Air travel demand forecasting based on big data: A struggle against public anxiety

It is of great significance to accurately grasp the demand for air travel to promote the revival of long-distance travel and alleviate public anxiety. The main purpose of this study is to build a high-precision air travel demand forecasting framework by introducing effective Internet data. In the age of big data, passengers before traveling often look for reference groups in search engines and make travel decisions under their informational influence. The big data generated based on these behaviors can reflect the overall passenger psychology and travel demand. Therefore, based on big data mining technology, this study designed a strict dual data preprocessing method and an ensemble forecasting framework, introduced search engine data into the air travel demand forecasting process, and conducted empirical research based on the dataset composed of air travel volume of Shanghai Pudong International Airport. The results show that effective search engine data is helpful to air travel demand forecasting. This research provides a theoretical basis for the application of big data mining technology and data spatial information in air travel demand forecasting and tourism management, and provides a new idea for alleviating public anxiety.