The Application of Intelligent Agent-Based Model Method in the Operation Process of the Catering Industry

Abstract

The Intelligent Agent-Based Model method, by modeling many interacting individuals and simulating the behavior of individual agents, demonstrates the operation of complex multi-agent systems from a micro to a macro level. It can be effectively utilized to study the operational process of the catering industry surrounding rural scenic spots. This study takes the catering industry surrounding a tourism scenic spot in the southern countryside of Guizhou, China as an example. The emergence and development process of the catering industry is analyzed and the interaction process between tourists and restaurants is modeled. The consistency between the simulation results of restaurant customer flow and the field survey findings indicates that this model could be used to simulate the actual operation of the restaurant. The simulations shows that when the tourist traffic is high, the Matthew Effect on the distribution of customer flow among restaurants is not significant, and the impact of restaurant location is limited. However, when the tourist traffic at the scenic spot is low such as during the off-peak season, the location of restaurants has great influence on the customer flow. Furthermore, establishing partnerships with travel agencies represents an alternative solution for restaurants.