Wellness tourism scholarship: a research agenda

Abstract

Purpose - The study aims to explore the intellectual structure of wellness tourism (WT) research by performing a two-phase methodological approach.

Design/methodology/approach - Citation and co-citation analysis were performed on 209 articles published up to October 2021 in Scopus, and the results were visualised with the VOSviewer software. Furthermore, to assess clusters in-depth, qualitative thematic content analysis was used.

Findings - The findings indicate that the main articles of WT research examine the demand side of WT. Five clusters were explored by co-citation analysis. Each cluster is discussed by presenting the main theme, key theoretical framework, and characteristic methodological perspective. Accordingly, no dominant theory stands out in research on wellness tourism. Most of the study has been done through cross-sectional surveys.

Practical implications - The authors anticipate that by the recommendations outlined in this study, WT research will progress and provide significant insights to WT practitioners in the coming years to meet tourist expectations.

Originality/value - Via this research, which shows the discovery of the intellectual structure of WT and its holistic picture, the deficiencies in the picture will be seen, and practitioners will be provided information based on evidence.