The evolution of polar tourism scholarship: research themes, networks and agendas

Abstract

The growth in polar travel has been matched in recent decades by an intensification of scholarly activity related to many aspects of polar tourism. This paper systematically reviews 262 journal articles published on polar tourism (1980–2016) and identifies key research phases and themes. The development of the polar tourism scholarly network is documented through a social network analysis (SNA) and reveals a highly fragmented scholarly community with the exception of a dense principal core group of researchers. A research agenda outlining future research themes and priorities is proposed. The paper indicates that polar tourism research has now emerged from its infancy and now is more likely to be underpinned by empirical, multi-disciplinary and theoretically situated research than in the past.