Asia Pacific Journal of Information Systems (APJIS)

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Current Issue

Date	September 2019
Vol. No.	Vol. 29 No. 3
DOI	https://doi.org/10.14329/apjis.2019.29.3.448
Page	448~467
Title	Exploring the Movements of Chinese Free Independent Travelers in the U.S.: A Social Network Analysis Approach
Author	Lin Li, Yoonjae Nam, Sung-Byung Yang
Keyword	Free Independent Traveler, Tourist Destination Movement, Place to Visit, Smart Service, Smart Tourism, Social Network Analysis
Abstract	In a new age of smart tourism, free independent travelers (FITs) choose their travel routes in a more diversified and less predictable way with the aid of smart services. This paper focuses on the movements of Chinese outbound FITs in the U.S. in the year of 2018. 110 places to visit (destinations) extracted from 122 travel routes recommendations on Qyer.com, a major online travel community in China, are analyzed with social network analysis (SNA). Based on the results of SNA, employing degree centrality, eigenvector centrality, betweenness centrality, network visualization, and cluster diagram methods, some preferred cities and natural attractions outside city centers (i.e., New York City (NYC), Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington D.C., and Niagara Falls) are identified. Moreover, it is found that NYC in the East and Los Angeles in the West play a major role in the movements of Chinese FITs. This study contributes to the body of knowledge on tourist destination movements and provides valuable implications for smart service development in the tourism and hospitality industry.