Malin Zillinger

The use of Global Positioning System (GPS) technology enables the study of tourists’
activities and movement patterns in real time. But what does this information tell us
about tourists’ subjective experiences? The present paper accounts for the results from
four case studies: two event studies and two destination studies. Two of these took
place in the wintertime, and two in the summertime. Visitors carried a GPS device for
one day, after which they answered a brief questionnaire. A total of 241 visitors
participated in the study. Based on cluster analyses of distance measures calculated
from the GPS data, several movement patterns were revealed. Three of these, labelled
Main attraction visitors, Wanderers, and Specialists, emerged in all four cases. The
reported experiences differed between the clusters, especially concerning negative
experiences. In the destination studies, the clusters differed with regard to what was
considered a negative experience, while in the event studies, the clusters differed with
regard to how the tourists responded emotionally to their experiences. The authors
conclude that GPS technology is a promising tool for tourism research but that, if one
is to gain a full understanding of tourists’ experiences and mobility, it ought to be
combined with other methods.