A bibliometric study of regional competitiveness and tourism innovation

This study's objective essentially strives to provide a mapping of the scientific publications and the intellectual knowledge therein contained while conveying past research trends and identifying potential future lines of research in the fields of regional competitiveness and tourism innovation. This correspondingly deploys a systematic literature review in keeping with the bibliometric approach. This analysis encapsulates the number of articles published and their annual number of citations for the period between 1900 and 2016 as registered by the Web of Science database. Results show how the intellectual structure on regional competitiveness and tourism innovation evolves over time. The main contribution of this study arises out of identifying the main research trends in this field and the respective shortcomings and specific needs for future scientific research.