Application of UAVs for tourism security and safety

Purpose In the tourism industry, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) can perform monitoring and patrol missions to protect assets and tourists at attractions such as coastal areas, canyons, national parks, etc. Such use of UAVs can improve safety and security of tourism attraction and facilitate tourism industry. However, there is a key issue regarding economic investment and efficient operation for actual system implementation. The purpose of this paper is to provide a guideline for supporting economic investment and the efficient operation of UAV system in the tourism industry. Design/methodology/approach Ideas and methodologies have been proposed to overcome the fundamental limitations of commercial UAVs. A mathematical optimization model is developed to determine the optimal number of UAVs to be purchased, and its operation schedules simultaneously. Findings Using proposed concept and methodology, UAVs can support long duration of missions. Economic system design as well as the operation schedule is derived with the hypothesis data in Kkot-Ji beach in Korea. The proposed methodology and approach is expected to have huge potential at many tourism attractions to achieve the safety and security of tourists. Practical implications The result of this study can facilitate practical use of UAVs in the tourism industry. Furthermore, it is applicable in many industries that need UAV systems such as national defence, agriculture, disaster management, etc. Originality/value The proposed study suggests a solution to handle fundamental weakness of UAVs and support long duration of missions. In addition, this study incorporates economic system design issue and operation issue simultaneously.