Janika Raun Rein Ahas Department of Geography, University of Tartu, - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Distinguishing tourism destinations with behavioural data

Janika Raun

Rein Ahas

Department of Geography, University of Tartu, Estonia

Margus Tiru

Positium LBS, Estonia

Introduction

• Tourism is one of the fastest growing economic

sectors in the world.

• The need for differentiation in tourism destinations is

becoming more important because it helps to avoid duplication in destination management and marketing.

• Our aim is to propose a methodology for

determination of tourism destinations by using behavioural data from mobile telephone positioning.

Theoretical backround

• Destinations are complex multi-level entities.
• Traditional theories look at tourism destinations

as geographical areas (Hall 2000; UNWTO 2007).

• New approaches consider tourism destinations

as constantly changing socially constructed units

(Framke 2002, Saarinen 2004, Saraniemi, Kylänen 2011).

• The meaning of a destination depends on the

aim of the visit (Kuusik 2011).

A conceptual model of the destination (Murphy et al 2000)

Theoretical backround

• Destinations are complex multi-level entities.
• Traditional theories look at tourism destinations

as geographical areas (Hall 2000; UNWTO 2007).

• New approaches consider tourism destinations

as constantly changing socially constructed units

(Framke 2002, Saarinen 2004, Saraniemi, Kylänen 2011).

• The meaning of a destination depends on the

aim of the visit (Kuusik 2011).

The intrigue of destination

• Destination as a representation in peoples’

mind, which is hard to link to a certain geographical place or time? OR

• Destination as a concrete measurable

phenomenon with temporal and geographical dimensions?

Destination is a concrete measurable phenomenon with temporal and geographical dimensions.

Objectives:

• To use behavioural indicators such as space-time

mobility for distinguishing tourism destinations.

• To propose a methodology for determination of

tourism destinations by using behavioural data from passive mobile telephone positioning.

• To develop an online tourism destination

monitoring system based on behavioural data from mobile telephone positioning.

The location and image of the study area - Saaremaa

Data and Methodology

• Passive mobile positioning data from January 1, 2011

to December 31, 2011.

• Foreign tourists who performed call activities in

Saaremaa.

• The database consists of: visits’ ID-s, countries of
• rigin, locations and times of the call activities.
• The tourists with call days only in the Saare County and

those, who performed call activities in other counties as well are observed separately.

Results (I) Measuring destination behaviour

Results

• During the study period 32 221 tourists visited

Saaremaa who made a total of 37 083 visits.

• 42% of the tourists visited only Saaremaa and

58% visited other counties in Estonia as well.

• 93% of the foreign tourists visited Saaremaa
• nce during 2011.
• More than a half (52%) of the repeat visitors

were Finnish and 19% Latvian.

Foreign tourists who visited Saaremaa and the division

• f visits based on countries of origin

Tourists Visits Country of origin Number

• f

tourists Percentage share of tourists Number

• f visits

Percentage share of visits Finland 11009 34% 14028 38% Latvia 7701 24% 8413 23% Sweden 2438 8% 2771 7% Germany 2176 7% 2322 6% Lithuania 2082 6% 2193 6% Russia 1617 5% 1759 5% United Kingdom 826 3% 907 2% Poland 720 2% 778 2% France 476 1% 489 1% Italy 369 1% 374 1% Other 2807 9% 3049 8% Total 32221 100% 37083 100%

The distribution of tourists according to their travel geography by countries of origin.

13503 1041 67 130 210 671 3797 576 313 972 4159 1567 18718 1766 302 346 510 1505 7212 1041 513 1110 3542 871 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Total Other Italy France Poland Germany Finland Russia United Kingdom Lithuania Latvia Sweden Visiting

• nly

Saaremaa Partly visiting Saaremaa

The seasonality of visits made by tourists who partly visited Saaremaa by countries of origin.

12834 1266 467 1878 573 298 5423 340 818 1235 284 252 4100 262 218 1103 178 110 1714 99 223 138 17 38 2227 160 313 499 132 63 929 59 46 59 13 4 3612 291 157 590 267 103 1791 64 112 180 44 13 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Total Other Russia Latvia Sweden UK Finland Poland Lithuania Germay France Italy Summer Autumn Winter Spring

Other visited counties in Estonia besides Saaremaa

Independent destination or not?

• Among tourists who visited also other places in

Estonia the time spent in Saaremaa constitutes for Finns (57%), for Swedes (52%) and for Latvians (51%)

• f total visit – for them Saaremaa can be considered

as a tourism destination, because they spent more than half of their visitation time in Saaremaa.

• For other distant countries (e.g. Italy, France)

Saaremaa is just one place to visit in Baltic States or in Estonia.

Results (II) Developing destination monitoring software

The application of Estonian tourism destinations among foreign visitors

www.positium.ee/eas_keskused

The application of Estonian tourism destinations among foreign visitors

www.positium.ee/eas_keskused

Conclusions

• Behavioural data collected with passive mobile

positioning gives us an opportunity to measure tourism destinations quantitatively.

• The data is stored automatically, we can choose the

time period and set different margins.

• Web-based applications can be developed.
• Knowing the temporal and spatial distribution of visits

helps to avoid duplication in destination management and marketing.

Thank you for your attention!

Janika Raun janika.raun@gmail.com