The state of Indian tourism and hospitality research: A review and analysis of journal publications

• This paper provides the most up-to-date content analysis of Indian Tourism and Hospitality research.
• The publications of Indian universities/institutes are increasing, and the highest number was during 2005 and 2012.
• The research themes have become more diversified and the theme of “Tourism Marketing” is likely to attract researchers.
• Trends of multiple authorship and use of more advanced methodological techniques were found.
• Periodical content analysis of research publications is advocated to achieve comprehensive understanding of trends.

Tourism in India has emerged as a major catalyst for sustainable development because of its strong forward and backward connections with other prominent sectors of the economy. Tourism earned US$ 17,737 million foreign exchange in 2012 with a 7.1% annual growth rate (Government of India, 2012). This growth has motivated researchers, policy makers and professionals to obtain an in-depth understanding of the tourism industry. This paper is the first study to focus solely on Indian tourism and hospitality research and review literature comprehensively. It provides a complete overview of 182 papers published in major academic databases including Sciencedirect.com, SAGE Journals, Routledge.com, Emerald Insight, Springer, Wiley Online Library and Tourism Recreation Research between 1981 and 2012. The findings indicate that research themes have become more diversified, and the research productivity of universities/institutes located in India is continuously increasing. A trend of multiple authorship and more advanced methodological techniques has been found.