Understanding Visitors’ Responses to Intelligent Transportation System in a Tourist City with a Mixed Ranked Logit Model

One important function of Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) applied in tourist cities is to improve visitors’ mobility by releasing real-time transportation information and then shifting tourists from individual vehicles to intelligent public transit. The objective of this research is to quantify visitors’ psychological and behavioral responses to tourism-related ITS. Designed with a Mixed Ranked Logit Model (MRLM) with random coefficients that was capable of evaluating potential effects from information uncertainty and other relevant factors on tourists’ transport choices, an on-site and a subsequent web-based stated preference survey were conducted in a representative tourist city (Chengde, China). Simulated maximum-likelihood procedure was used to estimate random coefficients. Results indicate that tourists generally perceive longer travel time and longer wait time if real-time information is not available. ITS information is able to reduce tourists’ perceived uncertainty and stimulating transport modal shifts. This novel MRLM contributes a new derivation model to logit model family and for the first time proposes an applicable methodology to assess useful features of ITS for tourists.