GIS-Based Kernel Analysis for Tourism Flow Mapping Mărgărit-Mircea NISTOR 1* , Alexandru-Sabin NICULA 2, 3 , Ştefan DEZSI 3 , Dănuţ PETREA 4 , Shankar Acharya KAMARAJUGEDDA 5 , Iulius-Andrei CAREBIA 6 * Corresponding author 1 Earth Research Company, Department of GIS and Cartography, Cluj-Napoca, ROMANIA 2 Romanian Academy, National Institute for Economic Research "Costin C. Kiritescu" of the Romanian Academy, Centre for Mountain Economy (CE-MONT), Vatra Dornei, ROMANIA 3 Babeş-Bolyai University, Faculty of Geography, Centre for Research on Settlements and Urbanism, Cluj-Napoca, ROMANIA 4 Babeş-Bolyai University, Faculty of Geography, Cluj-Napoca, ROMANIA 5 Nanyang Technological University, Interdisciplinary Graduate School, Singapore, SINGAPORE 6 German European School, Singapore, SINGAPORE E-mail: rendddel@yahoo.com, sabin.nicula@gmail.com, stefan.dezsi@ubbcluj.ro, danut.petrea@ubbcluj.ro, shankaracharya001@gmail.com, icarebia@gmail.com DOI: 10.24193/JSSP.2020.2.07 https://doi.org/10.24193/JSSP.2020.2.07 K e y w o r d s: tourism flow, spatiality, international arrivals, GIS mapping, Romania A B S T R A C T 1. INTRODUCTION Nowadays, the number of tourists of different nationalities is much higher than in the last decades. The modern transport infrastructure and a large variety of accommodation facilities, as well as travel agencies and their services contribute to the intensity of international tourism. Moreover, the development of new software and online programs, which allow for better ways to analyse tourism data, contribute to achieving good results regarding tourism flow, and also help in the future modelling of the tourism phenomenon. Tourism flow assessment represents a very suitable way to analyse tourism flow towards the destination. In addition, through such analysis, the characteristics of tourists, motivational factors, accommodation infrastructure, types of tourism, and other factors could be considered. Hall and Page (2009) indicate the progress of ‘Tourism Management’ Journal considering the geographical studies on tourism. One of the most interesting issues discussed in their paper refers to the development of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) which contributes to the analysis of data at spatial scale. Thus, the role of GIS technology in Applied Geography and decision-making in tourism Centre for Research on Settlements and Urbanism Journal of Settlements and Spatial Planning J o u r n a l h o m e p a g e: http://jssp.reviste.ubbcluj.ro The variation of tourism flow and its spatial representation are indispensable for transport companies, accommodation facilities and future estimations regarding the international arrivals. The major implication for tourism flow mapping is related to the country of origin of tourists, their liquid assets, and tourism statistical database. The approach of tourism flow mapping representation, at least using lines and density, should be based on the spatial characteristics of the objects. In this study, the database consisting of international arrivals in different cities of Romania was used as an example. Thus, GIS-based Kernel density of the tourists’ flow was proposed. To illustrate the international demand, data on arrivals for 33 countries over the period 2015-2017 were used. ‘XY To Line’ and ‘Kernel Density’ functions served to create the convergence lines between the origin countries and Romania. The very high density was found for the European countries with an increase of 13% and 25% between 2015 and 2016, as well as between 2015 and 2017. Map analysis indicated an increase of the density area by 0.7% for 2016 and 1.7% for 2017. The proposed methods, including lines and density, contribute to the mapping of the flow of the international arrivals in Romania.