Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
• Car-less crusaders: sacrificed car for environmental reasons and have pos-
itive evaluation of other modes.
• Reluctant riders: involuntary users of public transport due to health or
financial reasons, would prefer car.
Some studies also indicate that air and train travellers are different markets
'which would imply that modal choice precedes destination choice' (van
Goeverden, 2007, p116). Exploratory work on slow travel suggests air trav-
ellers choose destinations and then work out how to get there, while slow
travellers tend to choose their mode and then decide where they go (Dickinson
et al, 2010a).
There are also studies that analyse modal choice on the basis of various
geographical characteristics. For instance, van Goeverden (2009) found that
the larger the origin or destination city (the effect was strongest for destina-
tion city), the higher the probability of train use. The effect was also enhanced
where people are travelling to the core of an urban area rather than the periph-
ery. On this basis, the market for train use could be profiled on home and
destination cities.
By distance
In earlier discussion, slow travel was associated with short- to mid-haul rather
than long-haul travel. For instance, Peeters (2007) suggests trains and coaches
are viable over distances shorter than 1500-2000km. Slow travel is therefore
particularly suited to travel within Europe, North America, South America
and South East Asia, but poorly suited to travel from, for example, Europe to
South East Asia, even though this is feasible overland by slow travel modes.
For most slow travellers, distance is likely to be limited by time and comfort
concerns to intra-regional travel up to 2000km. For a few travellers/back-
packers, longer inter-continental trips are feasible, such as the OZ bus service
from London to Australia, initiated in 2007 (Sethi, 2007). As the concept
develops, there are likely to be regions that are keen, or more able, to embrace
the idea. In this respect, it is envisaged that slow travel locations might emerge
to serve slow travellers, willing to develop the experiential elements of slow
travel. Given its allegiance with the slow food movement and its well-devel-
oped public transport network, Italy would be an obvious contender. Such a
move presupposes a need to investigate further how people engage with local-
ities and make decisions about components of a holiday in order to engage
with low-carbon modes of tourism.
By the tourist transport experience
Page (1999, p8) first noted that there was a gap in the research regarding the
intrinsic experience that might exist in tourism transport:
The mode of transport tourists choose can often form an inte-
gral part of their journeys and experience, a feature often
neglected in the existing research on tourism.
