GIS oriented analysis of tourist time-space patterns to support sustainable tourism development

Tourism and tourism development create major changes in the environment. To determine their impact on environmental sustainability, it is necessary to understand tourist behaviour. Time, space and context are important components in describing tourist time-space behaviour. Tourist time-space analysis requires specific data about a visitor's time spent, locations visited, routes chosen, information used, perception and motivation. To date, most researchers have analysed spatial tourism data with statistics. This approach requires data for each period and for each possible location in the region. The enormous amount of data and tables makes it difficult to see spatial relations. Geographical information systems are specifically designed to handle spatial relationships. Four types of relevant data can be distinguished: (1) tourist characteristics, (2) actual time-space behaviour, (3) landscape elements and tourist locations (accommodations, cities/villages, facilities, areas) and (4) images added to these locations. To analyse time-space behaviour, a method is proposed consisting of two steps: (1) obtain an overall insight into the use of the physical environment by tourists, and apply exploratory spatial data analysis techniques and dynamic cartography; and (2) construct and analyse tourist recreation complexes using network analysis techniques. Pattern analysis is undertaken with mapping and graphing techniques and accessibility studies for actual and potential approximations of the links and nodes in the network. The results of these analyses can be applied to achieve more sustainable planning.