Celebrating 25 years of tourism, hospitality, and events education research: a bibliometric review of the journal of teaching in travel & tourism (2001–2025)

To mark its 25th anniversary, this study presents a bibliometric overview of the Journal of Teaching in Travel & Tourism (JTTT), offering a systematic assessment of its scholarly development, intellectual structure, and thematic evolution. This study presents a comprehensive bibliometric review of JTTT based on 568 articles published between 2001 and 2025. The study applies bibliometric and science-mapping techniques, including performance analysis, co-authorship networks, bibliographic coupling, co-citation analysis, and keyword co-occurrence to examine the journal’s publication trajectory, intellectual structure, collaborative networks, and thematic development. The findings reveal that JTTT has evolved from an initial emphasis on curriculum development, experiential learning, and employability toward broader concerns involving educational technology, sustainability education, artificial intelligence, and inclusive education. The science mapping analysis further demonstrates a distinctive pattern of fragmented collaboration but strong intellectual cohesion, indicating that JTTT functions as an important knowledge integration platform within tourism education research. By tracing the journal’s knowledge structure and emerging research fronts, this study provides a consolidated reference for scholars and educators to identify research gaps, develop future agendas, and position meaningful contributions to the advancement of travel and tourism education.