An individual-based approach to modeling tourism dynamics
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Peter A. Johnson [1] ; Renee Sieber [1]
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[1] McGill University
McGill University
Canadá
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- Localización: Tourism analysis, ISSN 1083-5423, Vol. 15, Nº. 5, 2010, págs. 517-530
- Idioma: inglés
- Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
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Resumen
To better understand the dynamics of tourism, emphasis in modeling is evolving from descriptive towards analytic, process-based approaches. We present a conceptual framework of tourism as a set of individual-based interactions between tourists and destinations occurring on a spatial, scaled landscape. We use agent-based modeling (ABM), a type of computer simulation, to operationalize this individual-based framework of tourism development and change, set in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. The model is used to generate a series of scenarios about the impact of visitation to rural destinations through modifying individual awareness and tourist mobility variables. The findings generated with this ABM demonstrate that the spatial location of a destination in relation to a network of other destinations has implications for how that destination can capitalize on changes to tourist destination awareness and mobility. The impact of spatial location is only apparent as a result of modeling the individual interactions of tourists and destinations. This research proposes that an individual-based approach can be used to better understand the spatial, multiscaled processes and dynamics that generate emergent patterns of impact.
