such as Italy (45 articles), Portugal (39 articles), and Greece (27 articles)), and East Asia (such as South Korea (36 articles), Taiwan (32 articles), and Japan (24 articles)).

The co-authorship network provides an overview of the global collaboration patterns in coastal and island tourism research. Based on 35 countries that have collaborated at least ten times, the analysis identifies five clusters representing academic alliances. Figure 8 illustrates a densely connected but regionally differentiated pattern, suggesting that while coastal and island tourism research is geographically dispersed, it is also increasingly interconnected through transnational partnerships.

Figure 8. International collaboration networks on coastal and island tourism. (Note: Colors indicate the cluster membership assigned by VOSviewer to group related countries).

The red cluster “Asia–Pacific group” encompasses China, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Thailand. China occupies the most central position within this cluster and forms collaborative ties extending to Australia and several Southeast Asian countries. The cluster’s spatial compactness suggests an active regional network, reflecting growing attention on coastal and island tourism in Asia and the Pacific.

Blue, green, and yellow are three European groups interconnected together, reflecting Europe’s strong presence in global research collaboration. The blue cluster “Mediterranean group” includes Spain, Portugal, Italy, Croatia, Malta, and the United Kingdom, representing the warm-water destinations. Spain and the United Kingdom act as central nodes that link European countries to partners in other continents, such as Brazil. The green cluster “Northern European group” comprises Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, and Finland, representing the cold-water players. The yellow cluster “Peripheral European group”, which includes France, Greece, Turkey, Denmark, Romania, and the Russian Federation, forms a smaller and more peripheral grouping.

The purple cluster “North American group”, composed of the United States and Mexico, forms a distinct research system separate from the European collaboration core.

5. Discussion

5.1. The Development and Composition of the Field

The bibliometric evidence reveals that research on coastal and island tourism has evolved from a marginal niche into a consolidated, interdisciplinary domain within tourism studies. The three growth phases illustrate a clear intellectual trajectory from descriptive accounts in the 1980s to more systematic investigations into the ecological and managerial dimensions of tourism in coastal and island contexts in the 2000s [6,9]. The broader institutionalization of sustainability and resilience paradigms across social and environmental sciences facilitated further substantial development of the field in the past two decades [58]. This institutionalization, supported by global funding programs and intergovernmental collaborations, fostered cross-disciplinary approaches to tourism governance, climate adaptation, and community resilience. The surge aligns with rising global policy attention to sustainable tourism, notably under the United Nations 2030 Agenda (SDGs 8 and 14) and the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021–2030), which emphasize tourism’s role in ocean stewardship and coastal resilience [29,30].

This growth also parallels broader developments in bibliometric and sustainability research methods, which have enabled systematic mapping of other forms of tourism [58,59,60,61]. Similar upward trajectories have been documented in related domains such as marine tourism [17] and the blue economy [20], suggesting that coastal and island tourism has become a significant frontier within sustainability-oriented tourism scholarship from the social perspective. The subject-area distribution corroborates that coastal and island destinations serve as laboratories for understanding sustainability transitions [4,92]. The growing presence of environmental and engineering disciplines, reflected in the expanding roles of spatial analytics, and modeling and technologies, indicates a shift toward evidence-driven governance and planning [9]. Thus, the field’s composition demonstrates both intellectual maturity and methodological pluralism. Compared with earlier bibliometric reviews on coastal tourism [16,17,19] and island tourism [62,63], which examined these domains separately, this study captures their convergence within a single analytical framework, reflecting a maturing integration of social and natural sciences that positions coastal and island tourism as a core component of sustainability-oriented research.

The journal landscape echoes the multidisciplinary pattern in the field. While core tourism journals provide conceptual leadership, spatial and development-oriented journals serve as complementary venues emphasizing applied and policy dimensions. This cross-disciplinary publication ecology underscores the field’s expanding audience and its relevance beyond traditional tourism scholarship. Furthermore, open-access journals broaden the reach of coastal and island tourism research, facilitating wider dissemination and engagement across academic, practitioner, and policy communities.

5.2. Research Themes and Trends

Coastal and island tourism research is characterized by four interrelated themes that have evolved over time. This integrative evolution parallels broader transformations in tourism scholarship and reaffirms the enduring significance of coastal and island destinations as dynamic laboratories for exploring complex human–environment interactions.

The first theme, “Coastal Tourism,” illustrates the economic–environmental interface of tourism along shorelines. Representative keywords such as coastal tourism, tourism economics, and marine environment highlight how coastal destinations act as engines of economic growth while remaining highly dependent on fragile marine ecosystems. The prominence of regions such as China and Spain within this cluster reflects how both emerging and mature tourism economies have served as focal points for research into economic impacts, fisheries, and policy responses [17,19]. This theme demonstrates continuity, as foundational concerns about coastal development have persisted across decades.

Parallel to “Coastal Tourism” is the theme “Island Tourism,” which centers on governance, destination development, and sustainability. Representative terms such as tourism management, ecotourism, and sustainable development reveal that islands, particularly SIDS, have become emblematic cases for examining the balance between tourism-driven growth and the need for sustainable governance [6,41]. This theme also underscores a growing trend toward integrated planning and community-based management models.

The third theme, “Climate Change,” represents the increasing scholarly focus on environmental risk, adaptation, and resilience. Keywords such as vulnerability, adaptation, and resilience reflect a shift from impact assessment to proactive governance. Although this topic appeared earlier in isolated and local studies [4], it has recently become a major research axis aligned with the global framework of climate change [106]. This trend is particularly salient for island and coastal destinations facing sea level rise, extreme weather events, and ecosystem degradation. The “Climate Change” theme closely connects with both “Coastal Tourism” and “Island Tourism,” as these regions are especially vulnerable to the impacts of climate-related hazards.

Finally, the theme “Environmental Management and Technology” captures a methodological shift toward spatial analysis and the application of technical tools. The development of advanced techniques such as coastal zone management, environmental impact assessment, and GIS reflects a growing emphasis on data-driven approaches in tourism research [9]. The integration of smart technologies and geospatial tools marks an expanding frontier, particularly in studies focused on the United States and other high-capacity destinations.

5.3. Seminal Documents and Intellectual Foundation

The highly cited documents in coastal and island tourism reveal a field shaped by sustained attention to environmental sustainability, social equity, and adaptive planning. Seminal works often address real-world problems, e.g., the consequences of tourism for coastal ecosystems [9], the dynamics of local participation and governance [71], and the vulnerabilities of destination systems to climate change [74,76].

Another prominent pattern is the diversity of scholarly contributions that have achieved recognition. Influential works range from broad conceptual syntheses to methodologically innovative studies and detailed empirical assessments [69,78]. This suggests that citation impact in the field is not confined to any one genre of scholarship. The ability to address practical concerns with theoretical or technical insight appears to be more valued than disciplinary purity or theoretical novelty.

This pluralistic orientation is further reflected in the conceptual foundations revealed by co-citation analysis. The most frequently co-cited works include seminal tourism studies [40,99] and also foundational contributions from environmental vulnerability research [88], island studies [91,92], and behavioral science [98]. These reference points across diverse studies demonstrate that coastal and island tourism has not developed in disciplinary isolation. Instead, it has integrated external frameworks to examine tourism’s interactions with environmental limits, governance systems, and human behavior. This layered structure reflects an intellectually open field that relies on cross-disciplinary tools to explore tourism’s role in broader socioecological transitions.

5.4. Geography of Research and Collaboration

The geographic pattern of publication and collaboration demonstrates both concentration and diversification. The dominance of the United States, China, Spain, and the United Kingdom highlights the global centers of research capacity and funding in tourism and environmental sciences. However, the rise of Indonesia, Malaysia, and other Asia–Pacific nations indicates a regional rebalancing that parallels the shift of tourism activity toward the Global South. These countries not only contribute case-based research but also increasingly participate in theoretical and methodological innovation, particularly in sustainability and community-based tourism [41].

The dense collaboration networks among European and Asia–Pacific countries illustrate that coastal and island tourism research is becoming a genuinely global enterprise. The emergence of distinct clusters, including Asia–Pacific, Mediterranean, Northern Europe, and North America, reflects shared environmental conditions and governance challenges. This pattern is consistent with broader trends in tourism science, where regional collaboration often mirrors environmental typologies and policy priorities [107]. Yet, the relatively weaker connections between the Global North and SIDS underscore ongoing inequalities in research participation and capacity. Bridging these divides remains an urgent agenda for future scholarship.

5.5. Research Gaps and Future Directions

Although scholarship on coastal and island tourism has advanced significantly, several critical research gaps remain that require systematic attention. These gaps reflect both the thematic evolution and geographic imbalances revealed in the bibliometric analysis. First, theoretical integration across disciplines remains limited, as many studies adopt general sustainability frameworks without developing theories grounded in the specific socioecological realities of coastal and island systems. Environmental, social, and managerial perspectives are often examined in isolation, reducing explanatory power. Future research should bridge these perspectives by integrating resilience thinking [45], blue-economy approaches [20,51], and sustainability transitions [43,79] to form more coherent models of tourism transformation and governance.

Second, geographic imbalance continues to constrain knowledge diversity. Most publications concentrated in developed economies, such as the United States, China, Spain, and the United Kingdom. SIDS, which are among the most tourism-dependent and climate-vulnerable regions, are underrepresented. Limited research funding, data access, and publication opportunities contribute to this imbalance. Strengthening South–South collaboration, capacity building, and funding mechanisms is essential to ensure that the perspectives and indigenous knowledge of these regions are better integrated into global tourism scholarship [1,31].

Third, while climate change adaptation has gained prominence, research remains fragmented and short-term in scope. Few studies assess the long-term interactions between tourism intensity, ecosystem degradation, and community resilience, or the effectiveness of nature-based solutions such as coral restoration [69]. Future research should integrate modeling and scenario-based approaches to align tourism planning with global frameworks like the UN Decade of Ocean Science [30].

Finally, the social dimensions of sustainability, particularly justice, equity, and cultural continuity, remain insufficiently explored. While community participation and well-being are recurring focuses, issues of gender, power, and equity receive limited theoretical attention [45,46]. Future research should adopt post-colonial and intersectional frameworks to examine how tourism affects justice, social inclusion and cultural resilience in coastal and island settings.

5.6. Practical Implications

The results of this bibliometric analysis provide several practical insights for advancing sustainable coastal and island tourism. First, governance strategies should adopt holistic approaches that connect tourism planning with ecosystem protection, community well-being, and climate adaptation. Instruments such as integrated coastal zone management and ecosystem-based tourism planning can ensure that economic benefits are aligned with ecological limits [9,40]. Aligning destination policies with the UN 2030 Agenda, particularly SDGs 8 and 14 and the UN Decade of Ocean Science, can further enhance policy coherence and accountability [29,30].

Second, strengthening research and policy capacity in SIDS remains a pressing priority. These regions are highly dependent on tourism yet face disproportionate environmental and economic risks. Building regional knowledge networks, facilitating open access data systems, and promoting partnerships among governments, academia, and communities can build resilience and inform context-specific adaptation strategies [6,41].

Third, multi-stakeholder collaboration should be prioritized to ensure inclusive governance. Encouraging participatory planning, co-management of marine areas, and community-based tourism initiatives can enhance local legitimacy and long-term resilience [4]. Policymakers should institutionalize collaboration platforms that engage public, private, and community actors to co-develop solutions balancing economic viability and environmental limits.

5.7. Limitations and Recommendations

While this study provides a comprehensive bibliometric overview of coastal and island tourism research, several limitations should be acknowledged. First, the analysis was based solely on the Scopus database, which, despite broad coverage, may omit relevant publications from non-English or regional-specific journals. This language and database bias may underrepresent scholarship from those regions with limited international publication access. Future studies could expand coverage by incorporating additional databases such as Web of Science or regional repositories to achieve more balanced representation.

Second, the study focused exclusively on journal articles, excluding book chapters, conference papers, and policy reports that often contain valuable context and applied insights. Including such materials in future analyses could provide a broader understanding of practical and policy-oriented research developments in coastal and island tourism.

Third, bibliometric methods primarily capture quantitative patterns of publication and citation but do not fully reflect the qualitative depth or contextual nuances of research contributions. Future research should complement qualitative reviews, content analysis, or expert interviews to interpret evolving concepts, theories, and policy impacts more deeply.

Lastly, while the present analysis identifies global trends, it does not assess the causal mechanisms linking tourism, sustainability, and resilience outcomes. Integrating bibliometric findings with case-based or mixed-method studies could bridge this gap and enhance the practical relevance of evidence-based strategies in tourism governance and planning.

6. Conclusions

This study presents a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of 1226 Scopus-indexed journal articles on coastal and island tourism. Guided by the PRISMA protocol, it maps major research themes, influential publications, intellectual structures, leading journals, and global collaboration networks, offering an integrated perspective on the field’s evolution.

The findings reveal steady growth in research output and a clear thematic transition from descriptive and destination-specific studies to interdisciplinary approaches that emphasize sustainability, governance, climate adaptation, and environmental management. The field’s intellectual foundations demonstrate an increasing convergence between social and environmental sciences, driven by international collaboration and the global sustainability agenda.

This study makes three key contributions. First, it integrates the previously fragmented domains of coastal and island tourism within a single analytical framework, highlighting their shared sustainability challenges and conceptual interlinkages. Second, it advances methodological understanding by demonstrating how bibliometric science mapping captures the intellectual evolution and interdisciplinary dynamics of tourism research. Third, it identifies critical knowledge gaps, particularly in theoretical synthesis and regional representation, and proposes directions for future inquiry. Future studies should prioritize cross-disciplinary theoretical development, expand representation of SIDS and Global South perspectives, and combine bibliometric mapping with qualitative or case-based analyses to enhance contextual and policy relevance.

Overall, this study provides the first comprehensive mapping of coastal and island tourism scholarship. It clarifies how research has expanded conceptually and geographically while identifying areas where greater integration and inclusivity are needed. This study serves as a foundation for advancing evidence-based research and policy that support sustainable, resilient, and equitable tourism futures in coastal and island destinations.