Multi-period Itinerary Optimization for Regional Archaeological Tourism: A Case Study

Multi-period Itinerary Optimization for Regional Archaeological Tourism: A Case Study | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Multi-period Itinerary Optimization for Regional Archaeological Tourism: A Case Study Annarita De Maio, Carlo Maria Aloe, Elia Fiorenza, Sara Stoia This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7205742/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Cultural and archaeological tourism is increasingly acknowledged as a catalyst for regional development, particularly in areas beyond mainstream travel circuits. While itinerary planning has attracted academic attention, the optimization of multi-period cultural routes across dispersed archaeological landscapes remains underexplored. This paper proposes a novel bi-objective optimization model—belonging to the class of Vacation Planning Problems and formulated as a variant of the Team Orienteering Problem—for constructing multi-period archaeological itineraries. The model maximizes cultural value and minimizes travel distance, subject to some logistics constraints. A real-world application in Calabria, Italy—a region rich in archaeological heritage but limited in tourism infrastructure—demonstrates the capability of the model to generate efficient, thematically coherent routes. The findings underscore the potential of operations research methods to enhance sustainable tourism planning in marginal cultural landscapes. Hospitality and Tourism Archaeological tourism Multi-objective optimization model Vacation planning problem Team orienteering problem Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7205742","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":491302445,"identity":"4a7ea5c3-aab5-4a2b-a205-4df89672aebc","order_by":0,"name":"Annarita De Maio","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAABB0lEQVRIie3PMWuDQBTA8SeFuBzNelLRr/BEEAIWv0pE0MVQx4wXhEwpnUO/hB+hIXQrnU/M0sUpQ0uhpHBDzzbNEOq5drj/IKf4470D0On+bdg9pt8HB8BgAAWQAYIn4v8QBDJkjgQgZr8f+sj4/nbzPi+EC2byWB2KMKuacvF6QLCjHkJ3z4n1hOgx0qb1CtNZtduU1kq1GM/RYogGo3nACW5nFY+XQBTE5bn/KUnE6M1HLXCboSSGUBDkedBNieWUUSOnTDtyoZriSTJh6CdL0gaNjam35nF5ZSMl5OFv4sjFaiac6zszaeu9CN1Lnr287edhZLK++x8bnb3Tgf91Op1Op+oLivFVV2E2BSwAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"","institution":"University of Calabria","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Annarita","middleName":"","lastName":"De Maio","suffix":""},{"id":491302537,"identity":"6d2e665d-508a-41e3-935c-f17d1542f20b","order_by":1,"name":"Carlo Maria Aloe","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Calabria","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Carlo","middleName":"Maria","lastName":"Aloe","suffix":""},{"id":491302538,"identity":"72ba59ac-5bf2-40f3-acf3-f221d29866b3","order_by":2,"name":"Elia Fiorenza","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Calabria","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Elia","middleName":"","lastName":"Fiorenza","suffix":""},{"id":491302539,"identity":"4005ba8e-06b1-46fe-bc76-d2a3f9705793","order_by":3,"name":"Sara Stoia","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Calabria","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Sara","middleName":"","lastName":"Stoia","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-07-24 12:41:29","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":{"humanSubjects":false,"vertebrateSubjects":false,"conflictsOfInterestStatement":false,"humanSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false,"humanSubjectConsent":false,"humanSubjectClinicalTrial":false,"humanSubjectCaseReport":false,"vertebrateSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false},"doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7205742/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7205742/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":87783216,"identity":"ca55a4b5-b47b-4a2d-8397-789d05c1594a","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-07-29 02:59:56","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":528388,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"ArchaeoTourismOptimization.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7205742/v1_covered_bb5f1f75-67ab-4f6c-a8f1-93e2c7e973f2.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"The authors declare no competing interests.","formattedTitle":"\u003cp\u003eMulti-period Itinerary Optimization for Regional Archaeological Tourism: A Case Study\u003c/p\u003e","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"University of Calabria","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Archaeological tourism, Multi-objective optimization model, Vacation planning problem, Team orienteering problem","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7205742/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7205742/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eCultural and archaeological tourism is increasingly acknowledged as a catalyst for regional development, particularly in areas beyond mainstream travel circuits. While itinerary planning has attracted academic attention, the optimization of multi-period cultural routes across dispersed archaeological landscapes remains underexplored. This paper proposes a novel bi-objective optimization model—belonging to the class of Vacation Planning Problems and formulated as a variant of the Team Orienteering Problem—for constructing multi-period\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003earchaeological itineraries. The model maximizes cultural value and minimizes travel distance, subject to some logistics constraints. A real-world application in Calabria, Italy—a region rich in archaeological heritage but limited in tourism infrastructure—demonstrates the capability of the model to generate efficient, thematically coherent routes. 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