Place: Room 621/622, GP South (Building 78)
Time: Friday 18th Jan 2008 , 10:30 morning Tea, 11:00am seminar

Speaker: Rodolfo Baggio,
Master in Economics and Tourism, Bocconi University, Milan, Italy
PhD Candidate at University of Queensland school of tourism.

Title: Network analysis of a tourism destination

Abstract
The nature of development and evolution of a tourism destination has profound implications not only for public authorities, as an aid in control and planning, but also for all the destination stakeholders. A tourism destination is analysed here as a dynamic evolving complex system. The main objective of this work is to apply methods and techniques of so called Śnetwork scienceą to the study of the evolution of the destination system and to simulate dynamic processes such as information and knowledge diffusion and efficiency optimisation.

Quantitative network analysis methods are used to investigate the network characteristics of Elba Island, Italy. The main structural characteristics are measured, both from a static and a dynamic point of view. The network characteristics are compared with some distinctive features of the destinations and with possible evolutionary models. The issues related to the collection of the data needed and their assessment from a completeness and reliability point of view are also addressed. Moreover, the virtual
network of tourism companiesą websites is analysed and the results compared with the structure of the Śrealą network.

A simulation study then allows the robustness of the system and its responses to the process of diffusion of knowledge and information to be examined. The simulation also allows the influence of possible modifications in the network topology on these processes to be determined. A reconstruction of the past structure of the destination is finally used to compare network characteristics at different times. This comparison is employed to present a model of destination evolution based on its dynamic
network topology.

The outcomes are interpreted from a Śnetwork scienceą viewpoint. The implications of this interpretation for the management of the destination are briefly discussed by highlighting the contribution of this work for the scholarly study of the subject and by providing insights into the possible usage of the methodology by practitioners (destination managers or single stakeholders).

Dr. Ariel Liebman
Research Fellow
ARC Centre for Complex Systems
School of ITEE, University of Queensland
email: a.liebman@uq.edu.au
tel: +61-7-3365-1623
mobile: +61-(0)414-226-336
room: 78-414, GP South, St Lucia Campus
web: www.accs.edu.au