Digital Destination Branding in Tourism: Intellectual Structure and Emerging Research Trends

Fitri Wulandary, Retnaningtyas Susanti, Yunia Wardi, Elida Elida

Abstract

The development of digital communication technology has rapidly revolutionised the destination branding techniques in the tourist industry, especially with the growing role of social media and user-generated content. Although digital destination branding is increasingly attracting scholarly interest, research in the field remains scattered among multiple issues, including destination image, social media marketing, tourist engagement, narrative, and digital communication. Hence, this study intends to analyse the intellectual structure, theme progression, and upcoming research trends in digital destination branding. A bibliometric method was carried out based on data extracted from the Scopus database. The search term TITLE-ABS-KEY ("destination branding" AND ("social media" OR "digital")) retrieved publications between 2019 and 2025. After applying document type and language criteria, 77 journal articles in English were selected for study. Biblioshiny in RStudio and VOSviewer were used for the analysis of publishing trends, influential authors, country scientific production, citation structures, theme clusters, and keyword co-occurrence networks. The results show a large rise in research production after 2023, showing increased academic interest on digital tourism communication. The main topics identified in the field were social media, destination image, tourist experience, storytelling and sustainability. The study shows that destination branding research has progressed from conventional advertising strategies towards interactive and digitally mediated tourist ecosystems. This work adds by offering an extensive bibliometric mapping of the subject and highlighting future research opportunities on artificial intelligence, immersive tourism experiences, and sustainable destination communication.

Keywords: bibliometric analysis; destination branding; destination image; digital tourism; social media; tourism marketing

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References

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.20961/jkb.v31i1.121377

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