Innovation and the various dimensions of sustainability are essential in companies’ competitiveness in general and tourism. Business Models (BM) show how companies define value creation, sharing, and competitive advantage. There has been no systematic research on the available literature on BM, innovation, sustainability, and the embodiment of these concepts into Nature-Based Tourism (NBT). To address this knowledge gap, we undertook a systematic literature review on the relevance and role of BM, innovation, and sustainability in NBT. After reviewing 74 conceptual and empirical articles, we detected that the literature on tourism and NBT is fragmented and that innovation, sustainability, and BM lack to be effectively considered in NBT. The systematic literature review helped us understand the relevance of introducing these literature streams into NBT research from the theoretical perspective. Further research and managerial implications are outlined, including the possibility of developing Innovative Sustainable Business Models (ISBM) for tourism and NBT and its relevance to NBT companies’ competitiveness and quality improvement.
Published Date: 2025-01-22; Received Date: 2024-09-16
