Exploring Sustainable Tourism Innovations through Topic Modelling

Innovation and sustainable tourism are closely linked concepts that are critical for the long-term success of the tourism industry. Sustainable tourism involves the responsible use of natural resources, the preservation of cultural heritage, and the promotion of local economies and communities. Innovation, on the other hand, involves the creation and implementation of new ideas, products, and processes that can improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and sustainability of tourism. In this paper, we aim to explore how innovations can combine sustainability and tourism. Many cities and tourist destinations experience the challenges of overtourism and climate change. Governments and the tourism industry need to overcome these challenges in a sustainable and inclusive way. Both governments and organizations have acknowledged the opportunities technology and innovation can offer, but the tourism industry continues to grow in an unsustainable manner. To measure the level of sustainable innovation in the tourism industry, patenting trends have been analyzed. The results of the patent analysis show how patent applications have increased in the past decade and how these are spread on a global scale. Through topic modelling analysis we confirmed that these patents increasingly evolve around different sustainability topics. This paper offers relevant insights to both the academic and practical field.