The emergence of Free Tours: Catalysts of platform-mediated Tourism encounters

This article explores the platformisation of tourism encounters, focusing on platform-mediated free tours as emerging digital intermediaries. Despite their rapid growth, free tours face regulatory challenges and remain underdeveloped in the literature. Through literature review and systematic bibliometric analysis, we examine key concepts shaping this innovation in tourism platforms. Recent publications, mainly by European scholars, feature case studies of European cities in geography and hospitality/tourism journals. Content analysis reveals four thematic categories: economic, geographical-spatial, legal, and social. However, a coherent research agenda is lacking. We propose theoretical and empirical questions to guide future research, advocating for a conceptual framework integrating the platform economy, tourism experiences, and the encounter itself. This framework contributes to understanding tourism encounters within the context of free tours, emphasizing the theoretical intersection of these concepts.