•Netnography remains underutilised.•Increasing publication of netnographic work.•Netnography commonly triangulated with other methods.•Lurker format is most popular.•Data are typically User-Generated-Content.

This paper traces the history and evolution of sustainable tourism and identifies some critical issues and omissions in this and related approaches such as responsible tourism, ecotourism and pro-poor tourism. The academic, institutional and practical intersections of sustainable tourism and...