A comparative review: distance decay in urban and rural tourism

ABSTRACT

This paper reviews the literature on distance decay in urban and rural tourism. Through a systematic literature review, this paper aims to understand the current state of knowledge regarding distance decay in tourism including (1) reveal the main topics and domains, (2) variables applied in past studies, while simultaneously distinguishing them in the form of urban and rural tourism as well as (3) identify potential areas and gaps for future studies. The findings indicate a growing interest among tourism researchers to examine distance decay, with studies predominantly focusing more on urban tourism than rural tourism. Additionally, this review recommends future studies to investigate distance decay in crisis and disaster management for future study regardless of urban or rural tourism settings.

KEYWORDS:

• Distance decay
• travel demand
• geographical setting
• urban tourism
• rural tourism
• systematic literature review

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work is supported by Universiti Teknologi Malaysia under Grant 08G14 (Family Business and Transgenerational Model for Policy Development of Community Tourism Business and Entrepreneurship).

Notes on contributors

Pei Yee Tan

Pei Yee Tan is a PhD candidate in Urban and Regional Planning, Faculty Built Environment and Surveying at the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. Her research interests include urban planning and tourism planning.

Hairul Nizam Ismail

Hairul Nizam Ismail is an Associate Professor in Urban and Regional Planning, Faculty Built Environment and Surveying at the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. His research interests include urban planning, urban tourism, tourism planning in developing countries.

Syed Muhammad Rafy Syed Jaafar

Syed Muhammad Rafy Syed Jaafar is a senior lecturer in Urban and Regional Planning, Faculty Built Environment and Surveying at the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. He is interested and passionate about urban tourism, primarily focusing on destination image, movement pattern, and tourist behaviour.