Where day trippers and tourists go: comparing the spatio-temporal distribution of Mainland Chinese visitors in Hong Kong using Weibo data

Abstract

This article compares the spatio-temporal concentration and dispersion of day trippers and tourists from Shenzhen as well as from the rest of Mainland China in Hong Kong using Weibo check-in data. The results show that hotspots of visitors from the rest of Mainland China are mostly concentrated in downtown areas, while visitors from Shenzhen also generate hotspots closer to the border. The activity pattern of day trippers is more spatially dispersed and more likely to form local hotspots than tourists. The visits of day trippers are more concentrated during weekends and daytime whereas tourists are more evenly distributed in time.