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Document Type
Oral Presentation
Department
Tourism and Hospitality
Faculty Mentor
Tracy Michaud, PhD, and Laura Michelle Yeitz, MPPM
Keywords
Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI), Destination management, Covid-19
Abstract
The impacts of COVID 19 are of top concern to tourism policy makers and stakeholders across Maine, as tourism plays a vital role in the state’s economy. This project shows the value of the Storymap to present, in an accessible and visually appealing way, the continuing research on how volunteered geographic information from social media can track changes in tourist’s movement and spending in Maine. The metadata from Flickr photos was used to examine where visitors spent time in the summer of 2020, revealing new patterns of tourism activity due to Covid-19 travel restrictions. In addition, we incorporate the results of a survey of Maine’s tourism leaders, looking to understand if Covid-19 has changed their perceptions of Maine’s authentic tourism brand. The survey highlights local perceptions of what activities best represent Maine. Assessing attitudes and understanding the impacts of the pandemic is vital to the continued success of Maine’s tourism industry and getting this information to industry practitioners in an accessible format is just as important. After careful research, we believe that using an immersive data visualization strategy will be the most easily understood way to present this data to the industry.
Metcalf and Aucoin Write-Up
TM2021_Metcalf_and_Aucoin_transcript.txt (9 kB)
Using Immersive data visualization to highlight changing travel patterns in Maine due to COVID 19 - transcript
Open Access?
1
Included in
Community-Based Research Commons, Geographic Information Sciences Commons, Other Economics Commons, Other Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration Commons, Recreation, Parks and Tourism Administration Commons, Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons, Tourism Commons
Using Immersive data visualization to highlight changing travel patterns in Maine due to COVID 19
The impacts of COVID 19 are of top concern to tourism policy makers and stakeholders across Maine, as tourism plays a vital role in the state’s economy. This project shows the value of the Storymap to present, in an accessible and visually appealing way, the continuing research on how volunteered geographic information from social media can track changes in tourist’s movement and spending in Maine. The metadata from Flickr photos was used to examine where visitors spent time in the summer of 2020, revealing new patterns of tourism activity due to Covid-19 travel restrictions. In addition, we incorporate the results of a survey of Maine’s tourism leaders, looking to understand if Covid-19 has changed their perceptions of Maine’s authentic tourism brand. The survey highlights local perceptions of what activities best represent Maine. Assessing attitudes and understanding the impacts of the pandemic is vital to the continued success of Maine’s tourism industry and getting this information to industry practitioners in an accessible format is just as important. After careful research, we believe that using an immersive data visualization strategy will be the most easily understood way to present this data to the industry.
