Coupling mobile positioning data and discrete choice model to decode travelers’ spatial choices within urban destinations

The growing availability of mobile positioning data offers new opportunities to understand onsite travel decisions, particularly how travelers organize activities spatially and the factors influencing these spatial choices. Coupling mobile positioning data of international travelers in three South Korean cities and extensive points-of-interest (POI) data, this study develops a discrete choice modeling framework to uncover the key factors that shape travelers’ spatial choices. By introducing area-of-interest (AOI), a novel spatial unit that captures the cumulative effects of tourism resources and urban facilities, the study finds that travel distance to and volume of POIs in an AOI, as well as number of prior visits to the AOI during the same journey, are decisive factors with universal influence across the cities. We also identify factors with city-specific effects or varying influence with respect to travelers’ nationalities and lengths of stay, providing insights for customized marketing and management strategies for the destinations.