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Tracking tourists with smartphone GPS

Experience from a large study in Tasmania indicates that GPS tracking yields detailed movement data, but survey participation falls as the trip goes on, down to 28.2% for the final survey.

Tracking Tourists’ Travel with Smartphone-based GPS Technology: A Methodological Discussion — Hardy, A.; Hyslop, S.; Booth, K. et al. · Information Technology & Tourism

WhereTasmania
Year2017
SourceInformation Technology & Tourism
Strength of methodMedium

Note on the source. This source should be read with caution: it may be funded by the sector, a draft or a thesis, or rely on self-reported or modelled data. See the limitations below.

The question

What are the advantages and limits of the different methods for tracking tourist movements, and what lessons emerge from a large, multi-day smartphone GPS tracking study conducted across an entire region?

The method

Review of methods (observation, diaries, GPS, apps, Bluetooth/Wi-Fi, geotagged social media) and account of the Tasmanian Sensing Tourist Travel project (February-May 2016): 472 independent tourists tracked for 4-14 days with smartphones supplied by the researchers, an app with three built-in questionnaires, and 3 GB of data as an incentive.

What the study finds

472 touristsindependent visitors GPS-tracked in TasmaniaBetween February and May 2016 the project GPS-tracked 472 independent tourists visiting Tasmania for 4-14 days; the authors place it among the largest tourist tracking studies in terms of area, duration and number of participants.
28.2%response rate to the final surveySurvey participation shrinks as the trip goes on: 90.5% of participants answered the initial survey, but only 28.2% the final one.
≈ 10 mGPS data accuracy, per the authorsAccording to the authors, the GPS data are accurate to about 10 metres and make it possible to identify arrival and departure points, routes, overnight locations, and the pace and duration of travel.
185 of 240smartphones returned at time of writingAt the time of writing, 185 of the 240 smartphones purchased had come back, and each handset had been used up to three times.
  • The authors recall an earlier Lake Constance study in which, of 65 interested tourists, only two downloaded the dedicated app (and just one briefly switched it on): an example of tracking being seen as too intrusive for the benefits offered.
  • For designing tracking studies the authors propose a model linking research questions, local technology infrastructure, the ethical-legal setting, participants' cultural background, technology options, and tourist flows with recruitment and incentives, leading to the final choice of solution.
Why it matters for ports and cities

For anyone planning to measure visitor movements across a territory, the paper offers practical pointers on recruitment, incentives, battery life, network coverage and legal duties. In the case described, survey response falls sharply towards the end of the trip, and the authors credit the project's success mainly to the overall study design rather than to technology alone.

Limitations

A methodological paper with no analysis of the behaviour emerging from the data; the case concerns independent tourists in Tasmania (not cruise passengers), and the assessment of success is partly anecdotal.

Full reference and source

Hardy, A., Hyslop, S., Booth, K., Robards, B., Aryal, J., Gretzel, U., Eccleston, R. (2017). Tracking Tourists’ Travel with Smartphone-based GPS Technology: A Methodological Discussion. Information Technology & Tourism.

Read the original study ↗

Summary written by the ODYBOAT Observatory in our own words. Tables and figures belong to the authors.