Digital Accessibility and Emerging Technologies in Cross-border Tourism: A Bibliometric Review for the Euroregion of Northern Portugal and Galicia
Abstract
This study analyses the evolution of research on digital accessibility and emerging technologies applied to tourism, with a special focus on their framework in cross-border regions, namely in the Northern Portugal and Galicia Euroregion. Based on a systematic search in Web of Science (2020-2025), 268 articles were identified and subsequently processed using bibliometric methods with Bibliometrix R/Biblioshiny. The results show a sharp increase in scientific production, strongly focused on topics such as inclusion, technology, tourism experiences, and barriers to access. The analysis of networks and thematic structures reveals a scientific field in consolidation, where digital transformation and accessible tourism take centre stage, although gaps remain in the articulation between emerging technologies and cross-border tourism. This study contributes to an updated mapping of the field, identifying trends, the most influential authors and institutions, as well as opportunities for future research aimed at developing and promoting more inclusive and digitally accessible destinations.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.54663/2182-9306.2026.SpecialIssueCMTH.253-271
Keywords
Full Text:
PDFReferences
Aria, M., Cuccurullo, C. (2017). Bibliometrix: An R-tool for comprehensive science mapping analysis. Journal of Informetrics, 11(4), 959-975. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joi.2017.08.007.
Buhalis, D., & Darcy, S. (2011). Accessible Tourism Concepts and Issues. Bristol: Channel View Publications.
Buhalis, D., Darcy, S., & Ambrose, I. (2012). Best practice in accessible tourism: Inclusion, disability, ageing population and tourism. Channel View Publications.
Darcy, S., & Dickson, T. J. (2009). A whole‐of‐life approach to tourism: The case for accessible tourism experiences. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 16 (1), 32-44. https://doi.org/10.1375/jhtm.16.1.32
Darcy, S., Cameron, B., & Pegg, S. (2010). Accessible tourism and sustainability: A discussion and case study. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 18 (4), 515-537. https://doi.org/10.1080/09669581003690668.
Darcy, S., McKercher, B., & Schweinsberg, S. (2020). From tourism and disability to accessible tourism: A perspective article. Tourism Management Perspectives, 33, 100625. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tmp.2019.100625.
Domínguez Vila, T., Rubio-Escuderos, L., & González, E. (2024). Accessible tourism: Using technology to increase social equality for people with disabilities. Tourism Review, 80 (9), 1614-1634. https://doi.org/10.1108/TR-11-2023-0812.
Eichhorn, V., & Buhalis, D. (2011). Accessibility: A key objective for the tourism industry. In D. Buhalis & S. Darcy (Eds.), Accessible tourism: Concepts and issues (pp. 46-61). Channel View Publications.
Fernández-Díaz, E., Jambrino-Maldonado, C., Iglesias-Sánchez, P., Heras-Pedrosa, C. (2022). Digital accessibility of smart cities - tourism for all and reducing inequalities: Tourism Agenda 2030. Tourism Review, 78 (2), 361-380. https://doi.org/10.1108/TR-02-2022-0091.
Ferreira, JJ., Fernandes, CI., Veiga, PM, Hughes, M. (2022). Prevailing theoretical approaches predicting sustainable business models: a systematic review. International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, 71 (3), 790-813. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPPM-12-2020-0653.
Gavioli, L., Remoaldo, P. & Mourão, P. (2025). Policies and practices of accessible tourism in Europe: a case study of two municipalities in Italy and Portugal. The Annals of Regional Science, 74 (27). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00168-024-01330-w.
Gillovic, B., & McIntosh, A. (2020). Accessibility and Inclusive Tourism Development: Current State and Future Agenda. Sustainability, 12 (22), 9722. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12229722.
Gretzel, U., Sigala, M., Xiang, Z., & Koo, C. (2015). Smart tourism: Foundations and developments. Electronic Markets, 25 (3), 179-188. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12525-015-0196-8.
Karlović, R. (2025). Context-aware tourism recommendations using retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) and large language models. Electronics, 14 (22), 4448. https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics14224448.
Kraus, S., Breier, M., Lim, W. M., Dabić, M., Kumar, S., Kanbach, D., Mukherjee, D., Corvello, V., Piñeiro-Chousa, J., & Liguori, E. (2022). Literature reviews as independent studies: guidelines for academic practice. Review of Managerial Science, 16 (8), 2577-2595. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11846-022-00588-8.
Medeiros, E. (2015). Territorial impact assessment and cross-border cooperation. Regional Studies, Regional Science, 2 (1), 97-11. https://doi.org/10.1080/21681376.2014.999108.
Medeiros, E. (2020). Delimiting cross-border areas for policy implementation: A multi-factor proposal. European Planning Studies, 28 (1), 125-145. https://doi.org/10.1080/09654313.2019.1687654.
Paiva, T., Felgueira, T., Alves, C., & Costa, A. (2025). Strategies for Building Accessible and Inclusive Rural Tourism Ecosystems in Cross-Border Regions: The Case of Rural and Border Territory. Tourism and Hospitality, 6 (1), 23. https://doi.org/10.3390/tourhosp6010023.
Pranckutė, R. (2021). Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus: The titans of bibliographic information in today’s academic world. Publications, 9 (1), 12. https://doi.org/10.3390/publications9010012.
Rizova, T., & Dimova, N. (2025). Accessible tourism in global tourist destinations and its relationship with sustainable marketing in the digital age. International Journal of Current Science Research and Review, 8 (8), 3997-4013. https://doi.org/10.47191/ijcsrr/V8-i8-07.
Tussyadiah, I. (2020). A review of research into automation in tourism: Launching the Annals of Tourism Research Curated Collection on Artificial Intelligence and Robotics in Tourism. Annals of Tourism Research, 81, 102883. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2020.102883.
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
Copyright (c) 2026 Cátia Macedo
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
International Journal of Marketing, Communication and New Media
ISSN: 2182-9306
DOI: 10.54663/2182-9306
Qualis Periódicos - CAPES: B2
REBIB: Q2
Indexing:
WEB OF SCIENCE (WoS) & JOURNAL CITATION REPORTS (JCR)
QUALIS - GOOGLE SCHOLAR - LATINDEX - REDIB - RCAAP - OAJI - DRJI - MIAR - LIVRE - ERIH PLUS - INDEX COPERNICUS
