Tourist Flows and Spatial Behaviour

Tourism involves the movement of people through time and space, either between their home and destinations, or within destination areas. Understanding tourist movements and the factors that influence the time/space relationships tourists have with destinations have profound implications for policy, infrastructure, transport and product development, as well as the management of tourism’s impacts (Edwards & Griffin, 2013). Early research focused on inter-destination travel patterns and relied largely on paper-based data collection tools such as surveys, trip diaries and small-scale maps. The emphasis has shifted recently to studies of tourist movements within destination areas, aided by passive, electronic data collection tools, such as GPS (Global Positioning System) tracking devices, mobile phones, PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) instruments, and geospatial metadata online. Technology now permits more sophisticated analysis including network analysis, time budget allocation and market segmentation based on different observed behavioural patterns. This chapter examines tourism flows and spatial behaviour. It begins with a review of pioneering research conducted in the 1990s that examined inter-destination movements. An overview of intra-destination movements follows before concluding with a discussion of moderating factors that can affect spatial behaviour.