Research at the Crowding and Tourism

Abstract

This study aims to conduct a bibliometric analysis of existing literature on crowding in tourist destinations and its effects, thereby recognizing areas for further research. The authors evaluated 421 Scopus-indexed documents related to the subject of crowding. This study involved analysing the annual publications on the topic and the past trends to suggest solutions for better management of the destinations in the future. The results reveal a noticeable rise in the academic literature on crowding, especially about popular tourist destinations. The findings also indicate that unmonitored tourism and subsequent media coverage have significantly contributed to this upswing in scholarly work. The problem of crowding disappeared for a short period during the COVID-19 pandemic. This research note explores a possible solution to the problem to be utilised in the future and comments on the changing nature of the psychological concept after COVID-19. This study offers a comprehensive review of the current state of research on crowding, thereby helping to guide future research in this area. Moreover, it underscores the need for strategies to manage crowding to promote sustainable tourism.