Meneses, DanielaCosta, CarlosFerreira, Fernanda A.Eusébio, Celeste2024-06-042024-06-0420241-0364-0337-8978-1-0364-0337-9http://hdl.handle.net/10400.22/25608Increased competitiveness among cities and tourist destinations is associated with accelerated growth and the increased need to fulfil tourist needs. Tourism, being a complex sector, incorporates different types of environmental, cultural, economic, and social resources into its activity. The impact of tourism on destinations, whether through acculturation or the environment, varies according to the characteristics of each destination. Tourism activity depends on natural resources and all entities involved, private and public sector, recognise the importance and need for tourism planning to protect these resources, especially in a regional dimension. From the point of view of regional tourism, the premise of regional tourism planning should be to plan the best use of the territory, based on tourism strategies aimed at achieving optimal national development (Dwyer, Forsyth, and Spurr 2004). Tourism as a clustering sector is influenced by external factors which call into question the planning process, being influenced by different actors, governments, non-governmental organisations and private sector (Gunn 2002). As a result, tourism planning requires a particular body of knowledge and a systematic approach (Inskeep 1988). In the case of regional tourism, this also means that all urban and rural attractions and peripheral areas should be considered in tourism planning. In the literature search, we found some review articles about tourism planning. Literature review from Calero and Turner (2020) approaches tourism planning from the perspective of regional economic development and tourism, emphasising the concept and its evolution between the years 1990 and 2000. The results showed that research was still in its infancy. The review of Rahman and Salahudin (2021) address regional tourism development planning with application to Indonesia, limiting and biasing the results of the study, and, finally, the review of Sentanu et al. (2023) addresses collaborative tourism governance between 2010 and 2021, leading to a current topic trend and proposing the factors of collaborative tourism governance for success. The bibliometric analyses that emerged during the research are related to sustainability and the application of sustainability in tourism, and no literature review was found that addresses regional tourism development. This work stands out for its innovation, as it conducts a quantitative analysis of the gathered information. It also offers a temporal examination of the knowledge that has evolved over recent years, effectively systematising this information, and delivering valuable insights for individuals engaged in regional planning, as well as researchers and practitioners. For researchers, it facilitates a more comprehensive understanding of the topic’s evolution and variables, thereby providing guidance for future research. As for practitioners, it enables an examination of diverse perspectives and their impact on the industry. This chapter addresses examining the development of regional tourism planning as a concept and its practical implications in the evolution of planning. The aim of this chapter is to understand the evolution of regional tourism planning research, identify the most relevant topics in regional tourism planning and, finally, promote a broad understanding of the development and suggest new research directions. The chapter structure follows with introductory literature review concerning the subject being investigated, followed by a description of the methodology used and the subsequent findings. Finally, concludes by presenting the implications and potential future avenues for research.engbook part