• Journal of Navigation and Port Research
• /
• v.38 no.6
• /
• pp.607-614
• /
• 2014

This article aims to explore and discuss research trends in global cruise industry using keyword network analysis. We visualize keyword networks in each of four groups of 1982-1999, 2000-2004, 2005-2009, 2010-2014 based on the top 20 keyword nodes' degree centrality and betweenness centrality which are selected among four centrality measurements, comparing them with frequency order. The article shows that keyword frequency collected from 240 articles published in international journals is subject to Zipf's law and nodes degree distribution also exhibits power law. We try to find out research trends in global cruise industry to change some important keywords diachronically, visualizing several networks focusing on the top two keywords, cruise and tourism, belonging to all the four year groups, with high degree and betweenness centrality values. Interestingly enough, a new node, China, connecting the top most keywords, appears in the most recent period of 2010-2014 when China has emerged as one of the rapid development countries in global cruise industry. Therefore keyword network analysis used in this article will be useful to understand research trends in global cruise industry because of increase and decrease of numbers of network types in different year groups and the visual connection between important nodes in giant components.