Long wait times for rides and restaurants are major sources of visitor dissatisfaction with theme and amusement parks. Crowding is often worse than it needs to be because park visitors distribute themselves unevenly. In this paper, we discuss a novel method of routing visitors to less crowded areas by offering them well-timed incentives and information on mobile devices. Two large field studies (n = 910 and n = 1,370) were conducted to test how receptive visitors were to altering their paths in response to incentives and information. The results indicate that a system such as ours can mitigate suboptimal crowd distribution in real time in a typical theme park environment.
AckleyJonathanHaleGregory B.SchweizerKenneth W. (2008). Management of the Flow of Persons and Advertisement Distribution via Wireless Media. US Patent 7,400,932, filed August 29, 2006, and issued, July 15, 2008.
2.
AhmadiReza H. (1997). “Managing Capacity and Flow at Theme Parks.” Operations Research, 45 (1): 1-13.
3.
AlexanderMatthewMacLarenAndrewO’GormanKevinWhiteChristopher. (2012). “Priority Queues: Where Social Justice and Equity Collide.” Tourism Management, 33 (4): 875-84.
4.
ArdissonoLilianaGoyAnnaPetroneGiovannaSegnanMarinoTorassoPietro. (2003). “Intrigue: Personalized Recommendation of Tourist Attractions for Desktop and Handset Devices.” Applied Artificial Intelligence: Special Issue on Artificial Intelligence for Cultural Heritage and Digital Libraries, 17 (8-9): 687-714.
5.
BalogluSeyhmusAssanteLisa M. (1999). “A Content Analysis of Subject Areas and Research Methods Used in Five Hospitality Management Journals.” Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research, 23 (1): 53-70.
6.
BarwisePatrickStrongColin. (2002). “Permission-Based Mobile Advertising.” Journal of Interactive Marketing, 16 (1): 14-24.
7.
BrownBarryChalmersMatthew. (2003). “Tourism and Mobile Technology.” In Proceedings of the Eighth European Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work. Helsinki, Finland, pp. 335-54.
8.
CanoraDavid J.GrossDavid B.GrossmanRobert DavidMartinErnest L.RenchScott. (2008). Method, System and Computer Program Product for Providing Real-Time Recommendations, US Patent Application #12/036176, filed February 22, 2008.
9.
ChenWeiWeiTsaiDungchunChuangHan-Chia. (2010). “Effects of Missing a Price Promotion after Purchasing on Perceived Price Unfairness, Negative Emotions, and Behavioral Responses.” Social Behavior and Personality, 38 (4): 495-508.
10.
CheverstKeithDaviesNigelMitchellKeithFridayAdrian. (2000a). “Experiences of Developing and Deploying a Context-Aware Tourist Guide: The GUIDE Project.” In Proceedings of MOBICOM2000. Boston, Massachusetts, pp. 20-31.
11.
CheverstKeithDaviesNigelMitchellKeithFridayAdrianEfstratiouChristos. (2000b). “Developing a Context-Aware Electronic Tourist Guide: Some Issues and Experiences.” In Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. The Hague, Netherlands, pp. 17-24.
12.
DholakiaUtpal M. (2011). “How Businesses Fare with Daily Deals: A Multi-Site Analysis of Groupon, LivingSocial, Open Table, Travelzoo, and BuyWithMe Promotions.” http://ssrn.com/abstract=1863466
13.
DickinsonJanet E.GhaliKarenCherrettThomasSpeedChrisDaviesNigelNorgateSarah. (2012). “Tourism and the Smartphone App: Capabilities, Emerging Practice and Scope in the Travel Domain.” Current Issues in Tourism (doi: 10.1080/13683500.2012.718323).
14.
DicksonDuncanFordRobert C.LavalBruce. (2005). “Managing Real and Virtual Waits in Hospitality and Service Organizations.” Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, 46 (1): 52-68.
15.
Durrande-MoreauAgnès. (1999). “Waiting for Service: Ten Years of Empirical Research.” International Journal of Service Industry Management, 10 (2): 171-94.
16.
Flurry Analytics. (2012). “Social Networking Ends Games 40 Month Mobile Reign.” http://www.flurry.com (accessed October 1, 2012).
17.
GarciaAnderLinazaMaria TeresaArbelaitzOlatzVansteenwegenPieter. (2009). “Intelligent Routing System for a Personalized Electronic Tourist Guide.” Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism, 4: 185-97.
18.
GavalasDamianosKenterisMichael. (2011). “A Web-Based Pervasive Recommendation System for Mobile Tourist Guides.” Personal and Ubiquitous Computing, 15: 759-70.
19.
GneezyAyeletGneezyUriNelsonLeif D.BrownAmber. (2010). “Shared Social Responsibility: A Field Experiment in Pay-What-You-Want Pricing and Charitable Giving.” Science, 329 (5989): 325-27.
GretzelUlrike. (2011). “Intelligent Systems in Tourism: A Social Science Perspective.” Annals of Tourism Research, 38 (3): 757-79.
22.
HaleGregory B.StaffordDale A.SchwalbAndrewCravenTomSchweizerKenneth W. (2009). Management of the Flow of Persons in Relation to Centers of Crowd Concentration via Wireless Control. US Patent 7,532,941, filed October 15, 2003, and issued, May 12, 2009.
23.
HalloJeffrey C.BeecoJ. AdamGoetcheusCariMcGeeJohnMcGeheeNancy G.NormanWilliam C. (2012). “GPS as a Method for Assessing Spatial and Temporal Use Distributions of Nature-Based Tourists.” Journal of Travel Research, 51 (5): 591-606.
24.
HamhoumFathiKrayChristian. (2011). “Supporting Pilgrims in Navigating Densely Crowded Religious Sites.” Personal and Ubiquitous Computing, 16 (8): 1013-23.
25.
HarrisonGlenn W.ListJohn A. (2004). “Field Experiments.” Journal of Economic Literature, 42 (4): 1009-55.
26.
HauthalEvaBurghardtDirk. (2012). “Investigation and Development of Mobile Touristic Applications.” Lecture Notes in Geoinformation and Cartography, Section IV: 267-82.
27.
KawaseJunyaKurataYoheiYabeNaoto. (2012). “When and Where Tourists Are Viewing Exhibitions: Toward Sophistication of GPS-Assisted Tourist Activity Surveys.” In Proceedings of Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2012. Helsingborg, Sweden. Pp. 425-37.
28.
KenterisMichaelGavalasDamianosEconomouDaphne. (2011). “Electronic Mobile Guides: A Survey.” Personal and Ubiquitous Computing, 15 (1): 97-111.
29.
KramerRonnyModschingMarkoHagenKlaus tenGretzelUlrike. (2007). “Behavioural Impacts of Mobile Tour Guides.” Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism, 3: 109-18.
30.
KurataYohei. (2012). “Potential-of-Interest Maps for Mobile Tourist Information Services.” In Proceedings of Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2012. Helsingborg, Sweden, pp. 239-48.
31.
LavalBruce G.HaleGregory B. (2001). Method and System for Managing Attraction Admission. US Patent 6,173,209, filed August 10, 1999, and issued, January 9, 2001.
32.
LeppäniemiMattiKarjaluotoHeikki. (2005). “Factors Influencing Consumers’ Willingness to Accept Mobile Advertising: A Conceptual Model.” International Journal of Mobile Communications, 3 (3): 197-213.
33.
LoewensteinGeorgeHaisleyEmily. (2007). “The Economist as Therapist: Methodological Ramifications of ‘Light’ Paternalism.” In Perspectives on the Future of Economics: Positive and Normative Foundations, Volume 1, Handbook of Economic Methodologies, edited by CaplinAndrewSchotterAndrew. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
34.
MahoneyTimothy S.RagsdaleMichael V. (1996). Waiting Line Management System. US Patent 5,502,806, filed November 17, 1994, and issued, March 26, 1996.
35.
MaisterDavid H. (1985). “The Psychology of Waiting Lines.” In The Service Encounter: Managing Employee/Customer Interaction in Service Businesses, edited by CzepielJohn D.SolomonMichael R.SurprenantCarol F.Lexington, MA: Lexington Books, pp. 113-23.
36.
McClungGordon W. (1991). “Theme Park Selection: Factors Influencing Attendance.” Tourism Management, 12 (2): 132-40.
37.
MolzJennie Germann. (2012). Travel Connections: Tourism, Technology and Togetherness in a Mobile World. London: Routledge.
38.
MontolaMarkusStenrosJaakkoWaernAnnika. (2009). Pervasive Games: Theory and Design. Waltham, MA: Morgan Kaufmann.
39.
MunsonJonathan P.GuptaVineet K. (2002). “Location-Based Notification as a General-Purpose Service.” In Proceedings of WMC 2002: The 2nd International Workshop on Mobile Commerce. Atlanta, Georgia, pp. 40-44.
40.
NogueraJosé M.BarrancoManuel J.SeguraRafael J.MartínezLuis. (2012). “A Mobile 3-D GIS Hybrid Recommender System for Tourism.” Information Sciences, 215: 37-52.
41.
NykielRonald A. (2007). Handbook of Marketing Research Methodologies for Hospitality and Tourism. Binghampton, New York: Hayworth Press, pp. 27.
42.
ParkAlbert VictorCaughtJames NormanHouseHerman (1914). Shock-Nullifying Vehicle Suspension, US Patent #1,089,257, filed July 30, 1912, and issued March 3, 1914.
43.
PersaudAjaxAzharIrfan. (2012). “Innovative Mobile Marketing via Smartphones: Are Consumers Ready?” Marketing Intelligence and Planning, 30 (4): 418-43.
44.
PikkemaatBirgitSchuckertMarkus. (2007). “Success Factors of Theme Parks: An Exploratory Study.” Tourism, 55 (2): 197-208.
45.
RajaramKumarAhmadiReza. (2003). “Flow Management to Optimize Retail Profits at Theme Parks.” Operations Research, 51 (2): 175-84.
46.
RanganathanAnandCampbellRoy H. (2002). “Advertising in a Pervasive Computing Environment.” In Proceedings of WMC 2002: The 2nd International Workshop on Mobile Commerce. Atlanta, Georgia, pp. 10-14.
47.
ReidLaurel J.AndereckKathleen L. (1989). “Statistical Analyses Use in Tourism Research.” Journal of Travel Research, 27 (2): 21-24.
48.
Schmidt-BelzBarbaraNickAchimPosladStefanZipfAlex. (2002). “Personalized and Location-Based Mobile Tourism Services.” In Proceedings of the Workshop on Mobile Tourism Support Systems, held in conjunction with Mobile HCI. Pisa, Italy.
49.
ShovalNoamIsaacsonMichal. (2007). “Tracking Tourists in the Digital Age.” Annals of Tourism Research, 34 (1): 141-59.
50.
SimLeonard. (2003). Queue Management System. US Patent 6,529,786, filed November 15, 1996, and issued, March 4, 2003.
51.
SimonsPaul R.ScholtenLiesbeth M.JansenJohannes A. (2002). Leisure Facility Visitor Interaction System. US Patent Application #10/186709, filed July 1, 2002.
52.
TsaiDungchunLeeHsiao-Ching. (2007). “Will You Care When You Pay More? The Negative Side of Targeted Promotions.” Journal of Product and Brand Management, 16 (7): 481-91.
53.
VarnaliKaanTokerAyşegül. (2010). “Mobile Marketing Research: The State-of-the-Art.” International Journal of Information Management, 30 (2): 144-51.
54.
VukadinovicVladimirMangoldStefan (2011). “Opportunistic Wireless Communication in Theme Parks: A Study of Visitors Mobility.” In Proceedings of CHANTS 2011: The 6th ACM MobiCom Workshop on Challenged Networks. Las Vegas, Nevada, pp. 3-8.
55.
WangDanParkSangwonFesenmaierDaniel R. (2012). “The Role of Smartphones in Mediating the Touristic Experience.” Journal of Travel Research, 51 (4): 371-87.
56.
WangDanXiangZheng. (2012). “The New Landscape of Travel: A Comprehensive Analysis of Smartphone Apps” In Proceedings of Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2012. Helsingborg, Sweden, pp. 308-19.
57.
WaytenaWilliamRaubvogelAmir H.SachsRobert R. (2011). Assigning and Managing Patron Reservations for Distributed Services Using Wireless Personal Communication Devices. US Patent 7,895,066, filed February 24, 2009, and issued, February 22, 2011.
58.
WrightChris. (2006). “Natural and Social Order at Walt Disney World: The Functions and Contradictions of Civilising Nature.” Sociological Review, 54 (2): 303-17.
59.
ZhouSuipingChenDanCaiWentongLuoLinboLowMalcolm Y. H.TianFengTayVictor S.-H.OngDarren W. S.HamiltonBenjamin D. (2010). “Crowd Modeling and Simulation Technologies.” ACM Transactions on Modeling and Computer Simulation (TOMACS), 20 (4): article No. 20.
