Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1108/JKM-02-2022-0083

Purpose – This study aims to explore and synthesize the role of knowledge management (KM) in tourism organizations (including micro, small, medium and large enterprises and destination management organizations). Design/methodology/approach – This study adopts systematic review methods to synthesize the role of KM in tourism from 90 journal articles. Findings – This study identifies the prominent theories adopted to explore the relation and impact of KM in the tourism sector, the geographic distribution of the literature and thorough qualitative synthesis. This study identifies the critical research themes investigated and the outcome of KM applications. Finally, through reviews, this study identifies critical gaps in the literature and offer promising avenues to advance the KM in tourism research. Originality/value – This is one of the few papers that comprehensively review the role of KM in the tourism industry and offer implications.