Tourism development forecasts promise a continuing growth of the industry also in the future. At the same time, some academic and business circles begin to question more often whether the economic growth is a sustainable proposition and start to draw increasing attention to some aspects of the development, like the growing mobility and the environmental and capacity problems resulting from it. On one hand tourism creates or strongly contributes to their deepening, on the other hand these problems can have a reverse impact on its growth – not least because the very nature of tourism consists in the movement of people. These concerns raise the consideration to what extent the optimistic predictions for future tourism growth are realistic.
The mobility issues are especially urgent in Europe, as it has a relatively small physical size and a leading position in the world tourism travel. The disinterest of European hotel and tourism establishments to the changes in travel mobility, the quite recent appearance of new mobility concepts and processes, and the lack of sufficient publications and studies on them, convert this dissertation into a grounding work in tourism analysis.
The dissertation aims at answering the question about the impact of the new mobility concepts on the European tourism growth. In regard to that issue, it focuses on opposing the signals and perceptions from two information sources that are different in their nature but closely interrelated – the literature and the real world. It then identifies the areas of information overlapping and the place that has been assigned to the mobility concepts in the context of tourism. As a logical finalisation at the end, a discussion follows about the implications of the new mobility concepts for the European tourism industry. Through undertaking a grounding approach in the study of mobility and through the integration of this new area into tourism research, it became possible to identify the dimensions and issues in which the conducting of further and deeper research is highly recommendable. The dissertation draws conclusions about the impact of the new mobility concepts on the future tourism growth in Europe. In this way, it represents an initial attempt to fill the existing gap in tourism research – the gap called ‘mobility’.
At a glance
- Compares academic literature with company, government and press sources
- Examines Swiss car-sharing and combined rail travel
- Examines Lufthansa’s air–rail integration and mobility services
- 91 sources in the bibliography
- 5 tables
Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1, INTRODUCTION
1.1. Travel & Tourism growth – an indicator for further development
1.2. Problems arising from Travel & Tourism growth and their urgency – definition of the research area
CHAPTER 2, METHODOLOGY
CHAPTER 3, MOBILITY, ITS DIMENSIONS AND INTERPRETATIONS (LITERATURE REVIEW)
3.1. Perceptions of the relationship tourism ⇔ mobility
3.2. The environment as a cross-point of phenomena tourism ⇔ mobility
3.3. Congestion in the configuration tourism ⇔ mobility
3.4. The relationship tourism ⇔ mobility in the literature – a summary
CHAPTER 4, SIGNALS FROM THE REAL WORLD
4.1. Perceptions of the relationship tourism ⇔ mobility
4.2. The environment as a cross-point of phenomena tourism ⇔ mobility
4.3. Congestion in the configuration tourism ⇔ mobility
4.4. The relationship tourism ⇔ mobility in the real world – a summary
CHAPTER 5, DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
Objectives and Themes
This dissertation investigates whether emerging mobility concepts can affect tourism growth in Europe. It compares academic interpretations with developments reported by organisations, governments and businesses, focusing on the relationship between tourism travel, environmental sustainability and transport capacity.
- Tourism growth and the demand for travel in Europe
- Academic interpretations of mobility and tourism
- Environmental impacts and sustainable development
- Congestion and transport capacity
- Car-sharing, intermodal travel and mobility management
- Implications for European tourism and future research
Excerpt from the Book
3.3. Congestion in the configuration tourism ⇔ mobility
The congestion (see Appendix 4 and Appendix 5) has a central place in the environmentalism within the relationship tourism ⇔ mobility. In the history of modern tourism there have never been travelling so many people so much as a consequence from travel becoming the most famous form of happiness (Opaschowski 1999). Cole (1998) stresses that the nature of tourism is about the mobility, the movement of people and the resulting core dependence on efficient transport networks. It is argued that tourism is a major demand source to transportation (Heinze 1998) and that the diverse activities associated in its scope form about 80% of the total air traffic and at least 25% of transport businesses’ revenue (Sisman 1998, Cole 1998). Thus, tourism growth trends have been increasingly turning into capacity concerns to transport, not least because of the tremendous and uneven demand on transportation they create in terms of both time and locations. Tourist authorities have already emphasised the importance of road improvements and road net planning for the increased and still growing tourist traffic (Heinze, 1998; Cole, 1998). It has been realised that tourism industry is still underrepresented and badly placed when deciding on the priority for macro-economic infrastructure projects. Even if the last mean for tourism sector a better destination accessibility, better journey times, and better services quality, the actual significant benefits from the infrastructure improvements, as a rule, are expected to come from other economy branches and not from tourism (Cole, 1998).
It has been realised that there is a lack of good methodological interrelations between the transport infrastructures of the European countries. The reason is seen in the national perspective for transport planning in the past (Cole 1998, Davidson 1998). For instance, the civil aviation in Europe is managed by 52 different air traffic control systems and 70 computer languages – a situation similar to the national road networks that often end at state frontiers (Davidson 1998: 59). Insufficient capacity, greater demand, not enough infrastructure improvements, and inappropriate traffic management systems are some of the essential factors leading to congestion. Therefore, the need for regulatory changes in Europe at both, at EU level, and at national governments level, has been increasingly recognised (Cole 1998, Davidson 1998, Page 1999).
Chapter Summaries
CHAPTER 1, INTRODUCTION: The opening chapter outlines tourism growth, its implications for travel mobility and the research question. It defines the European scope and concentrates on air and car travel.
CHAPTER 2, METHODOLOGY: The author explains the interdisciplinary, qualitative and comparative approach, using secondary sources to examine academic and practical perspectives.
CHAPTER 3, MOBILITY, ITS DIMENSIONS AND INTERPRETATIONS (LITERATURE REVIEW): The literature review considers definitions of mobility and examines environmental impacts, congestion and proposed transport responses.
CHAPTER 4, SIGNALS FROM THE REAL WORLD: This chapter examines mobility initiatives and perspectives from organisations, governments and businesses, including car-sharing and airline programmes.
CHAPTER 5, DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: The final chapter compares the two bodies of material, discusses possible implications for European tourism and identifies directions for further research.
Keywords
tourism mobility, European tourism, sustainable development, tourism growth, transport capacity, congestion, environmental impact, car-sharing, intermodal transport, mobility management, air travel, road transport, comparative research
Frequently Asked Questions
What is this dissertation about?
It explores the relationship between mobility concepts and the growth of tourism travel in Europe.
What are the main themes?
The main themes are tourism growth, mobility, environmental sustainability, congestion and transport capacity.
What research question guides the work?
The author asks whether new mobility concepts from academic and practical contexts can affect tourism growth in Europe.
What research method is used?
The dissertation uses an interdisciplinary, qualitative comparison of secondary sources, bringing academic literature together with reports, press material and organisational publications.
What does the main analysis cover?
It examines how literature and practical sources interpret mobility, environmental impacts and congestion, then compares their perspectives.
Which keywords characterise the work?
Key terms include tourism mobility, sustainable development, congestion, car-sharing, intermodal transport and European tourism.
How is Swiss car-sharing discussed?
The dissertation examines a Swiss car-sharing initiative and its connections with rail services as an example of combined mobility with potential relevance to tourism.
What role does Lufthansa play in the discussion?
Lufthansa provides examples of employee mobility programmes and efforts to link air and rail travel.
Why does the author consider Eastern Europe?
The work considers mobility across the whole European continent and discusses the significance of connections between Eastern and Western Europe.
- Quote paper
- Ginka Tchervenkova (Author), 2000, Mobility concepts and tourism travel, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.hausarbeiten.de/document/47221
