The Industry-Academia Gap in Responsible Tourism Management: An Automated Content Analysis

Abstract

Studies are increasingly pointing to responsible tourism (RT) as an alternative approach to overcome the negative effects of mass tourism while supporting the economic, social, and environmental considerations of the destination stakeholders. However, there is ambiguity and confusion among academics and practitioners over the actual meaning and implementation of RT and its terminology. Furthermore, although news reports are the primary reference for the general public, past studies have not yet explored how RT is represented in the mass media. This study conducts a comparative analysis of the development of the concept of RT and travel using data from scholarly journal articles and news reports from 1993 to the present. A comparative automated content analysis (ACA) was used to generate, compare, and contrast the themes and concepts in academic journals and news reports to provide a deeper understanding of RT. The findings reveal that both academic articles and news reports focus on the approaches and practices of actors and stakeholders on both the supply and demand sides, but present some differences due to their respective intended audiences. This study identifies areas for future research and news reporting.