A Fuzzy Logic Based Approach to E-tourist Attractiveness Assessment

Abstract

Based on a fuzzy inference system, an approach for calculating the e-tourist attractiveness of the country as a tourist destination is proposed. We define here e-tourism attractiveness as the opinion of a tourist, formed on the basis of data obtained from various sources posted on the web. Assessment is based on publicly available data about the country, collected from travel and tourist websites. To collect the input data, an automated system for website scraping and data parsing is developed. For more effective data processing by experts, a hierarchical system is built. At the upper level, the inputs are fuzzified and aggregated into complex indicators of transport, tourism and entertainment infrastructure using the union of fuzzy sets. At the lower level, Mamdani fuzzy inference is carried out using the rule base developed by experts in travel and tourism domain. The fuzzy rule base simplification and reduction is carried out. To check the adequacy of simplification, the values of the output parameters are calculated using the simplified and initial rule bases. An analysis of the results is carried out, the levels of e-tourist attractiveness for a number of countries is determined. These values can be used as quantitative indicators of the competitiveness of countries in the global e-travel and tourism market.