Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
However, with air travel there is potential to ratchet down as well as up,
although currently on a very small scale. Randles and Mander (2009b) iden-
tify three elements of flying that have the potential to limit its growth:
•
the comfort level of the flying experience
•
in part due to the above, there may be upper limits to the number of flights
some people are willing to take
•
discourses of environmental concern.
However, the authors believe it will be difficult to reverse the trend to fly.
Several studies suggest that individuals feel some aspects of damaging
environmental behaviour can be compensated by good behaviour elsewhere
(Becken, 2007; Dickinson et al, 2010a; Spaargaren, 2004). However, there is
some criticism of this type of compensatory behaviour that Stoll-Kleeman et
al (2001) refer to as the 'metaphor of displaced commitment', and Dickinson
et al (2010a) question the extent to which tourism behaviours such as flying
can be compensated. At the heart of this argument is the question as to
whether daily, but relatively low-impact, behaviour such as recycling can com-
pensate for irregular, but high-impact, behaviour such as flying:
Responsibility seems to differ for the individual as a 'tourist' or
a general member of society. The latter seemed to be influenced
by norms, while the responsibility as a tourist was mainly dis-
cussed in relation to the barriers that limit tourists' behaviour.
(Becken, 2007, p356)
Understanding of relative environmental impacts is likely to be poorly devel-
oped among consumers and, as Chappells et al (2004, p144) suggest,
'consumer and provider perceptions of what constitutes “sustainable” con-
sumption are highly interpretative, context-dependent and open to negotiation
over time'. Consumers also make use of the facilities available. In a European
context, recycling facilities are easily accessed by individuals and are even pro-
vided on an individual household basis; therefore, this mode of 'green
provisioning' is readily available. While slow travel options are also available,
in the context of tourism provision, these service options are not so readily
accessed or embedded in contemporary tourism practice: 'Whether consumers
are able to contribute to the development of more sustainable systems of pro-
vision depends on how they are socially situated and on the socio-technical
systems to which they are attached' (Chappells et al, 2004, p144). It is there-
fore difficult to disentangle people from energy-intensive lifestyles (Bickerstaff
et al, 2008; Lorenzoni and Pidgeon, 2006).
Social practices research also examines the role of routine behaviour, as
many of life's activities are routine. There is some debate about routine behav-
iour in tourism, given that holidays are not a regular occurrence; however, it
has been argued that people do have routines that apply to tourism, such as
ways of booking holidays, or particular types of holidays such as car and
camping (Verbeek and Mommaas, 2007). Such routine ways of thinking about
