APPLICATION OF GIS TECHNOLOGY FOR TOURISM FLOW MODELLING IN THE UNITED KINGDOM

Abstract

The fluctuation of tourism flow and its cartographic representation are crucial for transport companies, accommodation and regional tourism, but also for the future modelling of international tourism flow. The origin of tourists and their number represent the most important aspect in tourism flow mapping, which are recorded in statistical databases. One of the most popular and easiest way to obtain tourism flow maps is the Kernel Density function, available on ArcGIS, which uses the vector lines data and density mathematical function to represent the objects' characteristics at spatial scale. Spatial distribution of the tourist flow is a tool to observe and assess the origin and destination countries at spatial scale. In this paper, the modelling of tourist flow from their countries of origin to the United Kingdom (UK) was completed through Geographical Information Systems (GIS) considering four types of visitors. The analysis is based on flow lines and Kernel Density using 48 countries of tourists' source related to 2015. The high and very high densities were found in European countries, US, Australia, China, and Canada. Considering the types of visits, the higher number of tourists during 2015 is in respect with holiday visits (> 1.8 million). The model proposed in this paper and the original maps contribute to future strategies and plans for the international tourism over UK.