The rapid integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and digital innovation into tourism ecosystems has accelerated the evolution of smart tourism toward intelligent destinations. Despite the growing body of literature, a comprehensive understanding of the field’s intellectual structure, influential contributors, thematic evolution, and emerging research directions remains limited. This study conducts a bibliometric analysis of 210 publications indexed in the Scopus database between 2015 and 2025 to examine publication trends, citation patterns, influential authors, journals, institutions, collaboration networks, and thematic developments within smart tourism and intelligent destination research. Using Biblioshiny and VOSviewer, the study applies performance analysis, keyword co-occurrence analysis, thematic mapping, trend topic analysis, and conceptual structure analysis. The findings reveal a substantial growth in scientific production, reflecting increasing scholarly interest in AI-driven tourism innovation. Artificial intelligence, smart tourism, digital transformation, sustainability, and tourism management emerged as the dominant research themes, while machine learning, predictive analytics, blockchain, and intelligent destination governance represent emerging areas of investigation. The conceptual analysis identifies four major thematic clusters, highlighting the interdisciplinary convergence of tourism, information systems, and digital technologies. Furthermore, the results demonstrate how AI and digital innovation have transformed traditional smart tourism frameworks into intelligent destination ecosystems characterized by personalization, automation, and data-driven decision-making. The study concludes by outlining future research directions and practical implications for researchers, destination managers, and policymakers seeking to foster sustainable and intelligent tourism development.