Abstract Traditional literature reviews and more advanced systematic reviews have been a focal point in assessing the epistemological progress of any field. However, studies assessing the nature and quality of the systematic review papers published in tourism and hospitality literature are scarce. Considering the items of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses, this study reviews how tourism and hospitality scholars have operationalised systematic reviews. All systematic reviews published across 34 tourism journals until 2017 were considered for this review and the results of the study portray multiple limitations in the design, organization and execution of current systematic reviews.