MANGROVE ECOTOURISM RESEARCH PROGRESS, TRENDS, AND UPDATES: A BIBLIOMETRIC ANALYSIS BASED ON THE SCOPUS AND WEB OF SCIENCE DATABASES

Using bibliometric analysis, this study aims to examine the progress, trends, and updates of mangrove ecotourism research within tourism studies. The primary data for this study were collected from the Scopus database with 306 publications and the Web of Science (WoS) database with 585 publications of mangrove ecotourism scientific documents published until the end of 2022. The results show that the first publication on mangrove ecotourism in the Scopus database was identified in 1992, while the first documents on the topic were included in the WoS database six years earlier, in 1986. The prominent keywords of mangrove ecotourism topics shared by publications in the Scopus and WoS databases were predominantly related to environmental and sustainability issues, such as conservation, biodiversity, and sustainable development. Based on geographical distribution, Asian countries and institutions have dominated recent publications on mangrove ecotourism. This means that the geographical distribution of publications on mangrove ecotourism is strongly influenced by the geographical distribution of mangrove ecosystems, which are mostly found in Asia.