CULTURAL TOURISM IN RURAL AREAS: MAPPING RESEARCH TRENDS THROUGH BIBLIOMETRIC AND CONTENT ANALYSIS

Abstract

The main objective of this paper is to perform a detailed analysis of the scientific literature on cultural tourism in rural areas through a bibliometric study of the papers indexed in the Web of Science database. The bibliometric analysis was carried out using performance analysis and science mapping techniques. Authors’ keywords and KeyWords Plus were analyzed using RapidMiner software, and VOSviewer software was employed to create category maps and visualize the evolution of keywords. Content analysis of influential publications was used to show the evolution of knowledge and discover the most current issues. The results show the evolution of publications on cultural tourism in rural areas and identify the most influential journals, articles, authors, institutions and countries, as well as the most important research topics in the field. The paper concludes with recommendations for future bibliometric studies and offers guidelines for further research on cultural tourism in rural areas.

Keywords

• cultural tourism
• heritage tourism
• rural areas
• bibliometric analysis
• research trends
• Web of Science