Digital Disconnection as an Opportunity for the Tourism Business: A Bibliometric Analysis

The aim of this study is to carry out a bibliometric review of the existing research on digital disconnection and Digital Free Tourism (DFT) to discover the extent to which this new trend affects technology users and the tourism market. To do this, a systematic literature review and a bibliometric analysis of the research on digital disconnection contained in the Scopus and Web of Science databases were used. This research includes publications from 2012 to December 2021, which included a total of 37 publications about digital disconnection and digital free tourism in scientific journals indexed in the main scientific databases. The analysis concludes that DFT is a growing economic trend in research and that the phenomenon of digital disconnection is beginning to be a peremptory need for more and more users. This work is original and interesting for researchers specialising in technology addictions, as well as academics and professionals in the tourism sector, because the extensive use of smart devices is becoming a type of addiction in many areas and can be a new opportunity for the tourism market. The DFT phenomenon can improve the response to these types of addictions and be a temporary escape and alternative to technological devices.

The aim of this research is to complete a descriptive bibliometric study [15] of publications on DFT (Digital Free Tourism), digital disconnection [9], and digital detoxification [16]. The DFT has emerged as a booming modality for areas where there is no, or very limited, Internet or mobile phone coverage, and the relationships between health, wellbeing, teleworking, and tourism have all become more important with the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic. The research on DFT and digital disconnection published in the main scientific databases (WOS and SCOPUS) during the period 2012 to 2021 was analyzed. The above were the main terms used along with others, such as Digital Free Travel [17], Digital Detox Tourism [12] or Digital Detox for holidays [18,19]. The study is structured as follows. First, the theoretical background of the concepts used in the research on technological disconnection and leisure and tourism with DFT is explained, and then the following research questions are presented:

RQ1.
Who are the leading authors, institutions, and publications of scientific literature on possible solutions to digital hyperconnectivity?

RQ2. What main topics do the published papers consider?
In the next section the methodology used in this research is explained. The results are then given and discussed with the conclusions of the research and suggestions for future lines of research given at the end.

2-1-Digital Free Tourism (DFT)
The scientific literature shows that the desire to escape and disconnect in our leisure time has been studied in research into the main motivations of travelers [20] who want to reduce stress or live experiences that promote personal wellbeing [21]. They do this because technology generally helps in everyday life but is also becoming intrusive in the contemporary world and can be used excessively. There are several concepts included in the descriptions of "digital disconnection holidays", two of which are especially relevant, "Digital Free Tourism (DFT)" and "digital detox", which propose a holiday period in tourist spaces with no, or a reduced number of electronic devices and Internet use [9,13,17].

Table 1. Frequency of related terms Data Base Equation Results
Web of Science "Digital detox" 27 Web of Science "Digital free tourism" 6 Scopus "Digital detox" 29 Scopus "Digital free tourism " 8 There are also other lines of semantic terminology for digitalization in tourism [16,22,23]. The use of technology has been included in the research on tourism in various disciplines [24,25], as well as studies about the motivation and emotional responses of DFT tourists [9,26].
Companies and other institutions in the tourism industry create products and packages for users who are interested in reducing or completely renouncing the use of IT when traveling [27]. This study can therefore help professionals to promote DFT as a unique and differentiating tourism product. New tourism programs incorporating the DFT phenomenon are becoming one of the choices for tourists who want to feel the benefits and positive experiences of digital disconnection.

2-2-Behavioral Changes in Tourists
The Internet has prompted industries such as tourism to adapt their business models to new forms of marketing, including techniques such as SEO, SEM, sentiment analysis, textual analysis, location-based social networks [28], apps [29], and mWOM (Internet word of mouth) [30] as the main digital marketing techniques for digital tourism businesses [31]. The global pandemic caused by COVID-19 led to an exponential increase in virtual environments in the workplace and family [32]. With this increase of virtual activities, the use of technological devices also increased, and it is believed that this increase will continue in the long term [33]. The rising use of digital technology also multiplies the health problems faced by users [34]. These can be both mental and physical problems [35] such as obesity [36].
Among the mental problems, sleep disturbance is the most common since tablet computer and smartphone screens use diodes to emit radiation that influences the circadian system and can affect sleep cycles [10]. Another result of the excessive use of digital devices is internet addiction leading to feelings of anger, tension or fatigue when internet is inaccessible [35]. There are users who want to be permanently and compulsively informed of everything that surrounds them, whether it is news about politics, the economy, sports or local affairs. Connecting to the Internet is the perfect way of achieving this.
Addiction to the use of social networks can also occur. This happens when users have too many social media accounts, friends and followers, which forces them to spend too much time online keeping these connections active [27]. In addition, concerns about privacy on the Internet are also linked to fatigue and tension in users who feel uncomfortable about exposing their lives and personal data on the network [37]. All these facts mean that more and more people are saturated by the Internet and technological devices because of the negative physical and mental effects that intensive use entails. This can result in a desire to disconnect, especially when on holiday [38]. Table 2 provides a summary of the different definitions used with digital disconnection tourism.

3-Methodology
Advances in information and documentation science have led to the emergence of numerous easily accessible databases. However, it has been proven that the amount of information and the scientific literature contained in them is very extensive and fragmented in all areas [43]. Tools must therefore be used to manage all the data and facilitate the comparison and organisation of the research documents. In practice, bibliometrics [15] complies with this objective and has been used in many disciplines such as agriculture [44], therapy [45], gastronomy [46], technologies [47,48] and the workplace [49].
Descriptive bibliometric studies have received increasing amounts of attention from researchers in the tourism field where they are used to evaluate research [44] using quality as a criterion. The prestigious Databases Web of Science (WOS, Clarivate Analytics) and Scopus (Elsevier) were chosen as sources of information to obtain bibliometric data. The search terms were included in a Boolean string ["digital detox" or "digital free tourism"] for all the articles written in English (Figure 1). 32 papers were found in Scopus and 29 in Web of Science. Both files were combined in order to complement the systematic bibliographic review proposed by Kitchenham [50] in which a search strategy filters the data for the relevant criteria [51].
This analysis uses the R-studio software as the statistical software to run the Bibliometrix package which is based on a scientometric methodology and the Biblioshiny application. This methodology details the identification phases for the database, the selection of records and the filters for the articles which fulfil the criteria, and the identification of structural and dynamic aspects of the research.
Using these databases and search criteria 32 documents about digital disconnection were found which were relevant to this research as they contained the keywords in the title, summary or metadata of the article and then, after duplicates had been eliminated there were a total of 29 articles (see Figure 2). In addition, four other exclusion parameters or limitation rule were applied to the content of the articles and related documents in such a way that:  Manuscripts that were not research or scientific review articles were excluded.
 Articles that were not written in English were excluded.
 Selected articles had to be related to DFT.
 The main objectives and research questions of the selected articles had to be clearly described and explained.  The WoS and Scopus databases allow the data to be exported in the standard BibTeX bibliographic format to maintain the consistency of the different data sources. The resulting data file was processed following the suggestions of [43]. This file was created by the authors and is available in the Wide Network of R Files, or Comprehensive R Archive Network.

4-Results
After searching for information on these prestigious databases, the analysis and standardization stage of the scientific methodology was completed. The details of the publication of research on digital free tourism (DFT) published between 2017 to 2021 are presented in Table 3. The results of the study indicate that the number of publications about DFT has been increasing progressively over the years (especially between 2019 and 2020). Applying the search criteria to 27 sources, following the indications of [46,52], resulted in 29 articles and letters written in English about the initial studies of the research in the last five years (2017 to 2021). The interest in DFT can also be seen as there is an average of 1.5 publications of 1426 references. Using the downloaded data, structured files were prepared which differentiate publications in journals, periods, authors, institutions, countries and research topics so that the academic interest in the phenomenon of DFT can be understood.

Articles for study completed N = 29
Articles in English for complete text N= 32 Documents excluded for title, abstact and not articles N=25 Initial search: Articles and documents digital detox and digital free tourism with Scopus and Wos N=57

4-1-The Most Productive DFT Publications
The analysis found that 32 documents (including articles, reviews and proceedings, with 29 in the category of articles) about DFT were published in the main tourism and economics journals and were divided into thematic categories indicated by the keywords in a total of 27 sources. Table 4 shows the most productive journals and the period of publication. Annals of Tourism Research produced the largest number of documents on DFT, which demonstrates its important for research on technological disconnection tourism and the commitment to publishing the results of new trends in the tourism sector. The second journal in terms of the number of publications was Tourism Management, followed by Addictive Behaviors and Anthropology Today (Figure 3).  The journals in Table 4 have the greatest impact for the published research on DFT. Annals of Tourism Research and Tourism Management have the highest number of citations with than 30 each. An analysis of the journal categories shows that the number of articles published in DFT-oriented journals has increased in the last 5 years. Figure 3 shows a list of authors who have published at least one article on DFT in tourism. 30 authors published 29 of the total number of articles. Four of the authors, Heisselberg, Li, Pearce, and Sutton, published more than one article. These authors have been the most prolific in DFT, with the most cited being Li J (26 citations). Co-authoring, however, was usually between two or three authors per article, with no research having more than 5 collaborating authors. Authors Heisselberg, Li, Pearce and Sutton have the greatest number of citations when referring to the impact index ( Figure 4).

Figure 4. Most relevant authors of DFT
Filtering for the origin of the author and institution of the published material shows that collaboration between authors has been increasing. Authors from the same institution and from the same country played a predominant role, indicating that international and multidisciplinary collaboration can still be improved so that more research on DFT can be done. In fact, this research has revealed that the number of documents per author is 0.537, the number of co-authors per document is 2, the collaboration network index 2.59 with a total of 12 single-authored documents. These figures are significantly low but are increasing positively (see Table 5).

4-3-Results Ordered by Country and Institution
Several authors from prestigious universities in different scientific areas continuously published articles during the studied research period and changed the dominion patterns of universities. A growing interest can be seen in the proliferation of articles and increasing the network of collaborations and that DFT is becoming an attractive research topic for the scientific community. The repercussions of the Covid-19 pandemic on the tourism industry (economic, socio-cultural, political and environmental effects) are clear and are also likely to influence the academic world. It is not yet clear how the academic world which studies tourism will react to the long-term impacts of the pandemic, and what future awaits this research field. Figure 5 shows the countries with the highest number of publications, ranked by the number of authors who have published research on the DFT phenomenon. The country with most publications is the United Kingdom (with a contribution of almost 31% of the total number with 9 publications), Germany (contribution of 13.7% with 4 papers) and Norway (contribution of 10.1% with 3 papers), and Australia along with Sweden and the United States (2 papers each with a contribution of 6.9%). The rest of the Nations provide a smaller contribution which is currently increasing ( Table 6). A collaborative world map is shown in Figure 5, which illustrates the information given in the table above. The countries marked in dark blue are the most prolific in research on Digital Free Tourism to date.

Figure 5. Most prolific institutions and collaborative networks by country
The research on digital disconnection in tourism that has been published by universities and institutions around the world is shown in Table 7. About 11 of the most relevant institutions from different countries contributed to the 29 articles reviewed in this research (as it was presented in Table 6). British Universities were found to have published the largest number of articles, partly due to the collaborations of Bournemouth, East Anglia and Greenwich. James Cook University from Australia also collaborated widely with the others. The largest number of affiliations in the articles in this research were with Bournemouth University, James Cook, Loughborough and Ludwing Maximilians University in Munich.

4-4-Main Research Topics in the Articles
The number of articles published about different aspects of the research topic are shown in Figure 6 below. This data is the result of searching the articles for different subfields, mainly technology, mobile and media. These subfields constitute 50 percent of the keywords used in DFT. Keyword analysis is a very important tool and provides real insights into research trends and popular topics. The most frequently used keywords included at least one of the following terms: tourism, digital free, trends and economy [53,54]. This illustrates the wide scope of this field, while there are still a small number of articles that directly address the main topic.

5-Discussion
Academic interest in this topic is increasing and new complementary products and services are becoming popular in the tourism market. The main characteristics of these holidays are limited Internet access, the creation of technologyfree spaces such as cafes and bars, "digital detox programs" in order to improve work and personal life, a healthy lifestyle and contact with the "real world" [6] using new concepts with commercial appeal such as "e-lienation" [55] or "technology dead zones" in rural settings [6,56,57].
However, digital disconnection tourism does not just entail independent travel without any access to IT as a way of escaping from everyday life, [56] but is becoming an emerging market trend that is growing in popularity in the tourism industry [49]. Customers who want to travel to places without ICT do not have to organize their trip themselves because they can make use of the products and packages already available in the market. This research into DFT has found two aspects that the tourism industry can exploit by adequately planning and developing at a time of post-Covid19 uncertainty: possible DFT and desirable DFT. The type of destination, social and professional commitments and travel companions can all contribute to the tourist's decision about the limit of ICT in their DFT experience [5,58]. The reduction of ICT use can also be due to the characteristics of the destination itself.
It could be argued that new technologies can be a factor that co-creates (improves) or co-destroys (worsens) the value of the tourist experience. Lately, travel is treated as an opportunity not only for physical, but also virtual isolation which generates countertrends to postmodernism so that tourists reject technology intensive tourism and participate in experiences such as "slow travel", smart tourism, sustainable tourism or different types of technology free retreats. Recent research in this field has focused on the personal needs of the tourist as an important factor when reducing ITrelated activities in tourism [2,6,11,16,56,58,59].
The amount of disconnection during the trip shows the tourist's personal preferences for immersion at a destination and their interaction with online and offline environments with the tourist experience as the most important factor [59][60][61]. Therefore, the boundaries between every day and holiday life are blurred during the trip, which tourists look forward to as part of a satisfying tourist experience. For [59], the factors that influence the need for connectivity can be classified into four main technological categories: hardware and software; needs and contexts; willingness to use; and the offer of available connectivity. In short, the amount of disconnection desired by the tourist and the amount available at the current location or at the destination are different issues and must therefore be considered differently.
Being disconnected during the trip has both positive and negative consequences, since experiencing and perceiving this state depends on the personal needs and choices of each person. There are tourists who want to enjoy their leisure time and refrain from using technology and digital devices, which has created an emerging market of tourists seeking digital disconnection [56]. This type of experience with freedom from digital technology has components of both human behavior and social relationships. These tourist experiences include a wide range of activities that are treated as alternatives to the use of ICT and digital tools. Examples include outdoor sports, skills development, wellness programs or retreat programs, group games, spiritual or cultural experiences, and others, such as shopping trips or gourmet meals. Thus, many segments of the hospitality and tourism industries have the opportunity to plan and develop DFT activities. More and more people feel the need to travel to places where access to the Internet and mobile phone networks is limited, and these places could become "the tourist paradises of the future" [6].
This desire for disconnection during trips and holidays is the result of changing consumer needs, which is creating potential economic development of destinations and an opportunity for businesses and other institutions in the tourism market [6,58,59]. All of this leads to the promotion of product and service packages that combine tourist visits and thematic workshops with active leisure, sport, spa, or wellness [61]. DFT was thoroughly analyzed by [40], and three stages in the development of digital free tourism were identified in the period from 2009 to the present.
An initial stage of introduction to the changes in tourist services was identified, in which DFT is conceived as a superior vacation product provided by resorts and hotels in the United States and Europe. Stress and overwork were presented as a direct cause of the excessive use of new technologies. Subsequently, destination management organizations began to promote some regions as favorable and suitable places for the growth phase of DFT experiences, with endogenous and exogenous factors of sociability that have become more evident during the Covid-19 confinement period [22,37,58].
In the development stage, there was a rapid growth in the number of companies and institutions offering tourism products free from digital technology with natural, remote, and wild spaces and cultural heritage as a diversification of DFT holiday products created by various tourism organizations. These types of DFT were created by companies in the sector and tourism management agents in 2016 to generate synergies and future networks of disconnected tourist destinations. This allowed intentional action to be taken, firstly to satisfy the personal desire of members of the digital world to disconnect from technology and to exploit the limitations of mobile and Internet networks at a destination as a desirable characteristic of the region, space, or destination due to its geographical location [5,6,11]. These destinations can then assert themselves as places with exclusive and unique values that can be used as marketing advantages.
The importance of health tourism for the treatment of addictions must be recognized due to the growing number of individuals addicted to digital devices or the Internet who require professional treatment [61]. As a result, there is a growing interest in digital detoxification as a mechanism of clinical treatment for patients during vacations [16].
DFT can be a new opportunity for the economic development of companies and tourist establishments in a territory with reduced connectivity to digital networks. Price is considered one of the most important factors when booking a holiday and it strongly influences the choice of destination, but well-being, tranquility, relaxation, and digital detoxification are also becoming increasingly valued by tourists [26]. Thus, DFT as a value which differentiates a destination from others can be an added attraction for tourists who want to enjoy their holidays without intensive use of technology. The importance of digital disconnection is analysed in this study as an alternative way of being sustainable in the tourism sector, both for the economic development of destinations and territories as well as for companies and tour operators.
Research has already confirmed the invasion of technology into human life and, consequently, the interest in holidays and trips with digital detoxification will also increase [19]. It is estimated that DFT will become more popular in the coming years and has the potential to become an important branch of the tourism sector, especially as a result of the consequences of the global health crisis caused by Covid-19 [57]. Finally, it should be noted that the strengths of DFT include, among others, appreciating beauty and excellence, open-mindedness, and creativity.

6-1-Theoretical Implications
The evolution of research on digital disconnection was investigated by using the term DFT to find the main authors and institutions of publications and their contributions to the development of new theories in the scientific community. The results of the analysis of this scientific production seem to produce different results depending on the country of origin and the authors of the publications studied. The analysis has also allowed an initial systematization of the research on this phenomenon in various fields of application. It has been seen to be gaining maturity and impact in society, and an organized research agenda on digital disconnection for tourism professionals would be useful [10,19].
The economic, socio-cultural, political, and environmental repercussions of the Covid-19 pandemic on the tourism industry are evident, and it has also had an influence on the scientific research on this subject. Currently, tourism services constitute a powerful industry that employs millions of professionals around the world and is therefore a fundamental part of the economic and social sectors in many countries and produces new processes and trends for globalization. This bibliometric study aims to offer a critical vision of how the DFT phenomenon can be an economic opportunity in the tourism sector and knowledge of consumer needs can be seen to be of crucial importance since this allows services to be adjusted to the needs of the customers and, therefore, demand increases and a competitive advantage is created in the market.
This study researched the period from 2012 to 2021 and the researchers found and confirmed that DFT is a trend with great potential and can help the business sector to achieve strategic alliances in an emerging market. Critical analysis of the research on DFT has identified trends in the number of annual publications and the most prolific authors, institutions, and countries. However, more evidence is needed to provide information about detailed causal connections in the interactions between technological disconnection and tourism. According to the results of this study, the number of articles on DFT grew between 2017 to 2021, which suggests that it is an area that will continue to grow in coming years. The limitation of this bibliometric study is the bibliographic metadata in the Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus databases from 2017 to 2021, as this study is limited to these databases. The amount of research work on tourism in DFT has allowed a bibliometric analysis to be completed. The results can serve as a roadmap for future research on management and a measurement strategy for the results. It seems pertinent to incorporate a review of the references of annual publications on the growth of digital disconnection tourism in the last five years.
Among the bibliographic resources analyzed, four journals appear as the main sources for this topic: Tourism Management, which produced the largest number of documents on DFT, was followed by Annals of Tourism Research, Journal of Travel Research, and Computers in Human Behavior. It is important to understand the possible reasons for this limited research on DFT and to determine to what extent work on issues related to the economy and the new postpandemic tourism environment is necessary for researchers and industry. Publications on DFT remain limited to 29 articles in 27 leading journals from 2002 to 2021. These journals could encourage research by organizing special issues to improve the quality of publications and the volume of topics related to DFT.

6-2-Practical Implications
Therefore, it is expected that this study will lead to the development of a research agenda for tourism in the post-COVID-19 environment and the proposed scenarios of digital disconnection. Practical and research implications for academics are proposed that can also be used by professionals and managers to improve performance in organizations.

6-3-Limitations and Future Research
Finally, it is convenient to point out the emergence of a new range of tourism services with direct consequences for the development of destinations and regions, as well as to provide an analysis of the offers of digital disconnection tourism and possible approaches in this market niche with new strategies that improve knowledge about the emotions that motivate tourists to experience DFT.
As the knowledge base of DFT is being built, the implications for the management of this type of tourism are encouraging. The future implications of the findings are applicable to several areas. The first finding is the importance of regulating the use of digital devices during leisure time, which requires an evolution towards a self-regulating society that controls symptoms such as withdrawal, frustration, and anxiety that condition enjoyment. It has been revealed that people who participate in DFT activities and experiences are spared the pressure and exhaustion caused by the Internet and can enjoy more freedom and socialization in their leisure experiences. Secondly, information should be provided to travelers about the new possibilities of self-growth and the management of technology to increase personal interactions and develop social intelligence.

7-2-Data Availability Statement
The data are available upon request from the corresponding author.

7-3-Funding
The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

7-6-Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest regarding the publication of this manuscript. In addition, the ethical issues, including plagiarism, informed consent, misconduct, data fabrication and/or falsification, double publication and/or submission, and redundancies have been completely observed by the authors.