The Role of Birdwatching as a Sustainable Tourism Strategy: A Literature Review

The purpose of this article is to examine the conceptualisation and evolution of birdwatching as an activity of nature tourism, drawing upon existing literature. A bibliometric analysis was conducted. The Scopus database was used, resulting in the selection of 47 relevant studies. This study identifies the key components (factors, drivers, and future research) necessary for fostering development of birdwatching as a sustainable strategy. The present study initiated with the existing literature on Nature‑based tourism as defined by the UNWTO (World Tourism Organization) classification, starting with the theoretical proposals. The analysis focused on renowned journals on the topic, according to the Scimago Journal & Country Rank (SJR), from 2020 to 2023. The findings show that studies on Nature‑based tourism and birdwatching published in the last four years are mainly related to conservation, ecotourism and ecosystems. The results of the present research show varied information with respect to approaches towards birdwatching, the opportunities and the challenges.