Community-Based Tourism and Ethnic Minority Communities in Southeast Asia: A Bibliometric and Systematic Review

Community-based tourism (CBT) has emerged as a pivotal model for integrating ethnic minority communities into sustainable tourism development, yet no comprehensive bibliometric review has examined the evolution and knowledge structure of this field specifically within the Southeast Asian (SEA) context. This study addresses this gap by analysing 615 documents indexed in Scopus and Web of Science from 1995 to 2026, using Bibliometrix R and VOSviewer. The corpus — spanning 327 source journals, 1,992 authors, with an annual growth rate of 10.15% — reveals four distinct developmental stages: germination (1995–2004), early growth (2005–2012), diversification (2013–2019), and rapid expansion (2020–2026). Keyword co-occurrence analysis identifies five thematic clusters: (1) ecotourism and Indonesian tourism development; (2) community-based tourism and management; (3) sustainable development and conservation; (4) Malaysian governance and participation; and (5) Vietnam. The thematic map reveals ecotourism, Indonesia, and tourism development as motor themes, while community-based tourism remains an emerging theme requiring deeper theoretical integration. Content analysis of the 25 most-cited publications (408–56 citations) highlights three dominant theoretical traditions: empowerment theory, social exchange theory, and sustainable livelihoods frameworks. A four-module knowledge framework is proposed, contextualising findings within ASEAN's institutional environment. Significant gaps are identified in cross-national comparative designs, psychological empowerment perspectives, and post-COVID resilience research. This study contributes the first integrated bibliometric map of CBT and ethnic minority research in SEA, providing a structured agenda for future inquiry in the Global South.