Search

This paper explores the creation and use of a long-term global tourism transport model for private and public sector tourism policy makers. Given that technology is unlikely to reduce tourism transport's impact on climate change sufficiently to avoid serious dangers, behavioural change is necessary. The model presented here helps policy makers and the tourism sector evaluate behavioural change measures. Such tools to assess long-term (up to a century) policy impacts do not currently exist. Projecting behavioural change over such long periods is difficult with contemporary economic modelling. This paper's model is founded in psychological economics theory and mechanisms at work in product diffusion. It describes the tourism system based on identifiable mechanisms and not on statistical relations with only current validity. It delivers global numbers of trips and distances travelled per transport mode as a function of transport cost, travel time, population and income distribution. The model is based on theories including product innovation theory (Bass model) and prospect theory (psychological value). It has been successfully calibrated to tourism development between 1900 and 2005 and tested against future low and high growth economic and demographic scenario combinations. Implications for tourism travel and climate change are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Current leisure mobility patterns are not sustainable. Because energy efficiency measures appear insufficient to accommodate predicted future volume growth, changes in transportation modes and volume are needed. Short-haul should be the preferred distance, public transportation the preferred mode and length of stay should increase rather than trip frequency. However, tourists are unwilling to adopt these changes. This paper proposes a new conceptual “three-gear model” demonstrating how happiness, travel motivations and perception of distance set barriers for desirable behavioral change. The model improves understanding of the gap between awareness of, and attitudes to, tourism mobility and the gap between environmentally friendly everyday behaviors and unsustainable vacation behaviors. The paper shows that happiness is integral to all stages of the tourist experience. Understanding happiness enhances the understanding of tourist behavior, and how it drives, via the speed–distance–demand loop, the three-stage model presented here. Key practical implications include the need for effective policies to break the speed–distance–demand loop, changes to transport infrastructure policies, and recognition of the role of happiness in sustainable tourism strategies. Theoretical contributions include a synthesis of theories to interrogate key behavioral gaps and a theoretical basis for future empirical studies. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Several western governments have implemented environmental policies which increase the cost of air travel. Such policies aim to reduce the impact of air travel on climate change, but at the same time they restrict tourists in their travels. This study examines the extent to which the average tourist's happiness is affected by 'involuntary green travel', defined as reduced CO2 emission travel imposed by government regulations. This issue was addressed in a study among 588 Dutch citizens who completed a self-report questionnaire containing questions about their happiness. The strongest determinant of tourists' happiness is freedom in choosing a destination. Any policy measure that interferes with tourists' freedom in destination choice will negatively affect tourists' happiness. Six percent of their happiness is at stake and potentially 17% of all holiday trips are affected. The number of tourists involved is possibly much smaller. The best options for governments are to impose taxes on long-haul destinations, which affect only a small share of all tourists, and air routes which can also be travelled by a variety of alternative modes of transport and thus less limiting to destination choice within this market segment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]