From Devotion To Destination: Mapping Global Research Trend In Muslim-Friendly Destinations A Bibliometric Analysis (2019-2024)

Abstract

Purpose: This study aims to analyse the intellectual structure and research trends of Muslim-friendly destinations and halal tourism through a bibliometric analysis of publications indexed in Scopus, Web of Science, ScienceDirect, and Google Scholar from 2019 to 2024. It identifies dominant research themes, maps keyword relationships, and highlights emerging research opportunities.

Research Method: A quantitative bibliometric approach was employed using publications retrieved from the four databases. After screening relevant documents, VOSviewer was used to conduct keyword co-occurrence and density visualisation analyses to identify thematic clusters, research hotspots, and underexplored topics.

Results and Discussion: The analysis reveals a growing academic interest in Muslim-friendly tourism and identifies five major research clusters: halal service attributes, Muslim tourist behaviour, destination governance, community participation, and regional case studies. Halal services and tourist behaviour remain the most extensively studied themes. In contrast, sustainability, digital transformation, destination image, smart tourism, and innovation appear as low-density keywords, indicating that these areas have received relatively limited attention and offer promising directions for future interdisciplinary research.

Implications: The findings provide a comprehensive overview of the intellectual landscape of Muslim-friendly tourism and identify important research gaps for future studies. Practically, the study recommends integrating sustainability principles and digital technologies into destination development strategies. Stronger collaboration among governments, destination management organisations, local communities, and tourism stakeholders is essential to develop Muslim-friendly destinations that are more inclusive, competitive, resilient, and sustainable.