Wellness Tourism Services Innovation: A Bibliometric Review and Future Research Agenda

Abstract

This research analyzes 657 studies in the Web of Science (WOS) and 288 studies in the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) database from 2010 to 2023. This research employs the scientific quantitative knowledge graph method to analyze literature characteristics, core author, institution network, hotspots, and trends. The CiteSpace software analysis results show that the number of published papers is rising but fluctuates slightly. A core group of authors has not yet formed in this field, and the cooperation density between authors and institutions is low. Their distribution spreads in space with significant regional differences, mainly in European and Asian countries. The causes, impacts, and solutions of multi-actor engagement in service innovation are the focus of WOS and CNKI literature. However, scholars discuss the enterprise supply side, customer demand side, and government policy side in WOS, while scholars mainly discuss the interaction between variables in CNKI. A lack of an evaluation system for service innovation in wellness tourism restricts further research on service innovation. There is an essential potential for topics such as multi-actor engagement in the wellness tourism service innovation, digital technology, knowledge management, service innovation ecosystem performances, and wellness tourism development in developing countries. This study promotes an overview and reference for future scholars' research of service innovation in the wellness tourism industry.

Keywords

• service innovation
• wellness tourism
• scientific quantitative knowledge graph method
• research evolution