Beyond Muslim-Friendly Tourism: Mapping the Intellectual Evolution of Halal Tourism Research

Abstract

The rapid expansion of the global Muslim travel market has stimulated increasing scholarly attention to halal tourism, yet its intellectual development remains fragmented across multiple disciplines. This study aims to map the intellectual evolution of halal tourism research and identify its major knowledge structures, influential contributors, and emerging research directions. A bibliometric approach was employed using 473 English-language publications indexed in the Scopus database between 2004 and 2026. Data were analyzed through performance analysis and science mapping using VOSviewer to examine publication trends, leading authors, institutions, countries, and keyword co-occurrence networks. The findings reveal a substantial increase in scientific production since 2016, reflecting the growing maturity of halal tourism as a multidisciplinary field. Six major thematic clusters illustrate the evolution of research from Muslim-friendly services toward destination competitiveness, tourist behavior, governance, sustainability, digital transformation, and innovation. This study offers a comprehensive intellectual overview of halal tourism research and provides valuable insights for researchers, policymakers, and tourism practitioners to support future collaboration, strategic policy development, and sustainable growth within the global halal tourism ecosystem

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21412312