<![CDATA[Nature-Based Sport Event Tourism (NBSET) has emerged as an increasingly important research area due to the growing popularity of outdoor recreation, trail running, adventure tourism, and experiential tourism. However, NBSET's academic development remains fragmented and dominated by conventional themes in destination development and economic impacts. This study aims to examine the intellectual structure, thematic evolution, and research gaps within NBSET literature through a bibliometric analysis. Data were collected from the Scopus database covering publications from 2015–2025 using keywords related to nature-based sport tourism, outdoor sport tourism, adventure sport tourism, sport events, and trail running. A total of 593 articles were identified; after screening and duplicate removal, 231 were included in the final analysis. The study employed publication trend analysis, keyword co-occurrence analysis, thematic mapping, and network visualization using VOS viewer. The findings reveal that existing studies are heavily concentrated on sport tourism, destination development, and economic impact, while themes such as digital engagement, sustainability communication, tourist experience, trail running tourism, emotional attachment, and immersive experiences remain underexplored. The thematic evolution analysis further indicates a gradual shift toward sustainability and experiential tourism discussions, although these themes remain peripheral within the overall research network. This study contributes by identifying emerging themes and future research opportunities, particularly regarding digital interaction, emotional experiences, sustainability-oriented tourism, and small-scale nature-based sport events.]]>
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