Analysis of Attraction Features of Tourism Destinations in a Mega-City Based on Check-in Data Mining—A Case Study of Shenzhen, China

Location-based service information, provided by social networks, provides new data sources and perspectives to research tourism activities, especially in highly populated mega-cities. Based on three years (2012–2014) of approximately 340,000 check-in records collected from Sina micro-blog at 86 tourist attractions in Shenzhen, a first-tier city in southern China, we conducted a comprehensive study of the attraction features involving different aspects, such as tourist source, duration of stay, check-in activity index, and attraction correlation degree. The results showed that (1) theme parks established in the early 1990s were the most popular tourist attractions in Shenzhen, but a negative trend was detected in the check-in population; (2) compared with check-in times from surrounding activities and the kernel density of tourists, most destinations in Shenzhen showed a lack of attraction, failing to make the most of their geographic accessibility; and (3) the homogeneity and inconvenient traffic conditions of major tourist destinations leading to the construction of a tourism tour chain has become a challenge. The results of this study demonstrate the potential of big-data mining and provide valuable insights into tourism market design and management in mega-cities