Culture & Tourism

TravelMeter

Product Description

“TravelMeter” is a research project conducted by UCSC, which is aimed at forecasting tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka by using quantitative methods. It quantifies past information about a phenomenon by applying mathematical rules which taking advantage of the underlying patterns and relationships in the data. When the availability of data increases and the limitations are removed, this approach of using neutral network for forecasting may yield better results.To achieve this monthly tourist arrival data from January, 2010 to October, 2014 are used to build models and evaluate the forecasting performance. The reason for selection and confinement to this duration is unique growth trend observed in tourist arrivals after the end of civil war in May 2009 and the absence of factors which contributed to the downward trend before 2009.

As the final product, a prototype web-based system has been implemented to achieve the ultimate goal of this study which is to support information needs of stakeholders in Sri Lankan tourism industry.

Jurors Evaluation

It is shown that dissemination of the information is a key requirement in preserving the Culture and Heritage of a country. Tourism & travel allow the experiencing of the culture firsthand, and thus enabling the preserving. This product uses statistical modeling to forecast travel related information and a comprehensive website that provides most of the needs of the tourist community in an attractive & easily accessible way for many tourists. Thus, the effective attempt to promote the local & foreign tourism in many culturally important localities needs to receive the commendation.