State of the art of research in the sector of thermalism, thalassotherapy and spa: A bibliometric analysis

Abstract

Due to the importance that this type of tourism has gained in recent years, academic researchers of different knowledge areas have focused their interest on studying, deepening and analyzing this sector by following different approaches (economic, marketing, distribution, tourism, etc.). In this context, the objective of this study is to track scientific publications that deal with research in the field of thermalism, thalassotherapy and spas, which will reveal the current state of research in this sector and define approaches and areas of knowledge from which these studies have been addressed. Bibliometric analysis was used as the research methodology to meet this objective. The international databases Web of Science and Scopus are used to identify the scientific publications under study by choosing search terms, and to develop the database for analysis. The results highlight the importance of the Scopus database for the search of bibliographic material related to the subject under study by researchers. On the other hand, very few researchers have continued with this line of research, most of them have only published one article and very significant percentage of the articles are published in journals that are part of the “tourism journals” category. The analysis highlights the need to continue developing knowledge in a sector with great growth potential.

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“…In addition, the journal "Bioresource Technology'' has the highest number of publications (18.35% and 23.39% for Wos and Scopus, respectively) and the highest H-index (19 for WoS and 25 for Scopus), followed by the journal "Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews" which has the highest number of citations for both databases. The Relative Quality Indexes (SJR and JCR) show that articles have been published in high impact journals [32].…”

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“…In the WT context, it was observed that SPT had been studied more. Rio-Rama et al (2018) did a bibliometric performance analysis and identified prominent researchers, journals, universities, and countries. Aluculesei et al (2021) studied the intellectual structure of SPT through co-word analysis.…”

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“…As thermalism goes, this activity underwent significant changes throughout the last centuries. It is referred by Del Río-Rama et al [15] that thermalism has moved from a tradition that focus solely on the curative purposes for a variety of health conditionssuch as respiratory, gastric, or rheumatic, among others -to a wider approach that highlights the properties of thermal waters and its benefits for the contemporary society. The changes that thermal tourism has undergone, and the subsequent diversification of its offer have affected the type of consumers in this industry.…”

“…The changes that thermal tourism has undergone, and the subsequent diversification of its offer have affected the type of consumers in this industry. Del Río-Rama et al [15] also refer to the objectives of this type of tourism: the improvement of the tourist's health status; rest and relaxation; contact with nature; aesthetics and beauty. This shift in the tourist's positioning forces the companies that provide thermal tourism services to give him/her special attention beyond technical quality, as is stated by Rodriguez Míguez [16], since this tourist is not seen as a patient but as a consumer.…”