The soundscape studied has gained increasingly frequent attention across multiple disciplines, especially in tourism and leisure domain. While it has already indicated a unique soundscape provides dynamic and memorable tourism experiences, a clearly mapped perspective across different segmentations of soundscapes, both natural and acoustically created, remains missing. Therefore, a comprehensive mapping and review of soundscape studies is imperative to understand its implications for potential inbound tourism research in future. This article aimed to explore potential soundscape studies by assessing trends and developments in recent decades (2013–2023). We applied a bibliometric approach, using a PRISMA framework and under NVivo 12 Plus, VOSViewer, and Biblioshiny-R-Studio software as analytical tools. Significant yield discoveries showed that tourism soundscape research is undergoing steady growth, as evidenced by quantity of publications and citation trends. Single and multi-country international collaborations characterized by soundscape outreach research playing an influential role were highlighted. We identified multiple research themes, such as anthropogenic noise and music heritage, and pointed out how we approached this research from two perspectives: environmental/natural and manufacturing/acoustics. In our review, several keywords and predominant themes were identified, which suggested soundscape studies have recently become an increasingly popular topic in tourism research. The broad spectrum of key themes, such a tourism, tourists, sustainability, areas, and development perspectives, are evidence points of significant diversity in these topics. Most importantly, our research offers significant theoretical and conceptual implications for future direction of soundscape studies. We identified three originality main focus domains in soundscape tourism research: urban and natural environments, technological advancements, and tourists’ perceptions and behaviors.

Soundscape tourism has become one type of tourism, and its trend is emerging in most areas with hilly, forested, and natural landscapes, such as Bantul Indonesia, becoming a mainstay for region development and its community. This article explores four human manufactured soundscape tourism destinations in Bantul, Indonesia, examining the interrelationships between each tourism stakeholder and pinpointed development from a socio-economic perspective. We adopt a cross-case study approach, drawing main sources from government statistics, regulations, social media narratives, and online news. Using the NVivo 12 Plus software, we coded and annotated the research source. Our research revealed that in four case studies, tourism soundscapes emerged as the primary tourist attractions, with other attractions only marginally contributed. Presenting music or acoustic stages enabled tourism industry to reap benefits, particularly for local community and regional income. However, it is important to emphasize sustainability issues, thus, the continuous increased in music soundscape in nature has led to the formation of collaborations among tourism actors, with local communities “Pokdarwis” posed as the principal driving force behind destination development. This study demonstrates that human-manufactured soundscapes have the potential to increase visitor numbers and outperform natural soundscapes in natural destinations.

Tourism experiences are inherently multisensory, engaging visitors’ senses of sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch. This study addresses the gap in literature by investigating the impact of visual and auditory landscapes on tourist emotions and behaviors within coastal tourism settings, using the Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) model. Data collected from tourists in Sanya, China, were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results indicate that both visualscape and soundscape significantly influence tourist emotions (pleasure and arousal) and subsequent loyalty. Pleasure and arousal mediate the relationships between environmental stimuli and tourist loyalty, emphasizing their roles as emotional bridges between the environment and behaviors. These findings highlight the importance of integrating local cultural and community elements into tourism to enhance socio-economic benefits and ensure sustainable development. By fostering a deep connection between tourists and the local environment, these sensory experiences support the preservation of cultural heritage and promote sustainable tourism practices, aligning with the goals of economic development and public policy. The study contributes to the theoretical understanding of multisensory tourism by integrating the SOR model in coastal tourism and emphasizes the roles of visual and auditory stimuli. Practically, it provides insights for tourism managers to improve tourist experiences and loyalty through careful management of sensory elements. This has implications for infrastructure development, particularly in enhancing the quality of soft infrastructure such as cultural and social systems, which are crucial for sustainable tourism and community well-being. Future research could include additional sensory dimensions and diverse destinations for a comprehensive understanding of sensory influences on tourist behaviors and emotions. This research aligns with the broader goals of the policy and development by addressing critical aspects of infrastructure and socio-economic development within the tourism sector.