摘要：Considering the recent lockdowns and travel bans due to COVID-19, novel tourismstrategies are necessary to face the increasing need for innovative products and services and to ensurelong-term sustainable growth. This study looks into the potential use of drones in providing onlinevirtual tours of open-space tourist attractions. To do so, a novel mixed-integer linear mathematicalmodel is developed to optimally determine the number and location of required facilities and thenumber of drones assigned to each center. The model is applied to a case study of Rome by selectingsix historic sites as the tourist attractions and considering several candidate locations for establishingthe facilities. The results of different potential scenarios imply that the project is profitable, even if thedemand for virtual tours is low.
