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Tourism and transport represent two sides of the same management process, especially in tourism destinations characterised by a consistent or a rising volume of visitor flows.

The purpose of this paper is to examine visitor management in the German-Swiss border area of the Lake Constance region. Taking a customer perspective, it determines the requirements for an application with the ability to optimize personal mobility.

A quantitative study and a survey of focus groups were conducted to identify movement patterns of different types of visitors and their requirements concerning the development of a visitor management application.

Visitors want an application that provides real-time forecasts of issues such as traffic, parking and queues and, at the same time, enables them to create a personal activity schedule based on this information.

Not every subsample reached a sufficient number of cases to yield representative results.

The results may lead to an optimization and management separation of mobility flows in the research area and be helpful to municipal planners, destination marketing organizations and visitors.

The German border cities of Konstanz, Radolfzell and Singen in the Lake Constance region need improved visitor management, mainly because of a high level of shopping tourism by Swiss visitors to Germany. In the Summer months, Lake Constance is also a popular destination for leisure tourists, which causes overtourism. For the first time, the results of this research presented here offer possible solutions, in particular by showing how a mobile application for visitors could defuse the situation.

For actors in a tourism destination, the atmospheric turn initially means looking at themselves in a more holistic and differentiated way. Through the analysis of strategic visitor flows, it is possible to identify subspaces with high frequency, which thus become identification spaces of a destination. Together with other identification fields, they shape the destination brand understood as spatial and atmospheric entity. This enables a different view of a destination, its structure and generates new opportunities for destination management, which wll be discussed in the form of an outlook. A destination manager, for example, could in the future collaborate with governmental bodies responsible for spatial planning and with private builders on spatial design projects and introduce the perspective of the destination as a branded space.

The research analyses the spatial-temporal behaviour of international visitors using mobile positioning data (MPD) in three second-tier cities in Hungary: Szeged, Debrecen and Pécs. The purpose of this study is to identify the origins of visitors, length of stay, seasonal concentrations and mobility between cities.

A large volume of data generated by foreign mobile phone users was processed and analysed for six consecutive months in 2018. The movements of around 3.5 million foreigners visiting Hungary were captured.

The data showed significant differences in tourist turnover, mobility patterns and flows indicating different levels of tourism activity and potential in the three cities. This included day trips, cross-border tourism, seasonal fluctuations and activity-driven demand (e.g. special events and cultural tourism).

MPD cannot fully explain or predict drivers of visitor behaviour, such as purpose of visit, the precise activities that they undertake there and the experiences that they gain. It can, however, provide information on spatial and temporal flows, patterns and concentrations of visitors.

The investigated cities should follow distinct tourism development policies to attract more tourists and strengthen the links with their neighbouring destinations at the same time as differentiating themselves through marketing as competitive alternative destinations.

Augmenting tourism has socio-economic implications for residents and communities. The development of cultural tourism and local event-based tourism must incorporate community needs.

The paper analyses the extent to which MPD can provide insights into visitors’ spatio-temporal mobility and flows in relatively under-visited second-tier cities and it highlights opportunities and gaps for big data research in an urban context.

The purpose of this study is to offer advice to the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) Government regarding the tourist and traffic flow concerning how these contribute to congestion in World Heritage Site (WHS) elements and make recommendations regarding the management of tourist flows and traffic congestion.

The research undertaken in this study is partially longitudinal. The case study is also partially ethnographic in that tourist behaviour at key sites has been observed. Concerning the specific methodology applied, data collection techniques are chosen to provide a multiplicity of data sources: on-site observation and semi-structured telephone interviews.

The study is found that Macao was at a crossroad. All stakeholders needed to take some responsibility for implementing actions recommended that would ensure that Macao SAR’s World Heritage assets would be used responsibly for future, as well as for present generations.

The study has shown that better and long-term understanding of congestion is necessary to inform better visitor management decision-making, enhance tourist experience and discover the factors that influence visitor satisfaction. It is also needed to reveal aspects of stakeholder readiness and barriers to action.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a deeper understanding of the relevance of shore excursions in the distribution of cruise passenger flows; an approach which has been overlooked by many studies on cruise tourism. Specifically, the paper focuses on two destinations: Barcelona, a mature cruise destination suffering from the impact of overcrowding; and Valencia, an emerging cruise destination facing the risk of future (similar) impacts.

The method used is multiple-case study with replication logic. First, web content analysis is conducted of shore excursion descriptions of the destinations selected so as to identify the itineraries, as well as the municipalities and the specific tourist attractions included in the tours. Then, word-processing tools are used to create a regional and local data set to arrange the narrative data. Finally, density maps are drawn in order to examine the different visitor flows within the tourist hinterlands from the supply perspective.

The results indicate that most shore excursions are concentrated in the port cities. Comparing the two destinations, the paper argues that the redistribution within the cities is not equally balanced. Nevertheless, the results also reveal that the excursions offered by local shore tourism operators (TOs) in both destinations have contributed to the expansion of the cruise tourist hinterland over a wider regional area.

This paper evaluates the visitor flow distribution from a supply perspective. Hence, future studies should examine the demand dimension in order to gain a deeper understanding of the concentration intensity. Additionally, it would be worth examining not only visitors taking guided tours but also the independent ones (those who visit the destination on their own).

Despite the growing importance of cruise tourism, research on the role of local shore TOs in this sector is quite limited. One element that deserves more research attention is related to the role of shore excursions in the spatial configuration of the cruise tourist hinterland. Finally, the results obtained could also have significant implications for policy makers developing and promoting effective measures to prevent overcrowding.

The increasing need for the prevention and management of overtourism calls for more and improved visitor management (VM). Certain types of destinations or sites have implemented VM, such as nature parks that depict more controllable environments and involve only limited and clearly defined actors. Academic research on VM has mainly addressed protected areas and national parks, with a focus on environmental sustainability. The growing discussions around the term overtourism, in contrast, have largely centred around urban areas and the impacts on local societies, and, thus, socio-cultural sustainability. This chapter's overall aim is to provide a comprehensive overview of the status quo and knowledge gaps related to stakeholder involvement in VM in the broader context of overtourism. We ask who, how and in what areas stakeholders should be involved in VM. A systematic literature review was conducted using Scopus and Web of Science databases. The findings demonstrate that most studies applied a narrow and fragmented approach that focussed on one or a few stakeholders. Moreover, the strategies were mostly reactive instead of preventive and followed top-down approaches. Conflicts between stakeholders reveal risks to sustainable destination development, trigger overtourism debates and call for new approaches to VM. The chapter proposes a framework that suggests the chief VM responsibilities and stakeholders, concentrating on destination organisations, governments and residents. Also, it provides examples of participative methods, illuminates that VM should be proactive, sustainable and holistic and proposes better integration with destination management and local community governance.

This study seeks to investigate and discuss the heritage experiences of both domestic and international visitors at Göbeklitepe UNESCO World Heritage Site in Türkiye.

A qualitative research approach was adopted in the current study. TripAdvisor's comments and reviews of both domestic (n = 519) and international (n = 186) visitors regarding their visits to Göbeklitepe were collected. The data were then subjected to content analysis by MAXQDA as qualitative data analysis software. Additionally, an abductive research approach, which consisted of three stages, was implemented for data analysis.

The three aspects of visitor experiences at Göbeklitepe, including cognitive, emotional and relational experiences were found and discussed. Additionally, commonalities and differences among domestic and international visitors in terms of the heritage experience they gained from their visit to Göbeklitepe were revealed and analyzed.

Based on the findings regarding the main aspects of heritage experiences at Göbeklitepe, including cognitive, emotional and relational experiences, site managers and destination marketers can create effective marketing strategies that focus on those characteristics to attract visitors to the site. Moreover, the study can guide destination marketers to develop targeted marketing campaigns that highlight the different historical and religious significance of the site for both groups of domestic and international visitors.

First, the study affirms that Göbeklitepe is an important and impressive cultural heritage site due to its historical significance to both domestic and international visitors. It also strengthens the multifaceted nature of heritage experiences. Especially, the evidence of relational heritage experiences, including the connectedness to heritage and the sense of belonging to the visitor community, enriches the literature of heritage experience in this regard.

Understanding the essence of tourism flows is one of the fundamental undertakings of tourism geography research and a key issue behind effective destination management and development. However, thus far, few studies have analysed tourist movement on a national scale. This is due to the deficiency of spatially accurate data that can be used for recording tourists’ intra-national movements. This paper aims to illustrate the impact of major gateways on national tourism flows by using tracking data; and demonstrate and compare the use and applicability of tracking data on a national scale.

In this study, the authors analyse foreign tourists’ movements using two spatially and temporally precise tracking data sets – call detail records from passive mobile positioning data and GPS data from smartphones – in two countries, Estonia and Israel. The movements of international tourists entering the countries via main gateways are studied, with a focus on the impact of gateways on intra-national tourism flows.

The results clearly show the impact of gateways on the concentration of tourists. In the two respective countries, the critical mass of time was spent in close proximity to the gateway and, due to distance decay, a dramatic decrease was seen in visitation to areas that were distanced from both countries’ core areas.

To the best of authors’ knowledge, this is the first time when tourism flows attained from tracking data are compared on a national scale for two countries.

To establish how and why exhibition managers manage circulation, this study explores the techniques (specific activities used to influence circulation), outputs (tangible enhancements in the performance of the exhibition resulting from changes in circulation dynamics) and outcomes (benefits of those enhancements to exhibitors, attendees and the exhibition organiser) of circulation management.

In face-to-face interviews, 10 exhibition managers were asked how and why they manage attendee circulation, which also involved a card-sorting exercise to elicit tacit circulation management knowledge. Four different experienced exhibitions managers from three continents were asked to validate the findings.

Four types of techniques were identified: magnet, layout, curiosity and playfulness and guiding techniques, with these implemented to achieve five outputs: greater footfall, better exposure to exhibits, enhanced navigation, greater buzz and managing congestion levels. The results further show that circulation was managed to achieve a variety of organiser-, exhibitor- and attendee-related outcomes. The study uncovered a large range of factors influencing the employment of circulation management techniques. Conflicts in outputs resulting from several techniques are highlighted, requiring the exhibition manager to establish which outputs and resulting outcomes take priority over others.

This exploratory study is the first study to propose a circulation management model for the exhibition context, equipping exhibition managers with knowledge to strategically manage attendee circulation.