Research on Tourists' Perception of Scenic Byways Based on Text Big

Data: Taking Grass Skyline as an Example

Xinrong Dai

School of Economics and Management, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing, China

Keywords: Tourists' Perception, Travelogues, Content Analysis, Grass Skyline.

Abstract:

This paper analyzed high-frequency words, social semantic network and emotions of tourists based on online

travelogues using ROST CM6 to study the tourists' perceptual characteristics of the Grass Skyline from the

perspectives of cognition and emotion, and analyzed the relationship between tourists' perceptions and the

spatial patterns of the scenic byway. It is found that the high-frequency words show a “core—sub-core—

periphery” structure, and tourists' cognitive evaluation can be divided into three dimensions: tourist attraction,

tourist supporting facilities, public environment and services. The paper also shows that tourists to the Grass

Skyline are mainly positive and neutral emotions and there are differences in tourists' emotions at different

locations and sections, with a great proportion of positive emotions than negative emotions. The purpose of

this research is to provide references for the construction and management of the scenic byway.

1 INTRODUCTION

Scenic byways are landscape roads that possess

aesthetic, natural, tourism, cultural, historical, and

archaeological values along the roadside or in the

visual field, combining transportation and tourism

functions(Eby and Molnar 2002, Yu et al. 2006).

From the perspective of experience, scenic byways

are not only tourism transit places or tourism

channels in the tourism system, but also linear

experience spaces. The scenic byways carrying

tourism flow only by transportation function are

transformed into direct tourism destinations(Zhang

et al. 2020). The Grass Skyline is not only a tourist

transit place but also a linear tourist destination.

The studies related to tourism perception mainly

focus on the conceptual definition of tourists'

perception, the influencing factors of tourists'

perception, and the evaluation of the effects brought

by tourism projects on tourists' perception. With in-

depth research on tourism experience and tourists'

perception, some scholars began to study the

relationship between spatio-temporal behavior and

tourists' emotions. But there are relatively few

studies that combine tourists' perceptions with

spatio-temporal characteristics of scenic byways.

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0893-7223

The study tries to answer three questions: what

kind of image does the Grass Skyline have in tourists'

minds? What are the characteristics of tourists'

perceptions of the Grass Skyline? What are the

relationships between tourists' perceptions and the

spatial changes of the scenic byway? To answer the

above questions, this study adopts content analysis to

analyze travelogues and uses ROST CM6 to study

tourists' perceptual characteristics of the Grass

Skyline. The study also attempts to analyze the

spatial changes of tourists' emotions and analyze the

reasons for the pattern, to provide suggestions for the

management of the Grass Skyline.

2 METHODOLOGY

2.1 Study Area

The Grass Skyline is located in Zhangjiakou City,

Hebei Province. The Grass Skyline was completed in

August 2019, from Gu Yuan County in the east to

Shangyi County in the west. The Grass Skyline

includes Zhangbei Grass Skyline and Guyuan Grass

Skyline. Zhangbei Grass Skyline was opened to

traffic in 2012, and there are many tourism resources

Dai, X.

Research on Tourists’ Perception of Scenic Byways Based on Text Big Data: Taking Grass Skyline as an Example.

DOI: 10.5220/0012072700003624

In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Public Management and Big Data Analysis (PMBDA 2022), pages 239-243

ISBN: 978-989-758-658-3

 2023 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. Under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

239

distributed along the route, such as the ancient Great

Wall site, Huapi Ridge, etc. Guyuan Grass Skyline is

opened to traffic in 2019, starting from Pingdingbao

town, and ending at Zhangbei County.

2.2 Methods

The study adopts content analysis and uses ROST

CM6 to analyze high-frequency words and affective

analysis of online travelogues, to study the

characteristics of tourists' perceptions of the Grass

Skyline from the perspective of cognition and

emotion, and to explore the patterns between tourists'

perceptions and spatial changes of the scenic byway.

2.3 Data Collection

The study selected travelogues related to Grass

Skyline in Mafengwo and Ctrip website. The

principles for selecting the travelogues are as follows:

firstly, the travelogues have complete information

and a detailed description of the emotional

expression of the travel activities. Secondly, those

with obvious traces of copying are excluded.

Consequently, 175 travelogues published from

January 2020 to November 2021 were identified as

the study sample, with a total word count of 308,879.

2.4 Data Treatment and Analyses

The word separation function in ROST CM6 was

used to separate the 175 travelogues, and word

frequency analysis was performed. 100 high-

frequency words related to the topic were selected

according to word frequency and were categorized.

This paper studies the differences in tourists'

perceptions at different locations. The sentiment

analysis of ROST CM6 was conducted, and the

distributions of positive, negative, and neutral

sentiments were obtained. Then the study returned to

the travelogues to count the number of sentiments in

each scenic spot/section. It should be noted that the

study mainly focuses on the positive and negative

emotions of tourists because neutral emotions are

difficult to define.

Therefore, a graph of the

fluctuation of tourists' emotional tendencies was

drawn to analyze the spatial characteristics of

tourists' perception of the Grass Skyline from the

perspective of emotions.

3 RESULTS

3.1 High-Frequency Word Analysis

3.1.1 Word Frequency Analysis Results

100 high-frequency words related to the topic were

selected from the highest to the lowest word

frequency, as can be seen from Table 1, the high-

frequency words are mainly composed of nouns and

adjectives. High-frequency words such as

“Grasslands”, and “High speed” reflect the tourists'

deep perceptions of the Grass Skyline.

Table 1: Top 100 high-frequency words in the travelogues of Grass Skyline.

High-Frequency

Words

Frequ

enc

High-Frequency

Words

Frequ

enc

High-Frequency

Words

Frequ

enc

High-

Frequency

Words

Frequ

enc

Grass Skyline 1906 Route 127 Evening part

70 Weeken

Grasslands 741 Tri

125 Breakfast 69 Sea of flowers 52

Hua

i Rid

e 463 hi

hwa

123 Boss 67 Wildflowe

Wildfox rid

e 395 Chon

li 121 Ticket 66 Ulan 52

Zhangbei 391 Windmill 117 Camping 66 Road signs 51

Kilometre 351

Horseback

ridin

111 Potato 64 Green 51

Hotel 299

Beautiful

scener

104 Dine 64 Clean 51

h s

272 Pla

104 Countr

63 Full ran

e 50

Entrance 257

Viewing

latfor

96 far away 63 China 50

Scener

201 Terrace 95 Camelot 63 Feature

View 201 Frien

94 Roads 60 Li

htnin

lake 49

Scenic s

ot 193 Curbside 92 Middle 58 Mano

Attraction 192 Rest 92 Par

58 Sight 49

East route 177 Chil

88 Forest 58 Holida

Hou

176 White clou

87 Ex

erience 56 Roast lamb 49

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Drive 161 Bonfire 86 Direction 56 Vehicle 48

Roa

156 Along the wa

82 Nature 56 Summe

Navigation 156 Travel 82 Room 56 Landscape 48

Accommodatio

153 Blue sky 80 Appreciation 54 winding 48

Guyuan 142 Weather 80

The most

eautiful

54 Service area 47

Zhangjiakou 140 Traffic jam 79

National

highway

54 Best 47

West route 140 Beautiful 78 Swan Lake 54 Seven colors 47

Self-drive 138 Parkin

78 Distance 54 Wind Powe

Farmhouse 135 Chec

-in 73 E

idemic 53 Performances 46

Dam 127 Exit 70 Taste 52 Circle line 46

3.1.2 Semantic Network Analysis Results

The semantic network diagram of the Grass Skyline

travelogues was obtained by using Net Draw (Figure

1). The structure shows a three-circle structure of

“core—sub-core—periphery”. Firstly, “Grass

Skyline”, “Grassland” and “Wildfox ridge”

constitute the core image of Grass Skyline. Secondly,

“High speed” and “Highway” show the direct tourists’

perception, and the Grass Skyline has been attracting

tourists with its charming natural landscape. Third

and lastly, “Blue sky”, “Farmhouse”, and “Bonfire”

from the outer circle, suggest that these also represent

the characteristics of tourists’ perception.

Figure 1: The semantic network structure.

According to the previous study(Zhong 2015,

Yan et al. 2021), the study divided the feature words

derived into three categories. The First is tourism

attraction represented by grassland and viewing

platform, etc. Secondly, tourism supporting facilities

with accommodation and highway as representative

words. Thirdly, public environment and services with

weather and navigation as representative words. As a

whole, figure 1 shows the most profound features of

tourists’ perception, which can be summarized as

tourism and transportation on the scenic byway.

3.2 Tourists’ Perception Analysis

Results

3.2.1 Cognitive Appraisal Analysis Results

Combining the semantic network structure and the

relevant study(Zhong 2015), the study divides

tourists' cognitive dimensions of the Grass Skyline

from three perspectives: tourism attraction, tourism

supporting facilities, and public environment and

services (Table 2).

Table 2: Tourists' cognition appraisal of Grass Skyline.

Cognitive

dimensions

Specific entries Examples of high-frequency words (frequency)

Tourism attraction

Natural Resources

Grassland(741), Huapi Ridge (463), Wildfox Ridge(395),

Guyuan(142), Terrace(95)

Human Resources Windmill(117)、Viewing platform(96)、Park(58)、Manor(49)

Tourism Activities Drive(138), Horseback riding(111), Camping(66)

Tourism Supporting

Facilities

Transportation

Grass Skyline(1906), High speed(272), East route(177), Self-

drive(161), West route(140)

Accommodation

Hotel(299), Accommodation(153), Farmhouse(135), Evening

arty(70)

Public Environment

and Services

Public

Environment

Scenery(201), Scenic spot(193), Dam(127), Weather(80)

Public Services On the road(156), Navigation(156), Trip(125), Boss(67)

Research on Tourists’ Perception of Scenic Byways Based on Text Big Data: Taking Grass Skyline as an Example

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Tourism attraction includes natural resources,

human resources, tourism activities, etc. Grass

Skyline gathers a variety of natural landscapes such

as grasslands, forests, and lakes, and also has various

types of human landscapes such as windmills and

parks, etc. The “Huapi ridge” and “Wildfox ridge” as

the iconic landscape of the Grass Skyline, so tourists

have a strong psychological identity. “Camping” and

“Tenting” are high-frequency words related to

tourism activities, which provide tourists with a

variety of choices.

Tourism supporting facilities include

transportation and accommodation. “High speed”

and “Self-drive” indicate that tourists mainly choose

self-driving tours to travel the Grass Skyline. And

“Hotel” and “Farmhouse” can reflect the tourists'

cognitive appraisal of accommodation and catering.

Public environment and services involve public

environment and public services. Tourists'

perceptions are mainly reflected in the landscape,

weather, climate, itinerary, etc.

3.2.2 Emotional Tendency Analysis Results

The study obtained the tourists' emotional tendency

(Table 3). The positive emotions are mainly the

praise of the environment of the scenic byway, such

as the words “Beautiful” and “Appreciation”.

Neutral emotions are words related to the expression

of geographical information, such as “Chongli”.

Negative emotions account for a small proportion.

Table 3 shows that tourists' emotional evaluation

is mainly positive and neutral. Positive and neutral

emotions of visitors accounted for 54.86% and 31.59%

respectively. The percentage of negative emotions of

visitors to the Grass Skyline reached 13.54%.

Table 3: Tourists' Sentiment Analysis.

Category Proportion Strength Proportion

Positive

Emotions

54.86%

General (0 ~

10)

26.57%

Moderate (10 ~

20)

14.75%

Height (above

20)

13.54%

Neutral

Emotions

31.59% / /

Negative

Emotions

13.54%

General (-10 ~

10.57%

Moderate (-20

~ -10)

1.77%

Height (below

-20)

0.51%

A graph of the fluctuation of tourists' emotional

tendency was drawn (Figure 2). Figure 2 shows that

the positive emotions of tourists during the Grass

Skyline tour were higher than the negative emotions.

Figure 2: The tourists' emotional tendency in scenic spots/road sections.

The positive emotion of tourists is divided into

two levels: 50% < Q < 65% and 65% ≤ Q < 80%. The

scenic spots/road sections within the second level can

be called the peak experience points/sections. The

peak experience sites are richer in resources and

relatively well supplied with products and activities,

which can bring diverse tourism perceptions and

attractions to visitors. Only East Route 1 belongs to

the peak experience section, and the positive visitor

sentiment of this section is only 65.14%. Tourists

gained a better perception in this section, mainly

because most of them followed the recommended

route of the Grass Skyline, entering from the west

entrance. Entering the Grass Skyline from Wildfox

Ridge was better perceived by tourists, and tourists'

sense of novelty was satisfied.

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Negative emotions arise mainly in Zhongdu

Primitive Grassland Resort, Huaqian Valley, Dakang

Manor, East Route 2. There are several main reasons.

The first is traffic congestion. Most of the tourists are

following the route initially recommended by the

Grass Skyline for touring. It leads to congestion, and

traffic jams directly make tourists have negative

emotions. Secondly, the quality of food and

accommodation can directly affect the perceived

characteristics of tourists. Thirdly, weather

conditions affect the quality of tourists' perceptions.

Fourthly, tourists usually start from Wildfox Ridge to

tour the Grass Skyline. And it leads to tourists' visual

fatigue in East Route 2.

4 CONCLUSIONS

The perceptual characteristics of tourists' perceptions

of the Grass Skyline are studied from the perspective

of cognition and emotion, and the pattern between

tourists' perceptions and spatial characteristics of the

scenic byway is analyzed. The study drew the

following conclusions:

The tourist perception shows diversified

characteristics, and the characteristic is in a “core-

sub-core-periphery” structure, with “Grass Skyline”

as the core extending outward. Tourists' perceptions

can be divided into three categories: tourism

attractions represented by terraces, tourism

supporting facilities represented by high speed, and

public environment and services represented by

navigation.

Tourists' emotional evaluation of the Grass

Skyline is mainly positive and neutral. It was found

that the percentage of tourists' positive emotions was

higher than the percentage of negative emotions. In

addition, the tourists' positive emotions were divided

into two levels. Tourists generated strong positive

emotions, that is due to the richness of resources,

sufficient supply of the activities. The reasons for

negative emotions were traffic congestion, poor

quality of food and accommodation, bad weather

conditions, and tourists' visual fatigue.

The Grass Skyline needs to be constructed and

managed according to the local conditions of the

scenic byway. Firstly, the Grass Skyline needs to

introduce different tourist routes that meet tourists'

differentiated needs. Secondly, Grass Skyline can use

the resource to create diversified products and

activities, while improving the quality of tourism

services, to better solve the problem of tourist dining

and accommodation.

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