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Tracking tourists’ travel with smartphone-based GPS technology: a methodological discussion

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Abstract

This methodological paper discusses the implications of differing approaches for tracking tourists’ movement through destinations and then describes an innovative new method that utilises smartphone-based Global Positioning Systems (GPS) technology and a mobile app to track tourists through regional destinations and attractions over an extended period. The method was developed by the Tasmanian Sensing Tourist Travel project team and is among the largest tracking studies ever conducted in tourism, both spatially and temporally and in terms of sample size. It tracked the movement of 472 tourists in real time via an app with three integrated surveys and GPS tracking. The research team was faced with multiple challenges given the ambitious nature of the project, including: app design, securing tracking hardware, forging partnerships with providers, participant recruitment, and the ethical and legal dimensions of both the tracking and the provision of mobile data as an incentive to participate. This paper discusses the lessons from the project and a holistic study design model to support continuous methodological progress in this growing research area.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Coordinator Tourism Program, Tasmanian School of Business and Economics, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 84, Hobart, TAS, 7001, Australia

    Anne Hardy

  2. Tourist Tracking Project, Tasmanian School of Business and Economics, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 84, Hobart, TAS, 7001, Australia

    Sarah Hyslop

  3. School of Land and Food, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 78, Hobart, TAS, 7001, Australia

    Kate Booth & Jagannath Aryal

  4. School of Social Sciences, University of Tasmania, Newnham Campus, Launceston, TAS, 7248, Australia

    Brady Robards

  5. School of Journalism, University of Southern California, University Park Campus, 3502 Watt Way, Building No. 32, Los Angeles, CA, 90089, USA

    Ulrike Gretzel

  6. Institute for the Study of Social Change, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 22, Hobart, TAS, 7001, Australia

    Richard Eccleston

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  1. Anne Hardy
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  2. Sarah Hyslop
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  3. Kate Booth
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  4. Brady Robards
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  6. Ulrike Gretzel
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  7. Richard Eccleston
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Correspondence to Anne Hardy.

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Hardy, A., Hyslop, S., Booth, K. et al. Tracking tourists’ travel with smartphone-based GPS technology: a methodological discussion. Inf Technol Tourism 17, 255–274 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40558-017-0086-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40558-017-0086-3

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