Abstract
Tourism networks are an important research part of tourism geography. Despite the significance of transportation in shaping tourism networks, current studies have mainly focused on the “daily behavior” of urban travel at the expense of tourism travel, which has been regarded as an “exceptional behavior”. To fill this gap, this study proposes a framework for exploring the spatial and temporal characteristics of urban tourism travel by taxi. We chose Shenzhen, a densely populated mega-city in China with abundant tourism resources, as a case study. First, we extracted tourist trips from taxi trajectories and used kernel density estimation to analyze the spatial aggregation characteristics of tourist trip origins. Second, we investigated the spatial dependence of tourist trips using local spatial autocorrelation analysis (Getis-Ord Gi*). Third, we explored the correlations between the tourist trip origins and urban geographic contextual factors (e.g., catering services and transportation facilities) using a geographically weighted regression model. The results show the following: (1) the trends between the coverage of tourist travel networks and the volume of tourist trips are similar; (2) the spatial interaction intensity of urban tourism has grouping and hierarchical characteristics; and (3) the spatial distribution of tourist trips by taxi is uneven and influenced by the distribution of urban morphology, tourism resources, and the preferences of taxi pick-up passengers. Our proposed framework and revealed spatial and temporal patterns have implications for urban tourism traffic planning, tourism product development, and tourist flow control in tourist attractions.
Highlights
Introduction iationsTransportation is an essential part of the tourism system and serves as the basis for the movement of tourists between the origin, destination, and different attractions to engage in recreational and tourism activities
We investigated the spatial distribution characteristics of tourist trip origins and their correlation with geographical contextual factors, as well as the structural characteristics of tourist travel networks
The results show that tourist trips are concentrated in areas with a high distribution of tourist attractions and urban entry/exit ports
Summary
Transportation is an essential part of the tourism system and serves as the basis for the movement of tourists between the origin, destination, and different attractions to engage in recreational and tourism activities. Metros, buses, and taxis are the popular public transportation services for tourists. Taxis only account for a small proportion of public transport travel due to the promotion of green and shared travel in recent years and the restrictions on taxi reservations. Taxis are still the most favored transport mode for tourists owing to their convenience, quickness, and “point-to-point” accessibility [1,2]. Unlike the fixed routes and stops of buses and subways, the pick-up and drop-off locations in taxi trajectory records are highly related to human activities [3]. The analysis of the spatial and temporal characteristics of taxi travel and their relationship with the configuration of tourist attractions and tourist supporting
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