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Combining GPS & survey data improves understanding of visitor behaviour

Combining GPS & survey data improves understanding of visitor behaviour
Combining GPS & survey data improves understanding of visitor behaviour
Visitor tracking is frequently used in tourism planning for large sites, but is far less common at individual attractions, despite a body of literature examining the detrimental impact of crowding on visitor experience. This study used handheld geographic positioning system (GPS) units to track 931 groups of visitors around a single tourist attraction to determine where they went and how long they dwelt at particular locations. The tracking data were combined with survey data to discover whether different types of visitors behaved differently when exploring the attraction. The majority of visitors followed similar routes revealing a strong ‘main path inertia’ with over half missing exhibits away from the perceived main route. Different group types varied in how long they dwelt at different locations and in how long they spent at the attraction altogether.
0261-5177
307 - 320
East, Duncan
930e7fa3-ac03-4a98-b697-395ed8651785
Osborne, Patrick
c4d4261d-557c-4179-a24e-cdd7a98fb2b8
Kemp, Simon
942b35c0-3584-4ca1-bf9e-5f07790d6e36
Woodfine, Tim
6fcac20b-751f-47f2-bc17-83f4336e852a
East, Duncan
930e7fa3-ac03-4a98-b697-395ed8651785
Osborne, Patrick
c4d4261d-557c-4179-a24e-cdd7a98fb2b8
Kemp, Simon
942b35c0-3584-4ca1-bf9e-5f07790d6e36
Woodfine, Tim
6fcac20b-751f-47f2-bc17-83f4336e852a

East, Duncan, Osborne, Patrick, Kemp, Simon and Woodfine, Tim (2017) Combining GPS & survey data improves understanding of visitor behaviour. Tourism Management, 61, 307 - 320. (doi:10.1016/j.tourman.2017.02.021).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Visitor tracking is frequently used in tourism planning for large sites, but is far less common at individual attractions, despite a body of literature examining the detrimental impact of crowding on visitor experience. This study used handheld geographic positioning system (GPS) units to track 931 groups of visitors around a single tourist attraction to determine where they went and how long they dwelt at particular locations. The tracking data were combined with survey data to discover whether different types of visitors behaved differently when exploring the attraction. The majority of visitors followed similar routes revealing a strong ‘main path inertia’ with over half missing exhibits away from the perceived main route. Different group types varied in how long they dwelt at different locations and in how long they spent at the attraction altogether.

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Combining GPS survey data improves understanding of visitor behaviour - Accepted Manuscript
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More information

Accepted/In Press date: 24 February 2017
e-pub ahead of print date: 3 March 2017
Published date: August 2017
Organisations: Centre for Environmental Science, Education Hub

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 407910
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/407910
ISSN: 0261-5177
PURE UUID: 80513786-887d-4809-a9f0-1e1340cd2294
ORCID for Patrick Osborne: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-8919-5710

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Date deposited: 28 Apr 2017 01:08
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 05:10

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Contributors

Author: Duncan East
Author: Patrick Osborne ORCID iD
Author: Simon Kemp
Author: Tim Woodfine

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