Advancing sustainability in tourism through waste management a research overview

Abstract

The tourism and hospitality sector faces mounting pressure to address its environmental impact through sustainable practices. This bibliometric analysis aims to provide the evolution of waste management research in tourism/hospitality from 1973 to 2025, analyzing 701 articles from Web of Science and Scopus databases. Following PRISMA guidelines, we analyzed 701 articles from Web of Science and Scopus databases using Biblioshiny and VOSviewer software, examining publication trends, productivity metrics, citation patterns, keyword co-occurrence networks, and thematic evolution. Results reveal substantial publication growth since 2015; the most productive countries are China, India and Italy. The analysis identifies six key research clusters: sustainable tourism behavior and waste, coastal and marine plastic pollution, climate change and water pollution, circular economy and organic waste, microplastics & beach pollution, coastal areas and solid waste management. It is thought that the number of studies on practical applications and niche themes should increase and future research suggestions are presented