�� 2007 Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. 1467-3584 $30.00 Vol. 7, 1, 39���49 Tourism and Hospitality Research 39 www.palgrave-journals.com/thr Gigi Lau is an MPhil student in the School of Hotel and Tourism Management, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Her research topic is about tourist movement patterns by using Geographic Information System. Bob McKercher is Professor in the School of Hotel and Tourism Management, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He has published widely on tourist behavior and spatial move- ment patterns. ABSTRACT KEYWORDS: spatial movement , travel itiner- aries , Hong Kong , geographic information system (GIS) This paper presents preliminary findings of research examining the movement patterns of tourists within a destination. The study focuses on fully independent individual travellers visiting Hong Kong. Little research has been conducted looking at movements within a destination. Macro or inter-destination movement patterns may inform intra-destination movements. Factors affecting tourists ��� choices of itineraries give reasons to support the shaping of the patterns. These factors include human factors (type of individual, travel party, motivations, etc), physical factors (destination geomorphology), trip factors (main or secondary destination, first-time or repeat visitor, etc) and the time factor (length of stay in destina- tion, total trip duration). Geographic Information System is used for documenting spatial ��� temporal movements of tourists through mapping. Tourism and Hospitality Research (2007) 7, 39 ��� 49. doi: 10.1057/palgrave.thr.6050027 INTRODUCTION One of the major aspects of tourism geography is to examine tourist activities and spatial patterns in relation to the physical and the built environ- ment. It focuses on explaining spatial patterns of tourist activities at different scales, such as global, national, regional and local ( Pearce, 1995 ). Tourist movements are the spatial changes of activity locations of tourists. At a global level, tourists move from the generating region to destination regions or between destination regions ( Leiper, 1979 ). At the local level, tourists travel within a single destination from attraction to attraction, or shifting from activity to activity. Inter-destination movements are character- ised by the movement from tourist-generating regions to one or more destinations, whereas intra-destination movements are the directions and places where tourists go within a destina- tion. Inter-destination movement patterns have been studied by a number of scholars in the last few decades ( Mings and McHugh, 1992 Lue et al ., 1993 Oppermann, 1995 Lew and McKercher, 2002 ). The study of intra-destina- tion movement of tourists, however, is limited. Little prior research has been conducted exam- ining tourist movements within a destination Understanding tourist movement patterns in a destination: A GIS approach Gigi Lau and Bob McKercher Received (in revised form): 6th June, 2006 School of Hotel and Tourism Management, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom , Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China Tel: (852) 3400 3147 / (852) 2766 6553 Fax: (852) 2362 9362 Website: http://www.polyu.edu.hk/htm/ E-mail: hmbob@polyu.edu.hk

Understanding tourist movement patterns Tourism and Hospitality Research Vol. 7, 1, 39���49 �� 2007 Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. 1467-3584 $30.00 40 ( Cooper et al ., 1993 Pearce, 1995 McKercher and Lew, 2004 ). The study has been inhibited by the diffi culties of gathering useful and detailed itinerary information from tourists. Tourist movements can be infl uenced by many different factors. They can be divided into three major aspects, including human ��� push ��� factors (tourist role, travel party, personal moti- vations, prior visits, etc), physical ��� pull ��� factors (destination geomorphology and confi gura- tion) and the time factor (length of stay in destination, total trip duration). This paper presents the preliminary fi ndings of a study examining the movement patterns of tourists within a destination through mapping in geographic information system (GIS). Its purpose is to explore if various factors, including fi rst-time and repeat visitation or length of stay, may affect movements. BACKGROUND A destination combines various elements including nature, weather and climate, infra- structure, constructions and services provided ( Kim, 1998 ). A local destination, as defi ned by the World Tourism Organisation (WTO), is the ��� focal point in the delivery of tourism products and the implementation of tourism policy ��� ( WTO, 2002 ). It has its own physical and administrative boundaries also providing tourism products and services to tourism activ- ities. Understanding the needs of tourists and their activity patterns could facilitate policy design, development of new tourism products and / or better management of visitors. Hong Kong, as a local destination, received a total of 23.4m arrivals in 2005 ( HKTB, 2006 ). The growth is expected to continue as major new attractions opened in 2006, including Hong Kong Wetland Park and Ngong Ping 360 (cable car in Lantau Island). Pleasure travellers accounted for over 65 per cent of the total number of arrivals and 85 per cent were clas- sifi ed as fully independent travellers (FITs). FITs are tourists who are not in a travelling group and who purchased their own hotel and air ticket package or booked the tickets and accommodation separately. There is no set itin- erary from the travel agency instead, they demonstrate a more fl exible travelling pattern based on personal motives and choices. MOVEMENT PATTERNS Previous research has been focused on inter- destination movements of tourists. Little prior research has been conducted studying the intra- destination movement patterns. Macro or inter- destination movement patterns may inform micro intra-destination movements as they can be viewed as movements of tourists at different levels of scale. The study of inter-destination movement patterns helps to conceptualise intra-destination movement patterns. A number of scholars have studied the move- ment patterns of tourists based on spatial charac- teristics. They identifi ed inter-destination movement patterns pertaining to the nature of space, describing the occurrence of tourist activ- ities in spatial-referenced location. Mings and McHugh (1992) studied the movement patterns of domestic tourists in Yellowstone National Park in the United States. Four patterns were identi- fi ed: ��� direct route ��� , ��� partial orbit ��� , ��� full orbit ��� and ��� fl y-drive ��� pattern. Lue et al . (1993) conceptualised fi ve different patterns for pleasure vacation trips at multi-destination level: ��� single destination ��� , ��� en route ��� , ��� base camp ��� , ��� regional tour ��� and ��� trip chaining ��� pattern. Oppermann (1995) categorised the previous patterns and added two more to his own model based on the exit survey of interna- tional tourists from Malaysia. The two new patterns identifi ed are ��� open-jaw loop ��� and ��� multiple-destination areas loop ��� . Flognfeldt (1999) identifi ed four types of patterns taken by Norwe- gians in Southern Norway: ��� day-trip ��� , ��� resort-trip ��� , ��� based-holiday ��� and ��� round-trip ��� . Based on the patterns identifi ed by previous studies ( Table 1 ), the movement patterns can be summarised into the six categories listed below: Single single point : No diversions in the whole visita- tion process. Tourists visit a single destination and return home using the same route. ��� ���