Visitor Behavior Research Articles

What Is the Perceived Environmental Restorative Potential of Informal Green Spaces? An Empirical Study Based on Visitor-Employed Photography

Informal green spaces (IGSs) play an essential role in enhancing urban well-being by offering restorative environments, yet the impact of visitor behaviors on perceived restorativeness (PR) remains underexplored. This study investigates how different spatio-temporal behaviors influence PR in IGS, providing urban planners with actionable insights to optimize these spaces for better user experiences. Using a visitor-employed photography (VEP) survey and post-visit PR assessments, K-means clustering was applied to identify distinct visitor behavior patterns. Correlation analysis further explored the relationships between these patterns and PR; the results reveal three unique clusters of visitor behaviors—fast, extensive exploration; moderate, focused exploration; and slow, thorough exploration—each showing distinct impacts on PR. Visitors who engage in rapid, broad exploration perceive larger, navigable spaces as more restorative, while those focusing on specific or in-depth exploration emphasize psychological aspects like escape and fascination. These behavioral patterns demonstrate varying strengths in their association with restorative experiences; This study underscores the importance of integrating spatio-temporal behavior data with PR assessments, highlighting how the physical and psychological features of IGS influence visitor experiences. These findings offer critical insights for designing and managing IGS to accommodate diverse user needs and promote urban well-being.

Overtourism perception among residents in a rural proximity destination during the COVID-19-pandemic – The writing on the wall for a sustainability transition of tourism?

Abstract This contribution investigates overtourism perceptions among residents in a rural German destination during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using a qualitative approach, it examines the impact of these perceptions on residents’ quality of life and subjective well-being in the Allgäu. As international travel declined due to pandemic-induced travel restrictions, domestic tourism surged, potentially foreshadowing effects of a net-zero transformation in global tourism on rural proximity destinations. Semi-structured interviews with 12 residents reveal that most respondents perceived tourism levels as excessive, negatively impacting their subjective well-being. Changed spatio-temporal visitor behavior patterns, with tourists venturing into previously less frequented areas, often felt intrusive to locals. This shift in tourism dynamics from urban hotspots to rural destinations challenges the notion that overtourism disappeared during the pandemic. Notably, the contribution introduces subjective well-being as a reliable indicator for overtourism and explores a novel notion of overtourism resulting from the interrelationship between perception, subjective well-being, and attitudes. The findings suggest that increased proximity tourism, while reducing carbon footprints, may lead to perceived overtourism and declining tourism acceptance in substitute destinations. The study underscores the necessity for participatory destination management approaches that balance sustainability goals with resident well-being to facilitate a broader sustainability transition in tourism.

Patient visit behaviour shapes the virus infection dynamics in hosts

Chronic HBV infection is a dynamic process of rapid viral replication and clearance, with large amounts of virus being produced and lost in the body daily. The patient's visit behaviour is closely related to viral load in the body, while the data-driven mathematical model still lacking. Therefore, we first include 28,912 patients to investigate the relationships between the visit behaviour and the HBV-DNA virus load. Then, we propose an HBV virus infection dynamics model that considers the patient's visit behaviour. The system is chaotic once the behaviour of patients during visits depends on the virus load. Our results may help us understand the process of viral transmission, and increasing the visit probability to the clinic can lead to stabilising HBV-DNA viral loads and further help healthcare professionals develop targeted clinical intervention strategies.

Environmental Responsibility in Urban Forests: A Cognitive Analysis of Visitors’ Behavior

The environmentally responsible behavior of urban forest visitors is a key determinant for the conservation of urban forests. Identifying the determinants of individuals’ behavioral intentions and actual behavior in engaging in environmentally responsible actions is a crucial step in promoting such behavior. This research investigates the determinants of environmentally responsible behavior of urban forest visitors in Tehran using Social Cognitive Theory. Data for the study were collected using 456 questionnaires distributed to visitors of urban forests. The data were analyzed using structural equation modelling, which described a 62.9% variance in behavioral intention and 56.6% in environmental behavior of visitors. The socio-structural factors and the observation of others’ behaviors were the most significant predictors of behavioral intentions. Outcome expectations and self-efficacy significantly influence both behavioral intentions and actual behavior. This study demonstrates that while behavioral intention is a key factor, other determinants such as outcome expectations and self-efficacy play a crucial role in shaping actual environmentally responsible actions. These results underscore the importance of increasing awareness and enhancing the skills of urban forest visitors regarding environmental behaviors. Furthermore, this study highlights the need to remove barriers and provide the necessary facilities to promote sustained environmentally responsible behavior among visitors.

Age-adapted painting descriptions change the viewing behavior of young visitors to the Rijksmuseum

Children learn about art by actively engaging with their surroundings. This makes museums potentially rich environments for learning and development. Yet, the descriptions of paintings on show are usually written for adults rather than younger visitors. This study uses mobile eye tracking to examine how painting descriptions tailored for children influence their eye movements when viewing paintings at the Rijksmuseum - the national museum of The Netherlands. Our findings underscore the importance of adapting information specifically for children, rather than simply providing them with adult-oriented museum materials. Children who received information tailored to their developmental level showed increased glance durations to areas highlighted in the descriptions. Strikingly, the behavior of children provided with painting descriptions intended for adults was no different from their behavior when they received no information at all.

Visitors’ perspectives of ethical behaviour at the iSimangaliso Wetland Park in South Africa

ABSTRACT There are growing calls for travellers to apply the principles of ethical visitor behaviour (EVB) however, only a few studies have been conducted to date to measure the extent to which visitors perceive such calls and heed them at World Heritage Sites located in developing countries. This study was conducted at the iSimangaliso Wetland Park in South Africa with the aim was to measure visitors’ perceptions of the importance and application of EVB at the IWP. A total of 323 respondents were conveniently surveyed to rate EVB items related to perceptions of importance and behaviour. Results revealed that, although respondents perceived EVB as being important few actively applied the principles in a heterogeneous manner. The study revealed that different socio-demographic groups perceived ethical behaviour patterns differently. Such findings have practical implications, as an awareness of visitors’ perceptions of EVB patterns might assist authorities in formulating effective strategies to encourage EVB.

Stebėjimo metodo ypatumai muziejų auditorijos elgsenos tyrimuose

Audience behaviour research is one of the most relevant topics in the field of museology, as visitor-oriented modern-museology-based museums inevitably need to understand how visitors learn, explore and understand museum information and communication. The article discusses the specifics of the application of observation as one of the oldest scientific research methods in the study of museum audiences. Even though observation is identified as an essential way of studying audience behaviour in real-time, the application of the method still raises questions about the way it is applied, issues of objectivity and the reliability of data. This paper aims to highlight relevant methodological issues in the application of observation and other qualitative methods of museum visitor research in assessing the relationship between the essential research question and the data needed to answer it. A literature review and the results and experiences of the empirical research conducted for the doctoral thesis are used to answer the questions. The empirical study of visitors’ free choice behaviour in the Lithuanian Museum is used to illustrate the relevant features of the monitoring method, while the detailed results of the visitor behaviour monitoring study are presented in a dedicated paper.

Mapping Visit Behaviors in a Virtual Art Gallery to Visitor Engagement Profiles Using Latent Class Analysis

Virtual art galleries represent a rapidly growing and potentially unique context for art engagement, but little is known about the psychological nature of these experiences. To better characterize virtual art gallery visits, we quantified a set of in-depth behaviors related to art viewing, navigation, and intensive art engagement in a virtual gallery. Data included coordinate position and gaze proxy data, recorded from 264 unconstrained participant visits to a virtual gallery that contained 24 diverse artworks curated throughout 3 rooms. Nine classified visit behaviors—related to the overall visit, navigation, art viewing, and deep engagement—were used in a latent class analysis as indicators for estimating possible visitor engagement classes. The analysis resulted in a 4-class model which classified visitors as disengaged, typical, engaged, and revisitors. Finally, we examined how each class differed in terms of their art knowledge, personality, and other individual differences. Significant differences were found for several variables, including aesthetic fluency, openness to experience, extraversion, age, and nausea.

Understanding the Role of Visitor Behavior in Soundscape Restorative Experiences in Urban Parks

The restorative effects of soundscapes on human physical and mental well-being are widely recognized, but their effectiveness is influenced by various factors, including external environments and individual characteristics. Despite being a crucial element in environmental experience, the role of individual behavior in the restorative effects of soundscapes has been insufficiently studied. To address this research gap, we conducted a survey in five parks in Fuzhou, China, using questionnaires to assess visitors’ evaluations of soundscape characteristics, their soundscape restorative experiences, and behavioral characteristics. A total of 419 valid responses were collected. Using these data, we employed a structural equation model and conditional process analysis to explore the interaction between visitor behavior and soundscape experiences. The results show that soundscapes with pleasantness and eventfulness promote static behaviors to a certain degree, while dynamic behaviors are influenced solely by eventfulness soundscapes. In the process by which soundscape characteristics influence restorative experiences, static behavior is the only mediating factor, accounting for 8% of the total effect. Additionally, increased visit intensity enhances the impact of pleasantness soundscape on restorative experiences while weakening the mediating effect of static behavior. These findings provide strong support for relevant design considerations.

The Relationship Between Self-Concept and Consumptive Behavior of Early Adult Caffe Visitors in Payakumbuh City

The Relationship Between Self-Concept and Consumptive Behavior of Early Adult Caffe Visitors in Payakumbuh City

Unraveling the impact of environmentally sustainable practices of exhibitions and green behavior of visitors：The role of green psychological climate and environmental felt responsibility

To minimize environmental harm and enhance their competitive advantage, a growing number of exhibitions are adopting environmentally sustainable practices. While there is a growing body of research on exhibitions adopting environmentally sustainable practices, visitors’ perceptions of and responses to these practices remain complex and under-explored. This study explores how visitors' perceptions of environmentally sustainable practices at exhibitions contribute to green behavior. The mediating mechanism of green psychological climate and environmental felt-responsibility and the moderation of visitation frequency in this relationship are also discussed. The proposed hypothesis was tested using structural equation modeling of data collected from visitors. The results of the survey (N=531) indicate that an exhibition utilizing environmentally sustainable practices has a positive, direct effect on green behavior of its visitors, as well as indirect effects through their green psychological climate and environmental felt responsibility. Moreover, when experienced visitors perceive environmentally sustainable practices, this has a greater impact on their green psychological climate and environmental felt responsibility. With these insights reinforced by a multi-group analysis, they can guide exhibition organizers in implementing more effective environmentally sustainable practices to evoke environmental felt responsibility in visitors and encourage green behavior.

Where to fly? Landscape influences on the movement and spatial ecology of a threatened apex predator

Effectively managing apex predators in human-modified landscapes poses considerable challenges. Habitat fragmentation disperses resources across wider expanses and undermines the ability of apex predators to reach isolated habitat patches as they traverse multi-tenured landscapes comprising unsuitable habitat. Understanding a species response to landscape configuration is key to informing effective management strategies, particularly for threatened, mobile and ecologically important species like apex predators. Here we use GPS tracking data collected from 37 powerful owls (Ninox strenua), an Australian threatened apex predator that occurs across the urban-agricultural-forest gradient, to investigate how landscape characteristics influence their spatial and movement behaviour. We demonstrate that as habitat fragmentation increases, the spatial requirements of powerful owls expand, their home-range shape becomes more intricate and individuals travel further each night, significantly adjusting their movement behaviours and spatial configurations to connect remaining habitat. Landscapes with unified and connected habitats, on the other hand, have smaller spatial requirements, likely due to greater habitat availability that minimises competition for essential resources. This facilitates the establishment of smaller home-ranges and consequently, the occurrence of more territories. Interestingly, landscape characteristics did not influence sequential nightly visitation behaviour, suggesting that powerful owls across all landscape types visit different portions of their home-range each night to exert an unpredictable hunting strategy regardless of local landscape conditions. Our research highlights the importance of integrating the influence of local landscape features and visitation behaviours into decision-making processes. This integration is crucial for informing effective conservation strategies aimed at supporting apex predator survival in disturbed landscapes.

Understanding How People Perceive and Interact with Public Space through Social Media Big Data: A Case Study of Xiamen, China

Public space is a crucial forum for public interaction and diverse activities among urban residents. Understanding how people interact with and perceive these spaces is essential for public placemaking. With billions of users engaging in social media expression and generating millions of data points every second, Social Media Big Data (SMBD) offers an invaluable lens for evaluating public spaces over time, surpassing traditional methods like surveys and questionnaires. This research introduces a comprehensive analytical framework that integrates SMBD with placemaking practices, specifically applied to the city of Xiamen, China. The result shows the social sentiment, vibrancy heatmaps, leisure activities, visitor behaviors, and preferred visual elements of Xiamen, offering urban designers valuable insights into the dynamic nature of citizen experiences. The findings underscore the potential of SMBD to inform and enhance public space design, providing a holistic approach to creating more inclusive, vibrant, and functional urban environments.

DeLVE into Earth's Past: A Visualization-Based Exhibit Deployed Across Multiple Museum Contexts.

While previous work has found success in deploying visualizations as museum exhibits, it has not investigated whether museum context impacts visitor behaviour with these exhibits. We present an interactive Deep-time Literacy Visualization Exhibit (DeLVE) to help museum visitors understand deep time (lengths of extremely long geological processes) by improving proportional reasoning skills through comparison of different time periods. DeLVE uses a new visualization idiom, Connected Multi-Tier Ranges, to visualize curated datasets of past events across multiple scales of time, relating extreme scales with concrete scales that have more familiar magnitudes and units. Museum staff at three separate museums approved the deployment of DeLVE as a digital kiosk, and devoted time to curating a unique dataset in each of them. We collect data from two sources, an observational study and system trace logs. We discuss the importance of context: similar museum exhibits in different contexts were received very differently by visitors. We additionally discuss differences in our process from Sedlmair et al.'s design study methodology which is focused on design studies triggered by connection with collaborators rather than the discovery of a concept to communicate. Supplemental materials are available at: https://osf.io/z53dq/.

Revisiting ant-plant-pollinator interactions: plant fitness depends on mutualist identity

Abstract Two species may share a mutualistic interaction if the benefits gained by the interaction outweigh the costs incurred. In this study, we tested experimentally how the identity of ants (pinned) and floral visitors of an extrafloral nectary (EFN)-bearing plant can affect plant fitness. We quantified ant activity and floral visitor visitation overlap over time, floral visitor behaviour, amount of floral resources collected, and plant fitness as influenced by the ant species identity in an EFN-bearing plant from Brazilian Cerrado savanna, Qualea multiflora (Vochysiaceae). We found that: (i) ant activity and floral visitation overlap greatly in time; (ii) floral visitors vary in their response to the presence of ants; (iii) different ant species have different impacts on floral visitors; (iv) ants affected the amount of floral resources collected by pollinators, but their levels were contingent on ant identity; and (v) plant fitness components (fruit production, seed weight, and seed size) were most strongly affected by the largest and most aggressive ant species. Our results suggest that the balance of the trade-off between the beneficial effects of ant protection against herbivorous insects and the negative consequences for plant fitness by deterring pollinators depends on the species identity of both the ants and the floral visitors to the plant.

Understanding sustainable tourist behaviours of Vietnamese visitors in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Abstract Sustainable tourism is an important goal within the global sustainable development framework. In sustainable tourism, tourists are expected to behave in an environmentally friendly manner and respect the local culture and economy. However, the level of sustainable behaviour among tourists varies across different regions and countries. This study aims to understand the sustainable tourism behaviour of Vietnamese tourists visiting Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. It focuses on (1) the sustainable behaviour of tourists, (2) the correlation between access to sustainable tourism information and sustainable behaviour, as well as participant characteristics and the behaviour; and (3) initial suggestions for promoting changes towards sustainable behaviour among tourists. The study uses a mixed-methods approach, combining both quantitative and qualitative methods. Quantitative data were collected through direct questionnaires from 240 tourists visiting Ho Chi Minh City. Qualitative data were obtained through semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 47 participants. The results indicate three common groups of behaviour related to sustainable tourism during travel: saving electricity and water, choosing public transportation, and food-related behaviour. Specifically, the study found a correlation between access to sustainable tourism information and sustainable behaviour, including the choice of transportation (sig = 0.040) and food-related behaviour (sig = 0.006). Surprisingly, the study did not find a correlation between access to sustainable tourism information and behaviour related to conserving electricity and water at destination accommodations. The findings also revealed that well-educated young Vietnamese travellers (aged 18-35) earning high salaries, living in urban areas, and currently employed by international companies have a better understanding of sustainability, leading to increased sustainable practices within the tourism industry. Finally, the study suggests that strategies should shift towards changing behaviour related to saving electricity and water through improvements in hotel infrastructure and management practices rather than focusing solely on engaging sustainable tourist behaviour through providing sustainable information.

The Characteristics of Visitor Behavior and Driving Factors in Urban Mountain Parks: A Case Study of Fuzhou, China

Previous studies have focused on the linear relationship between recreation behavior and environmental variables. However, to inform the planning and design of recreational spaces, it is essential to understand the factors that contribute to differences in the spatial distribution of recreation behavior. This study investigates the characteristics of visitor behavior in urban mountain parks in Fuzhou City, Fujian Province, China. It describes the distribution of tourist numbers and the diversity of behaviors in these parks and explores the landscape driving factors of visitor behavior, as well as the interaction effects between the factors from the perspective of spatial driving forces. The results indicate that (1) The observed behaviors in the three parks are primarily access behaviors. The number of visitors and the diversity of behaviors show a high level in the morning and evening and a low level in the midday. (2) There was minimal variation in behavioral composition and behavioral diversity among the study plots of different elevation gradients in the three parks. However, the contrasts between different landscape types were more pronounced, with impermeable plazas exhibiting the highest behavioral diversity and park roads demonstrating the most homogeneous behavioral diversity. (3) The impact of environmental factors was more pronounced than that of landscape pattern factors. The environmental factors that most strongly influenced passing, dynamic, and static behaviors were spatial connectivity value, hard space proportion, and number of recreational facilities, respectively. In contrast, the hard space proportion was the strongest driver of behavioral diversity. Moreover, the interaction between the hard space proportion and spatial connectivity value was more pronounced in driving behavioral diversity, as well as the three behaviors.

The Effect of Service Encounters at Airports on Visitors' Behavior within the Scope of Social and Environmental Sustainability

The aviation industry, and more specifically airport management and airport marketing, has continuously evolved and progressed from the past to the present. Contrary to what happened in the past, the importance of airport marketing, which has been kept in the background until today, has started to be better understood by managers every day. The fact that resources are scarce and needs are unlimited has made concepts such as sustainability and green marketing become the focal point. For this purpose, a hybrid scale was developed by utilizing scales that were used in different studies at different times, consisting of factors that are closely related to social, environmental sustainability and green marketing concepts such as green image, green trust, green customer satisfaction and green word-of-mouth communication. Within the scope of the research, the data collected from the participants with the questionnaire method were analyzed and interpreted with the relevant factors. A 5-point Likert-type scale was used in the questionnaire. The surveys were conducted face-to-face. As a result of the analyses performed with this hybrid model, it was determined that the model fit values remained within the required values. Since different levels of factor loadings were obtained as a result of the analyzes, the explanation of the relationships between the factors was realized at different levels. A Structural Equation Model was created in the light of the data collected within the scope of the study. The results obtained through this model contribute to the examination and interpretation of the effects of service encounters at airports on the behavior of passengers or visitors within the scope of social and environmental sustainability. At the same time, by focusing on which factors should be at the forefront of airport management and airport green marketing activities, it is very important to eliminate the deficiencies, to reveal the aspects that need to be developed, to question the validity of the rules that apply in basic marketing activities in this application and to determine whether the mentioned factors are valid in practice.

The role of green intelligence in promoting destination social accountability and eco-friendly behavior of visitors: An empirical investigation of tourist site

The role of green intelligence in promoting destination social accountability and eco-friendly behavior of visitors: An empirical investigation of tourist site

Evaluation of Sustainable Tourism Development in Dachen Island, East China Sea: Stakeholders’ Perspective

Sustainable tourism development on small islands remains challenging because of the potential conflict of interest among relevant stakeholders. This study aims to explore the issue of sustainable tourism development in small island destinations through the example of Dachen Island in China. More specifically, this study intends to fulfill three objectives: (1) assess the stakeholders’ perception of tourism sustainable development using five major sustainability dimensions: economic sustainability, sociocultural sustainability, environmental sustainability, tourism development, and tourism management; (2) explore the major reasons for potential conflict of interest among the stakeholders; and (3) propose some conflict resolution mechanisms. Semistructured interviews were used to collect data from 29 stakeholders including locals, visitors, officials, and academicians. The findings indicated that sustainable tourism is developing rapidly on Dachen Island and our respondents showed reasonable satisfaction with the five sustainability dimensions, with emphasis placed on the potential for improving sustainable performance in the future. However, locals were less satisfied with the economic sustainability than other stakeholders. Limited conflict of interest among stakeholders was justified based on the ranking of their perceived priorities. Our findings recommend adopting responsible tourism and we highlight three conflict resolution mechanisms to ensure effective sustainable tourism development on Dachen Island, including the involvement of local communities in decision making, encouraging responsible visitor behavior, and enhancing infrastructure and services.