This paper reports on the outcomes of two collaborative research projects, conducted in conjunction with destination management authorities. The projects used GPS tracking devices to find out how various kinds of visitors moved around two Australian cities, Sydney and Melbourne. In both cases the GPS tracking was supplemented by interviews of the visitors in order to acquire an explanation of their patterns of movement. The broad purpose of each project was to provide information to destination management authorities which could help them improve aspects of the visitor experiences. Generally, the spatial behaviour of tourists in cities is not well understood, partly because few studies have sought to specifically explore and analyse the behaviour of tourists in cities. In a critique of textual and representational studies Selby, Hayllar and Griffin (2008) note the tendency for such studies to read landscapes on behalf of people, rather than seeking to understand how they experience such places. They argue that a better understanding is needed of the tourists’ perspectives and of the ways in which they visit places, such as their spatial movements, the time they spend and the services they utilise.