A complex network analysis of local and non-local tourist flows in Beijing through mobile phone data

Tourism flow is the foundation of tourism development, and studying tourist flows is one of the most important aspects of tourism research. This paper examines tourist flows among A-level scenic spots in Beijing, focusing on local and non-local tourists, utilizing mobile phone data received from Unicom. The research comprises tourist flow distribution characteristics, centrality analysis, community detection, and analysis of affecting factors. The key findings of the study are that tourist distribution is unequal between scenic spots, with non-local tourists having a more concentrated distribution than local tourists. The impact of transport and scenic spot category and level are assessed and tourism links between scenic spots frequented by local tourists and non-local tourists are shown to require different tourism management approaches.