Destination Value Systems: Modeling Visitor Flow Structure and Economic Impact

Abstract

This study proposes that the structure of visitor flows within a destination significantly influences the overall economic value generated by visitors. In particular, destination network metrics (i.e., density, in-degree centralization, out-degree centralization, betweenness centralization, and global clustering coefficient) for 29 Florida counties were derived from 4.3 million geotagged photos found on the photo sharing service Flickr and then correlated with visitor-related spending reported by the Florida Department of Revenue. The results of regression analyses indicate that density, out-degree centralization, and in-degree centralization are negatively correlated with total visitor-related spending within a destination, while betweenness centralization is found to have a positive relationship. Based on these findings, it is concluded that the economic value generated by tourism is constrained by the destination network structure of supply-side and demand-side interactions. Further, it is argued that a “network orchestrator” approach to management can be used to better manage economic impacts within a destination.