Are water-centric themes in sustainable tourism research congruent with the UN Sustainable Development Goals?

Abstract

Although tourism is considered a vehicle for achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to eradicate poverty, protect the environment and facilitate social inclusion, limited empirical work has assessed the engagement of tourism literature with the associated 2030 Agenda. Water, both fresh and salt, is directly or indirectly implicated throughout the SDGs, and tourism both depends on clean water and exacerbates water problems. However, there has been limited discourse that maps water-centric knowledge and its relationship to the SDGs within the sustainable tourism literature. This bibliometric analysis, consequently, draws on a database of 220 relevant journal articles to identify affiliated themes and assess their relationship to the SDGs. Findings categorise the knowledge base into three first order themes, with water situated respectively as resource, attraction and hazard. This literature indirectly supports the Agenda through specific SDGs of poverty eradication (#1), sustainable economic growth (#8), and sustainable consumption (#12). Direct links occur between the themes and specific SDGs, as with resource (#6, sustainable management of water for all), attraction (#14, life beneath the sea) and hazard (#13, climate change action). Future research in the tourism and water nexus should consider deeper engagement with priorities as outlined in the SDGs.