Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
evaluation. Perhaps there needs to be a more sophisticated appraisal, in line
with the work of O'Connor (2006), a comprehensive evaluation including an
analysis of the dilemmas afforded by contradictory positions, for example,
between economic gain and environmental impact.
Transport for tourism
Within the triple bottom line framework described above, local tourism trans-
port impacts are widely identified as negative impacts (e.g. increased accidents)
rather than as benefits (such as improved access to locations, time savings and
other indicators), all of which are factors measured in transport studies. The
predominant issue is the negative outputs associated with the dominant mode
of travel at the destination, the private car (Andereck et al, 2005; Dickinson
et al, 2009; King et al, 1993; Lindberg and Johnson, 1997; Liu et al, 1987;
McCool and Martin, 1994; Perdue et al, 1990; Vaughan et al, 2000).
Transport impacts encompass parameters that are environmental (e.g. pollu-
tion, noise), social (e.g. reduced social space for children) and economic (e.g.
congestion, parking problems).
Until recently, the focus of transport impact analysis related to destina-
tions only. To a lesser extent, there was recognition of congestion on roads to
access destination areas as a secondary issue (Holding, 2001). The focus has
also been on land-based transport, especially car use. While some positive
impacts have been identified, for example, improved infrastructure and
tourism support of local public transport, tourism travel is one of the few
aspects of tourism to be presented consistently as a problem (Høyer, 2000).
Until the last decade, international travel to access destination areas was
largely excluded from the debate, aside from work focusing on major infra-
structure projects, such as airports, where again much analysis centred on
impacts local to the development. Studies have focused on local issues which,
in the context of climate change, exclude a large share of the impacts accrued
due to tourism arrivals (Gössling, 2002; Gössling and Hall, 2006; Lamers and
Amelung, 2007). In particular, transport to access destinations, especially
international air travel, has largely been excluded.
Recent studies have drawn attention to the fourth dimension of the
quadruple bottom line; that is, the climate change impacts of tourism (see, for
example, Becken et al, 2003a; Dubois and Ceron, 2006a; Gössling, 2002;
Peeters et al, 2007). These studies imply that the boundaries of the tourism
system need to be redrawn to encompass origin-to-destination travel. Gössling
and Hall (2006) argue such a shift is vital if we are to reflect on the reality of
tourist transport subsystems that are almost entirely oil-dependent. This type
of analysis alters the balance. Tourism ceases to be a relatively green activity,
to become one of the more energy intensive and polluting sectors of the world
economy. The integration of transport and tourism in the form of slow travel
will, of course, require a more refined approach to the monitoring of travel
impacts during an entire holiday. The following section sets out the climate
change impacts of tourism as determined by the quadruple bottom line
analysis.
