Calculating Theme Parks’ Tourism Demand and Attractiveness Energy: A Reverse Gravity Model and Particle Swarm Optimization

Abstract

This study proposes two new concepts/indices—tourism demand energy and tourism attractiveness energy—to measure origin-side tourism demand and destination attractiveness. Tourism demand energy and tourism attractiveness energy are estimated based on tourist visitation, travel distance, and visitor flow network relationships. A reverse gravity model was developed, and a particle swarm optimization design was adopted and revised for estimation. This study has a theme park context and uses data collected from 47,360 TripAdvisor reviews for 170 US theme parks. We determined theme park demand energy for each of 52 tourist source regions, and theme park attractiveness energy for each of the 170 theme parks. These two new concepts extend and improve measures of origin-side tourism demand and destination attractiveness. They also underscore the importance of travel distance in measuring origin-side tourism demand and destination attractiveness, offering a new perspective on the driving forces of tourism.