Measuring daily tourism mobility spillover at the intra-metropolis level with mobile positioning data

Abstract

Although tourism mobility spillover continues to be a key indicator for tourism management, more innovative research must be conducted at the micro level and high sampling frequency. Against the backdrop of an increasing number of global cities, in this paper, we evaluate the daily tourism mobility spillover inside a worldwide city of China: Shanghai. Based on the Granger causal network model and an original mobile positioning dataset, we analyse the causal relationship between local tourism flows and the spillover effects of tourism mobility within Shanghai. By categorising tourists into ‘local tourists from Shanghai’ and ‘tourists from out of Shanghai’, we reveal a significant causal relationship between Shanghai districts and flows generated by ‘tourists from out of Shanghai’. The analysis of the causal network structure also reveals key districts and points of interest that significantly contribute to congestion in tourism mobility and Shanghai's dynamics. This econometric approach offers policymakers a valuable tool to monitor mobility drivers and optimise flows within the city.

Keywords

• Spillover effects
• tourism
• intra-metropolis mobility
• Granger causal network
• mobile positioning
• Shanghai