Intellectual structure on artificial intelligence studies in tourism and hospitality: a bibliometric analysis

Abstract

Purpose

The paper aims to reveal the intellectual structure of studies on artificial intelligence (AI) in the fields of tourism and hospitality. Evaluations regarding the intellectual structure have been made based on co-author, co-word and citation.

Design/methodology/approach

The study is exploratory in nature. The study, using bibliometric analysis, provides a Web of Sciences (WOS) overview. The data has been obtained from the WOS database by coding as “artificial intelligence” and “tourism” and “hospitality.” VOSviewer program has been used to obtain and analyze the data.

Findings

The findings of the research show that studies on the use of AI in tourism and hospitality have become very popular, especially in the last 4 years. The authors of the study are working in the tourism and hospitality fields and have a high h-index. Generally, in current AI studies in tourism, topics such as robot, automation, ChatGPT, technology adoption and mechanical learning are studied. It has also been determined that topics related to the future of destinations and literature reviews are also discussed.

Research limitations/implications

Although this paper examines all studies identified as a result of filtering, the analysis is limited to 195 studies. However, due to the widespread use of AI in tourism-related studies recently, bibliometric analysis has been made with extensive filtering. As studies on the subject become more widespread in the coming years, it would be useful to repeat similar studies by filtering with more specific quotas.

Originality/value

There are a few similar studies on the subject in the field. However, these studies need to be repeated at certain periods. This paper contributes to monitoring the literature of AI studies, which are new to use in tourism and hospitality, and to the formation of a theoretical framework on the subject.

Citation

Şengel, Ü. and Işkın, M. (2024), "Intellectual structure on artificial intelligence studies in tourism and hospitality: a bibliometric analysis", Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/WHATT-03-2024-0070