Jo W Guiver

Understanding tourists’ perceptions of distance: a key to reducing the environmental impacts of tourism mobility

This paper seeks to understand how tourists might reduce their travel distances by better understanding their perception and “performance” of distances to destinations. Travel accounts for 75% of tourisms GHG emissions, the majority from flying. Tourist travel distances are growing rapidly, as are emissions, with little evidence of the reductions required to comply with emission reduction targets. This research used discourse analysis of in-depth interviews with Danish tourists to explore how they understand distance. Respondents rarely referred to physical distance (e.g. kilometres), but instead to scales including cost, time and cultural difference to express relative distances. Some distances were seen as “zonal”, (e.g. “away from home” or “sun and sea” or winter sports destinations), others “ordinal”, having degrees of difference, time or costs to cross. The desire for distance also resulted from links tourists make between physical distance and reaching cultural dissimilarity. Sometimes travel itself was integral with the holiday experience. While cost and time savings were important, the total holiday price was more important than the journey price. Measures are suggested for reducing the distances travelled and changing the modes used, and so reducing environmental impacts, including changing leave allowances, better marketing of nearby destinations with cultural differences, and promoting slow travel.

Grounded: Impacts of and Insights from the Volcanic Ash Cloud Disruption

Abstract This paper presents the preliminary findings of a survey of over 500 people whose travel was affected. Stranded passengers used various support networks and means of contact. While travel providers were most likely to be able to help, they were less contactable and willing to help than family, friends and employers causing the impacts to ripple through ‘home’ networks. The findings demonstrate how flying maintains dispersed networks but has ‘created distance’ by raising expectations and eroding other travel services. The disruption illustrated the vulnerability of systems of aviation, their importance to many people’s lives and the challenge to improving sustainability.

Visitor attractions, sustainable transport and travel plans - Hadrian's Wall: a case study.

Leisure travel accounts for over 40% of distance travelled and over 30% of all personal trips in the UK, most of which are by private car, so it is not surprising that Government policy is beginning to address the impacts of car leisure travel. One initiative is to invite tourist attractions to adopt travel plans, similar to those used by large employers and travel generators in urban areas. This case study researched the views of managers of tourist attractions in a sensitive World Heritage Site – Hadrians Wall. The in-depth interviews revealed little understanding of how travel plans function, doubts about the effectiveness of ‘carrot and stick’ measures to achieve modal shift and identified conflicts between attempts to reduce car travel and the core purposes of the sites. The study concludes that traffic reduction in tourist areas requires regional involvement and that the benefits of site-based travel plans are limited.