Work

The Convergence of Sustainability, Circular Economy and Esg in Tourism: Mapping Research Trends Through Natural Language Processing

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: The present paper examines the convergence between sustainability (SUS), circular economy (CE), and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) dimensions within tourism through a systematic analysis of scholarly publications indexed in the Scopus database.A dual methodological approach is applied, combining bibliometric analysis and natural language processing-based topic modeling using Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA).The bibliometric findings indicate a steady increase in tourism research addressing SUS, CE, and ESG, with sustainability remaining the dominant research domain.Thematic network analysis reveals distinct yet interconnected research clusters: CE primarily emphasizes resource efficiency and waste management, ESG focuses on governance, accountability, and performancerelated themes, while sustainability centers on ecotourism and long-term development objectives.Topic modeling further demonstrates a layered structure of the SUS-CE-ESG nexus, where sustainability articulates normative developmental goals, circular economy operationalizes process-level transformation, and ESG embeds measurement and governance mechanisms.By interpreting these dimensions through a quality management and performance lens, the study advances an integrated analytical framework that repositions sustainability in tourism as a measurable, governable, and continuously improvable domain rather than as a purely normative aspiration.

Source: International Journal for Quality Research

DOI: 10.24874/ijqr20.03-07

Authors: Theodoros Daglis, Ugljesa Stankov, Maria-Anna Katsikogianni

Institution: University of Novi Sad

Language: English

Topic: Diverse Aspects of Tourism Research

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Responsible consumption and production

Open Access status: diamond