A Study of Tourism Dynamics in Three Italian Regions Using a Nonautonomous Integrable Lotka–Volterra Model

Abstract

This article is a first application of an integrable nonautonomous Lotka-Volterra (LV) model to the study of tourism dynamics. In particular, we analyze the interaction in terms of touristic flows among three Italian regions. Confirming an hypothesis advanced by recent theoretical works, we find that these regions not only compete against each other, but at times they also proceed in mutualism. Moreover, the kind and the intensity of the interaction changes over time, suggesting that dynamic models can play a vital role in the study of touristic flows.