Special Interest Tourism Research: A Systematic Literature Review and Future Research Directions
Keywords:
Special Interest Tourism, Tourist Motivation, Sustainabilty, Future research, DirectionsAbstract
Special Interest Tourism (SIT) has emerged as an important focus in contemporary tourism studies, highlighting niche travel experiences that align with specific interests and motivations of travelers. This study reviews 20 scholarly publications published between 2019 and 2025 with the aim of identifying dominant research trends, key thematic areas, methodological approaches, and existing gaps within the SIT literature. The findings indicate that current SIT research primarily concentrates on cultural heritage tourism, culinary tourism, sports tourism, ecological tourism, shopping tourism, lifestyle tourism, and the role of digital innovation in shaping tourist experiences. Across these thematic areas, tourist motivations such as the pursuit of cultural enrichment, personal growth, and meaningful experiential engagement are consistently associated with higher levels of satisfaction, stronger destination loyalty, and increased intention to revisit. In addition, sustainability and inclusivity are increasingly positioned as core concerns within SIT research. Studies emphasize the importance of environmental protection, conservation of cultural heritage, active community participation, and social responsibility as essential components of sustainable destination development. Technological advancement also features prominently in recent SIT studies. The adoption of smart tourism systems, digital platforms, and immersive technologies is shown to enhance personalization, improve visitor engagement, and facilitate more interactive tourism experiences. From a methodological perspective, the reviewed studies employ a mix of qualitative, quantitative, and bibliometric methods. However, the literature remains limited in terms of longitudinal analysis, cross-cultural comparison, and implementation-oriented research. Future research should adopt multidisciplinary approaches, use digital tools, apply comparative designs, understand evolving tourist behavior, and support sustainable development.
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