AN EXPLORATION OF INTERACTIONS BETWEEN URBAN HERITAGES AND TOURIST’S DIGITAL FOOTPRINT: NETWORK AND TEXTUAL ANALYSIS VIA GEOTAGGED FLICKR DATA IN AMSTERDAM

Abstract. Spatial information retrieved by geotagged social media data allows the analysis of when and where questions and supports a better understanding of people’s spatial interaction. The purpose of this paper is to reveal alternative heritage spots for reducing tourism pressure in certain areas within Amsterdam’s historical core by presenting tourists’ points of interests (POIs), their patterns between POIs, and the sentiments attached to these POIs. To fulfil the research aim, network analysis, textual analysis, and heat maps were conducted with geotagged Flickr data representing tourists’ uploaded images. The results show that the Flickr data set was useful to reveal the existing POIs and their relations. Moreover, the further analysis that is based on the intersection between the revealed spatial patterns and Amsterdam heritage sites showed alternative POIs nearby current POIs. Based on the results, we demonstrated how a dataset constructed from geotagged Flickr data can provide useful practical information for sustainable tourism development. Our research has the potential to support urban heritage and tourism researchers and policy makers with a better understanding of POIs, their relations and possible other POIs. The outcomes of this research can advise heritage tourists on alternative POIs to visit, and policy makers to plan alternative POIs.