A Route Recommender System Based on the User's Visit Duration at Sightseeing Locations

The time spent at a sightseeing location differs for each tourist. If a tourist is particularly interested in a location, the visit duration may be long. In this case, we consider that the tourist’s visit duration is longer than that of a typical tourist at similar sites. We assume that this difference shows the tourist’s characteristics, such as the type of objects in which s/he is interested and his or her walking speed. It also indicates the level of congestion in the sightseeing area. Therefore, we propose a route recommender system whose recommendations are based on the difference between a user’s and the typical visit duration at sightseeing locations. We focus on the category structure of the locations and the difference between the tourist’s and the typical visit duration for estimating the visit duration at other locations. In this study, we developed a prototype system and evaluated it using a few sightseeing locations.