Image-based research methods for mapping tourist behaviour: smart photos

• Xiaochun Zhan ^[1] ; Guo, Fang bin ^[1] ; Emma Roberts ^[1]
  1. [1] Liverpool John Moores University

     Liverpool John Moores University

     Reino Unido

     
• Localización: Tourism recreation research, ISSN 0250-8281, Vol. 50, Nº. 1, 2025, págs. 182-188
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Conventional research methods for understanding tourists’ behaviours need to be more practical and accurate when tracking tourists’ movements within a destination. In recent years, technological development has offered advanced technical approaches for data collection and analysis. Taking account of the tourist experience in post-industrial landscapes, this study introduces an image-based methodology to explore tourists’ movements at industrial heritage sites. Preliminary results are presented, using Liverpool’s Royal Albert Dock as an example of detecting tourists’ movement through use of a drone. The findings demonstrate that the selected method – Smart Photo – effectively maps tourists’ behaviour and movements, and that this provides researchers with a simple, fast, and accurate data collection and analysis tool.