Comparing first-time and repeat visitors' activity patterns in a tourism environment

This chapter compares activity patterns of first-time and repeat visitors in a theme park. First-time and repeat visitors are classified into those who use information and those who do not. A sequence alignment method and chi-squared automatic interaction detection are used to classifY the visitors with regard to their activity patterns and identify predictor variables. The results indicate that first-time and repeat visitors differ in their activity patterns in the park, specifically with respect to the order of activities chosen. Firsttime visitors follow a strict route in the park, while repeaters have a more diverse activity pattern. Furthermore, the difference between the two groups is reduced when first-time visitors use information about the available activities and the spatial layout of the park.