Movements inside the country
Why travel abroad when there is so much to see in your own backyard? Sometimes, traveling within your own country satisfies the itch to get away, without the hassle and expense of going abroad. What are the most popular regions? When are they highly visited? We would expect that areas bordering water would see a spike in visits during warmer months, while areas bordering mountain chains may be more frequented during ski season.
To dive deeper in the matter, we carry out case studies in three different countries: the United States, Germany, and France. These countries are very diverse in terms of geography, demographics, and population density. What trends would be common to the three? In what way do they indivually stand out? How do the aforementioned differences play a role?
To have a fine-grained view, we independently consider travel to and from administrative divisions (i.e. states or regions) within each country. We’re interested in knowing who travels where, and which regions are more or less popular during different times of the year.
United States
The US is divided into 50 states and Washington, D.C. We consider travel to and from each of the states and are interested in the partitioning of inter-state travel depending on the origin and destination. The following heatmap illustrates this.