Unveiling Trends and Gaps in Tourist Crowding Literature with a Roadmap for the Future

This study systematically reviewed 592 Scopus-indexed journal articles on tourist crowding to highlight its evolution and identify future research gaps. This review examined the major contributors, influential papers, academic progress, and emergent themes of tourist crowding. The review results revealed a significant increase in research on this topic, underscoring its growing importance; however, it remains inconsistent with the definitions and frameworks. This study offers a charting of academic trajectories and uncovers evolving themes. This study will be helpful to multiple stakeholders in the tourism industry, including tourism policy boards, online travel agencies, and tourists. This motivates further investigation by offering unsolved questions and relevant future objectives.