Chinese tourists in Nordic countries: An analysis of spatio-temporal behavior using geo-located travel blog data

Geo-located travel blogs, a new data source, enable to achieve more detailed analysis of tourists' spatio-temporal behavior. Taking Chinese tourists in Nordic countries as the research object, this paper focuses on their behavior, seasonal patterns and complex network effects by using geo-located travel blog data collected from Qunar.com. The results show that: (1) Chinese tourists visiting Nordic countries are often experienced in traveling. The local climate during the cold season does not prevent them from pursuing the aurora scenery. (2) The travel behavior of Chinese tourists is spatially heterogeneous. The network analysis reveals that Iceland showcases stronger, compared to the other Nordic countries, community independence and small world effect. (3) During the warm season, Chinese tourists choose a variety of destinations, while in cold season, they tend to choose destinations with higher chances for spotting the northern lights. These results provide helpful information for the tourism management departments of Nordic countries to improve their marketing and development efforts directed for Chinese tourists.
Highlights • Focus is laid on the behavior of Chinese tourists in Nordic countries. • Complex network theory is introduced to explore the flow patterns of tourists. • Scale-free and small world effects are observed in the tourist flow network. • There is no obvious tourism off-season in Nordic countries due to “aurora chasers”.