A global bibliometric analysis of the scientific literature on entomotourism: exploring trends, patterns and research gaps

Entomotourism has emerged as a conservation strategy that seeks to promote greater awareness and sensitivity to the importance of the invertebrates in the ecosystem. In this context, we conducted a global bibliometric analysis with the aim of identifying trends and gaps of research on entomotourism published in the last 39 years (1984-2022), as well as highlighting areas that need to be explored in the future. For this purpose, articles related to entomotourism and its variants in the literature were extracted from Scopus and Web of Science. A total of 150 entomotourism publications were identified. Biodiversitas is the journal with the most articles published on entomotourism. The countries with the highest scientific production were Mexico, Malaysia and the USA. Most of the studies were conducted in protected areas such as sanctuaries, reserves and national parks. The predominant orders and species in the studies were Lepidoptera (Butterflies: Danaus plexippus and Morpho helenor), Hymenoptera (Bees: Apis mellifera and Apis cerana) and Coleoptera (Fireflies: Pteroptyx tener and Pteroptyx malaccae). The most common entomotouristic activities include wild watching and apitourism. Research in the field focuses on identifying perceptions, inventorying invertebrates, and developing ecological studies. Although there has been a recent increase in the number of publications, general research on the subject is still very scarce. There are gaps regarding: the perception and willingness of local communities, guidelines and criteria for species selection, the impact of entomotourism on biodiversity, entomophagy as a sustainable alternative, the relationship between culture and insect-based tourism, and training on entomotourism.