The role of Industry 4.0 in accelerating ecotourism for sustainable development: a comprehensive literature review

Purpose As global tourism accelerates, ecotourism has emerged as a strategic response to the environmental and social challenges posed by mass tourism. The integration of Industry 4.0 technologies into ecotourism holds the potential to support sustainable development, yet also introduces significant implementation barriers. This study aims to examine the impacts, challenges and opportunities of applying Industry 4.0 technologies in ecotourism, while mapping thematic clusters and future research directions with attention to environmental, social and economic sustainability. Design/methodology/approach A hybrid systematic literature review was conducted by using the PRISMA framework and Natural Language Processing (NLP). A total of 163 peer-reviewed articles published between 2017 and 2024 were retrieved from Scopus and Web of Science. Bibliometric analysis using VOSviewer was used to examine author collaboration and keyword co-occurrence. At the same time, topic modeling via latent Dirichlet allocation and semantic clustering (Sentence-BERT and Uniform Manifold Approximation and Projection) identified five key research clusters. Findings These clusters relate to the application of Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, blockchain, augmented reality/virtual reality and big data in ecotourism. While these technologies offer benefits such as real-time monitoring, personalized experiences and transparent certification, adoption remains limited because of infrastructure, cost and governance challenges. A four-stage digital roadmap (2020–2050) is proposed to guide the ecotourism digital transition. Research limitations/implications This study is limited by its reliance on peer-reviewed sources indexed in Scopus, which may exclude recent innovations and practitioner-led initiatives in ecotourism. The focus on publications from 2017 to 2024 could also overlook earlier foundational work. While the hybrid PRISMA and NLP approach improves thematic depth, variations in terminology and regional context may result in the omission of relevant studies. Future research should broaden data sources and explore multilingual and practice-based perspectives to strengthen the applicability of findings across diverse ecotourism settings. Practical implications The findings provide actionable insights for multiple stakeholders aiming to implement Industry 4.0 technologies in tourism destinations. For policymakers, the quadrant mapping of research clusters and roadmap visualization serve as strategic tools to prioritize digital infrastructure development, capacity building and adaptive policy design based on technology readiness and contextual needs. Tourism operators can leverage the findings to identify scalable solutions, such as real-time monitoring or AI-driven planning, while being aware of adoption barriers, such as interoperability, training gaps and visitor acceptance. Technology providers may use the thematic clusters to develop localized, low-cost applications suited to underserved ecotourism regions. Furthermore, the framework equips funding bodies and NGOs with an evidence-based foundation to align innovation investments with measurable sustainability outcomes, particularly in regions with limited digital readiness but high ecotourism potential. Social implications This study offers several theoretical contributions to the field of sustainable tourism and digital innovation. First, it extends the literature on smart ecotourism by applying a hybrid NLP bibliometric review framework, demonstrating how NLP and semantic clustering can complement traditional PRISMA-based approaches in uncovering latent research patterns. This methodology enhances the systematic analysis of large, unstructured corpora and supports the development of evidence-based research agendas in emerging tourism technologies. Originality/value This study contributes a novel hybrid NLP bibliometric framework for tourism research and provides actionable insights for policymakers, tourism operators and technology providers aiming to foster inclusive, technology-enabled sustainable tourism.