Building Better Agents: Geo-Temporal Tracking and Analysis Of Tourist Behavior

Agent-based simulation is a technology which is being used as a decision support tool for recreation managers to better plan the development of tourist destinations in the face of increasing tourist numbers. Agent-based simulation for national park management is a developing field of research. A number of projects have been undertaken, applying the technology to a range of park scenarios. These projects have reported successful preliminary progress but acknowledge the need for more 'realistic' agents. It has been suggested that the next step in this research is to verify agent-based modelling at a particular tourism site. The aim of this research was to develop a typology of tourists via the geo-statistical analysis and visualisation of individual human movement data within a day-use recreational facility. The research aimed to determine whether tourist typologies can be developed by tracking individual people moving around at a tourist destination. Spatial tracking devices were used to obtain detailed geo-temporal data of tourist movement at the Twelve Apostles, Port Campbell National Park. Valid micro-scale tourist typologies will help to improve agent-based simulations of tourism scenarios and assessment of management decisions at the site where they are generated, and possibly at other similar sites.