11 May 2016

Where tourists go on day 1

What surprised us was the significant amount of tourists who begin ambitious travel plans immediately on arrival!

Tourism Tracer

photo credit: Phil Kitt

Seeing as we only finished tracking tourists on 5 May 2016, we are only just beginning to scratch the surface of the data we collected! However, we wanted to share this visualisation with you because it’s so exciting! We love it because not only is it fascinating in itself but it also illustrates the potential of the data and all the exciting things we can do with it!

What am I looking at?

What you are seeing is the first day of 472 tourists’ trips in Tassie over late summer/early autumn 2016.

At the start of the day, you can see our participants switching on their devices on day sailings of the Spirit of Tasmania before they’ve even left Port Phillip Bay. Next, our recruiters get to work at the Hobart International Airport, followed by those at Launceston Airport.

What surprised us was the significant amount of tourists who begin ambitious travel plans immediately on arrival!

Those who arrive in the south are heading off further south, to the north-west and to the East Coast and those who arrive in the north are heading further north east and south and west. These patterns contradict the idea that tourists like to spend the first day near their point of arrival!

Anyway, we hope you enjoy the visualisation – make sure you zoom in to enjoy all the detail!