Richard Weston

Visitor Expenditure: The Case of Cycle Recreation and Tourism

The paper seeks to contribute to our understanding of the economic impact of sports tourism using the case study of a cycle network in the North East of England, UK, used for tourism, recreation and utility purposes. It explores the foundations of economic impacts of such a network and focuses on underlying behavioural responses of cyclists and their spending. The paper develops a model of expenditure on the basis of 383 travel diaries. The findings confirm that incomes, group sizes and durations of activity are integrally linked determinants of expenditure. The expenditures and durations of cycle trips are linked to preferences for longer journeys. This has implications for planners of routes to attract all types of cyclists from the most casual leisure trip to racing cyclists. Furthermore, the research findings infer that as extra-network and intra-network tourism groups cycling on the network do not behave differently they therefore should both be targeted by sports and tourism agencies.

Low Carbon Tourism Travel: Cycling, Walking and Trails

With the growth in tourism expected to continue over the next 20 years (UNWTO, 2011) and increasing pressure on resources, particularly fossil fuels, approaches to low carbon tourism will assume greater importance. Walking and cycling are the most popular forms of human powered mobility (Litman, 2003) and are recognised as the preeminent forms of low carbon travel (Chapman, 2007). Encouraging residents and visitors alike to use these, especially for short urban journeys, has grown in popularity, for example with the development of public bicycle sharing schemes in many major cities around the world. Longer walking and cycling trips for leisure also have an important role to play in the sustainability of tourism, economically as well as environmentally. It is well known that walking tourism has important impacts in rural areas (Midmore, 2000) and a recent study for the European Parliament (Lumsdon et al., 2009) concluded that cycle tourism has a role to play in a more sustainable future for domestic and international tourism, and that “cycle tourists bring major benefits to localities which currently do not enjoy mainstream tourism development” (Lumsdon et al., 2009, p. 12). The development of walking trails has a long history with many ancient trade routes evolving into popular long-distance walking routes over the last hundred years, for example the Grande Randonnée in France. Cycle trails have a more recent provenance, becoming more popular over the last 40 years. With increases in road traffic levels coinciding with the abandonment of large parts of railways networks, the popularity of rail trails has never been greater. Providing traffic-free routes through urban and rural areas, with their gentle gradients, has encouraged many to return to, or take up cycling, particularly for leisure. Whilst cycle tourism fits well with regional and national policies for the development of sustainable tourism, there are a number of barriers to this. For example, poor integration with public transport and the lack of consistent infrastructure deter the development of the market. Demand tends to occur where good networks of cycle routes exist; in a European Tourism Planning & Development Vol. 9, No. 1, 1–3, February 2012

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.

The future of transport and tourism: A Delphi approach.

Abstract This paper reports the findings of a Delphi approach survey of 45 experts in the North West of England predicting outcomes in transport and tourism within a 10-year period. The Delphi achieves a broad consensus that tourism will grow in the region despite outbound low cost flights. It predicts little change in transport infrastructure for tourism, transport policy or market values of tourists. It also records a lack of consensus about several dimensions; this is a reflection of perspective regarding sustainable development rather than a sectoral divide.

Rhetoric: methodology or method? And other views from heterodoxy

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