Onderwerp scriptie

MSc thesis topic: Mapping tourist and citizen interests in St.Eustatius: leveraging geospatial data for sustainable development

In the middle of the azure Caribbean sea lies the Dutch Caribbean island of Sint Eustatius, a unique and unspoiled paradise where pristine reefs, tropical forests, culture and diversity are inextricably linked. The 21 km2 island has a tropical climate and consists of a hilly area in the north, a dormant volcano in the south and a level plain in between where the capital Oranjestad is located. St Eustatius has a rich population of just over 3200, and has no mass tourism.

The island is looking for sustainable economic development by growing tourism targeted at nature and culture lovers, but lacks insight in baseline interest in these landscapes and artefacts. In this thesis, you will gather and analyze pictures from social media to understand the interests of tourists and citizens in general and of natural areas and cultural history in particular.

Relevance to research/projects at GRS or other groups

AI techniques are recommended for tasks such as image recognition and analyzing meta-data of pictures and posts.

Objectives and Research questions

  • How can geosocial data be used to map the spatial distribution of tourist and citizen interest in St.Eustatius and contribute to policy-making for tourism?

Literature and information

  • Ghermandi, A., Camacho-Valdez, V., & Trejo-Espinosa, H. (2020). Social media-based analysis of cultural ecosystem services and heritage tourism in a coastal region of Mexico. Tourism Management, 77, 104002.
  • Muñoz, L., Hausner, V., Brown, G., Runge, C., & Fauchald, P. (2019). Identifying spatial overlap in the values of locals, domestic-and international tourists to protected areas. Tourism Management, 71, 259-271.
  • Séraphin, H., Christodoulidi, F., & Gladkikh, T. (2020). Case Study 2: Broadly Engaging with Interaction Between Visitors and Locals—Towards Understanding Tourismphobia and Anti- tourism Movements. Overtourism: Causes, Implications and Solutions, 207-227.

Theme(s): Modelling & visualisation