Study on the spatio-temporal distribution of tourists by coupling questionnaire survey and GPS data

Studies on tourists' behaviors often require individual background and spatio-temporal information. This study combined a questionnaire survey and GPS data to analyze the visitors of Baiyun Mountain Scenic Area, Guangzhou in terms of their group characteristics, activity patterns, spatial distribution, and influencing factors. Results showed that (1) tourists mostly chose to take the bus/metro (53.06%) to visit the scenic spot, mainly for relaxing and unwinding (59.18%). The largest proportion of tourists visited this place for the first time (56.12%) and the majority was young and middle-aged tourists (86.74%). (2) According to a week-long observation data, the number of visitors was low from hours 1–7, accounting for only 3.9%. The number of visitors increased from hours 8–13, accounting 27.8% of the visitors. The peak was reached during hours 14–19 and receded in the succeeding hours, accounting for 40.1% and 28.3% of all visitors, respectively. (3) Density analysis revealed that the spatial aggregation of tourists in the area overlapped with the attractions, the place where attractions were concentrated was also the area where tourists were densely distributed. (4) Visibility analysis indicated that the size of the viewable area of a hiking trail was correlated with the number of tourists. (5) Lastly, regression analysis revealed that the bus route (0.822) and the distance from the summit park (0.524) had a relatively significant influence on tourists' choice of park entrance.