Ecossistemas de Turismo Rural: uma análise bibliométrica

Ecosystems are environments that promote connections between different actors for social and economic development. Tourism, one of the most complex activities globally, includes rural tourism as a vast field to be explored. Its objective is to value and preserve customs, regions and the cultural and natural heritage of the countryside, where tourists stay on farms, hotels and inns, contributing to the sustainable development of these areas and generating employment and income for the local population. Although relevant, there is a shortage of systematic studies on this ecosystem. This research uses a systematic review to analyze rural tourism ecosystems, identifying research topics up to 06/2024. 146 articles were found with the words “ecosystem, tourism and rural”, resulting in 86 records for final analysis. With "ecosystem, innovation, tourism and rural", 13 more articles were identified, leaving 9 for final analysis. In total, there were 95 articles in English, in the field of social sciences. The articles were extracted from the Scopus database and evaluated in the VOSviewer Software. The methodology evaluated citations, co-citations, keywords, authors, journals, universities and countries. The study identified eight thematic clusters: ecosystem services, rural tourism, rural development, sustainability, value, sustainable development and tourism. A significant gap was found in the literature on rural tourism ecosystems, with no comprehensive and integrated reviews available. The article adds value to the topic of rural tourism ecosystems by analyzing records since the first in 1993, demonstrating a large gap in studies related to the issue, suggesting future integrated research on the subject.