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Re-defining the Role of Transport in Sustainable Tourism Development

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Tourism, Culture, and Heritage".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 March 2022) | Viewed by 28594

Special Issue Editors

Head of Urban and Population Studies Department, Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization, Polish Academy of Sciences Twarda str. 51/55, 00-818 Warsaw, Poland
Interests: issues related to political borders and trans-border cooperation; tourism geography; transport geography; spatial mobility; regional development
Institute of Socio-Economic Geography and Spatial Management, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Gdansk, 80-309 Gdańsk, Poland
Interests: political geography; tourism geography; transport geography; international relations; regional development
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Institute of Geography of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Štefánikova 49, 814 73 Bratislava, Slovakia
Interests: transport geography; spatial mobility; regional development; tourism geography

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The role of transport in tourism is significant and emphasized by many authors; it is a component of tourism development, tourism theories and concepts, and tourism product (Cardenas, Tabares, 1998, Prideaux 2000, Lew 2004, Hall 2008). Transport infrastructure contributes to economic success based on tourism. Good transport accessibility of the region contributes to the overall attractiveness of the area from the perspective of its potential visitors and frequency of visits. On the other hand, an unfavorable level of accessibility of the region or place may lead to a lack or outflow of tourists to better accessible areas offering similar conditions (Hall 2008, Tóth & Dávid,  2010, Michniak et al. 2015). The improvement of accessibility and its quality for tourists is high on the agenda for scientists, planners, and policy makers. The issue of transport accessibility is particularly important in the development of tourism in peripheral and cross-border regions where the border plays different roles depending on its specificity (Więckowski et al. 2014). Within the EU, most of them are symbolic in nature, and constitute a barrier at its external borders (Bar-Kołelis, Wendt, 2018).

Good accessibility is only one of the important prerequisites for the development of tourism, which is affected by a number of different factors.  Tourists tend to select destinations based on local possibilities and attractions in the first place. Additionally, in our differentiating world many other factors play important roles, such as the commodity of transport, price, mode, and the symbolic value of the tourism centre or region (Michniak et al. 2015). At the same time, however, concerns about tourism “overcrowding” in many areas as a result of high attractiveness, promotion and good accessibility are increasing. New tourism and transport infrastructure, new attractions and tourism products have been created, and cultural and natural heritage resources are being increasingly utilized in tourism for local and regional development. All this has created a need to discuss and critically evaluate transport infrastructure, accessibility and other issues linked to growing tourism sectors.

We would like to know how transport transforms tourist destinations in contemporary world. We hope that sustainable tourism and sustainable transport to and within tourist destinations could be considered as a new way of thinking and practising tourism. The constant change would seem to be a feature of most tourist destinations, not least as the creation and development of spaces for tourism are seen to reflect wider political, economic and social processes are often driven non-locally, if manifesting themselves very locally indeed (Więckowski & Saarinen 2019). In some places, specific turning points and radical contextual changes may have proved extremely influential, with elements to the development of tourism profound enough in their effects to cause transformations in completely new directions (Müller 2018; Mayer et al. 2019).

This Special Issue calls for theoretical, methodological, and empirical case studies illustrating the diversity of the role of transport infrastructure in sustainable tourism development, transport and accessibility changes, transitions and formations that influence, guide and control tourism development in different temporal and spatial scales and settings.

We particularly welcome papers addressing the following topics:

  • transformations of transport for tourist spaces and places in the changing political, economic and social contexts
  • new trends and processes in changing of accessibility to tourism places and spaces
  • the role of transport in tourism and regional and local development
  • impact of transportation accessibility on economic effectiveness of other tourism and travel sectors
  • spatial patterns of accessibility and tourism
  • policy, governance and marketing analyses in (and for) tourism
  • public transport to and within tourist destinations
  • the use and role of transport as resources in tourism
  • sustainable transport as a tourist attraction
  • new methodological approaches
  • transport, tourism, and climate change
  • overtourism vs sustainable tourism
  • comparative analysis of the role of transport in tourism development

Prof. Dr. Marek Więckowski
Prof. Dr. Jan A. Wendt
Dr. Daniel Michniak
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Transport
  • Tourism
  • Sustainability
  • Accessibility
  • tourism attraction

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 1629 KiB  
Article
Economic Impacts of Public Air Transport Investment: A Case Study of Egypt
by Eric Tchouamou Njoya and Ahmad Muhammad Ragab
Sustainability 2022, 14(5), 2651; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su14052651 - 24 Feb 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2212
Abstract
This paper applies an input–output (I-O) approach and a dynamic computable general equilibrium (CGE) model to examine the economy-wide short- and long-run impacts of an increase in public capital investment in air transport infrastructure. The results of the I-O analysis reveal that air [...] Read more.
This paper applies an input–output (I-O) approach and a dynamic computable general equilibrium (CGE) model to examine the economy-wide short- and long-run impacts of an increase in public capital investment in air transport infrastructure. The results of the I-O analysis reveal that air transport has above-average backward linkages with other sectors in the economy, with mining being the most intensive industry in intermediate input demand for air transport. The results of the CGE simulation show that at the macroeconomic level, expanding public air transport stock induces modest growth in GDP, employment, income, consumption, private investment, and trade. The findings show that the estimated impact of air transport investment is lower than estimated in studies on the “multiplier effect” of the investment using partial equilibrium techniques. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Re-defining the Role of Transport in Sustainable Tourism Development)
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18 pages, 301 KiB  
Article
Promotional Activities of Selected National Tourism Organizations (NTOs) in the Light of Sustainable Tourism (Including Sustainable Transport)
by Dariusz Jacek Olszewski-Strzyżowski
Sustainability 2022, 14(5), 2561; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su14052561 - 23 Feb 2022
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3832
Abstract
The dynamic development and evolution that tourism has recently undergone and its growing importance made it become an important element of the policy of today’s countries in various walks of social, economic and political life. As tourism is one of the largest industries [...] Read more.
The dynamic development and evolution that tourism has recently undergone and its growing importance made it become an important element of the policy of today’s countries in various walks of social, economic and political life. As tourism is one of the largest industries in the world, most countries recognized the leading role in their economies, establishing in this regard the administrative structure of the national tourism organizations (NTOs). NTOs are responsible for the marketing and promotion of countries, improving the tourist image of a given country and supporting existing or developing new tourism products. At the same time, governments are increasingly realizing that tourism should develop in accordance with the principles of sustainable development and be integrated with the natural, cultural and social environment of these countries. This article presents the activities of selected national tourism organizations (NTOs) in terms of their role in developing the potential of sustainable tourism (and within it sustainable transport) in their countries. The aim of the article is to review the promotional activities undertaken by NTOs operating in countries such as Austria, Cyprus, Grenada, Guatemala, Norway and Indonesia. The article is an overview, and the following sources were used to prepare it: official websites of the organizations, reports, promotional materials and any documents related to the operation of the studied NTOs in the field of sustainable tourism and sustainable transport development (e.g., tourism development strategies, tourism product development strategies, projects and programs). The choice of these countries for the analysis was dictated by the fact that they have outstanding natural and cultural assets that make up the product potential for sustainable tourism and the very responsible, diverse and long-term promotional and marketing activities undertaken by the NTOs (e.g., promotional campaigns). Such prudent treatment of own resources and sustainable potential may also contribute to these countries gaining a competitive advantage over other destinations in the world (e.g., increase in interest from tourists). The activities and promotional campaigns cited in the article as well as the solutions proposed by NTOs can also become excellent examples of good practice for other destinations in the world. The research has also shown that the studied countries (and their national tourism organizations) clearly support the development of sustainable tourism and sustainable transport through their national tourism policies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Re-defining the Role of Transport in Sustainable Tourism Development)
29 pages, 3440 KiB  
Article
Impact of Cross-Border Tourism on the Sustainable Development of Rural Areas in the Russian–Polish and Russian–Kazakh Borderlands
by Anna A. Mikhaylova, Jan A. Wendt, Dmitry V. Hvaley, Agnieszka Bógdał-Brzezińska and Andrey S. Mikhaylov
Sustainability 2022, 14(4), 2409; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su14042409 - 20 Feb 2022
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 3438
Abstract
Rural areas and peripheral borderland territories are experiencing socio-economic marginalization featuring depopulation, population aging, and an increasing inequality gap in the quality of life compared to cities. Integrated rural tourism is argued to be ideal for supporting the well-being of rural communities, providing [...] Read more.
Rural areas and peripheral borderland territories are experiencing socio-economic marginalization featuring depopulation, population aging, and an increasing inequality gap in the quality of life compared to cities. Integrated rural tourism is argued to be ideal for supporting the well-being of rural communities, providing an additional income, decreasing unemployment, offering new and appealing jobs out of traditional rural activities, while preserving the conventional lifestyle. In this study, we discovered the tourism capacity of rural borderland territories affected by cross-border tourism using the data on the geography of cross-border movements, the distribution of tourist sights, and the density of tourist accommodation facilities. The geographical scope of the study covered two cross-border coastal regions—the Russian–Polish region on the Baltic Sea and the Russian–Kazakh region on the Caspian Sea. The statistical and geoinformation analysis were used to allocate areas of prospecting rural tourism integrated with cross-border movement. The research results on the development and distribution of tourist infrastructure suggest that: the rural territories of these regions feature tourist attractions and accommodation facilities at a different level of density and remoteness from the border crossing; each cross-border region is featuring different types of travel restrictions for tourists; and both border-land territories show asymmetry by the more active Russian tourists traveling abroad. Each of the regions under consideration is attractive for cross-border tourism while having different degrees of penetration of tourist flows into the interior territories and coverage of rural areas. The study resulted in a tourist flow model that allows integrating rural areas. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Re-defining the Role of Transport in Sustainable Tourism Development)
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19 pages, 336 KiB  
Article
Effects of High-Speed Rail on Sustainable Development of Urban Tourism: Evidence from Discrete Choice Model of Chinese Tourists’ Preference for City Destinations
by Weiwei Zhang and Lingling Jiang
Sustainability 2021, 13(19), 10647; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su131910647 - 25 Sep 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2044
Abstract
In China, the opening of high-speed rails (HSR) brings significant changes to the source-destination spatial distance, the accessibility of destinations, and the spatial structure of tourist flows in each region, exerting varied HSR effects on different types of cities. Against this backdrop, it [...] Read more.
In China, the opening of high-speed rails (HSR) brings significant changes to the source-destination spatial distance, the accessibility of destinations, and the spatial structure of tourist flows in each region, exerting varied HSR effects on different types of cities. Against this backdrop, it is meaningful to deeply explore tourists’ preference for city destinations in the light of HSR effects. The exploration could contribute greatly to the planning, marketing, management, and sustainable development of urban tourism. This paper takes Xiangtan and Yueyang as typical cases of the diffusion effect and the corridor effect of HSR. Firstly, the factors affecting destination choice were identified, and the attribute levels were configured, forming multiple virtual alternatives. Next, questionnaire surveys were carried out to collect tourists’ selections between each pair of alternatives. Further, a discrete choice model was constructed to assign a weight to each factor, reflecting its importance to tourists’ decision-making regarding their destination selection and to disclose the law of tourists’ preferences for destinations. The results showed that (1) Under the HSR diffusion effect, the top three factors affecting tourists’ preference for destinations in Xiangtan are convenience, connection time, and popularity; under HSR corridor effect, the top three factors affecting the tourists’ preference for destinations in Yueyang are reputation, convenience, and leisure and reception facilities (LRFs). (2) The destination preference is closely associated with personal features like gender, income, occupation, and fellow travelers. Tourists with different personal features give different attention to the various influencing factors. The research findings provide a reference for the sustainable development of urban tourism. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Re-defining the Role of Transport in Sustainable Tourism Development)
26 pages, 5412 KiB  
Article
Transport Infrastructure and Political Factors as Determinants of Tourism Development in the Cross-Border Region of Bihor and Maramureş. A Comparative Analysis
by Jan A. Wendt, Vasile Grama, Gabriela Ilieş, Andrey S. Mikhaylov, Sorin G. Borza, Grigore Vasile Herman and Agnieszka Bógdał-Brzezińska
Sustainability 2021, 13(10), 5385; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13105385 - 12 May 2021
Cited by 24 | Viewed by 3983
Abstract
This article follows two important interconnected aspects. On one hand, it investigates whether the political factors represented by the presence of ethnic minorities can be a catalyst for tourism development in cross-border regions, in addition to the development of transport infrastructure. On the [...] Read more.
This article follows two important interconnected aspects. On one hand, it investigates whether the political factors represented by the presence of ethnic minorities can be a catalyst for tourism development in cross-border regions, in addition to the development of transport infrastructure. On the other hand, it offers a comparative analysis and territorial diagnosis of the Bihor-Hajdú–Bihar and Maramureş–Zakarpattya cross border regions, analyzing the main tourist indicators and the advances made in the development of the transport infrastructure with a role in the development of tourism. The paper is based on desk and quantitative research involving national and regional statistic data. Research on the literature regarding Hungarian–Romanian and Romanian–Ukrainian borderland was also realized, in order to conduct comparative analysis useful to identify and evaluate the factors linked with tourism development. Using a multiscale approach, the objective is to determine if there is a correlation between the development of the transport network and the increase in tourist traffic. The results show that transport infrastructure plays a critical role in ensuring the connections of border regions. Although the two regions are contiguous, there is an obvious difference in cross-border traffic due to the presence of two different types of border. The transport network and tourism situation in Bihor has improved in the last years, especially under the impact of cross-border cooperation, but the accessibility remains relatively low. In Maramureş, the development of cross-border connections is based on cultural exchange, and less on economic relations. Transport accessibility is a strong point of the Hungarian–Romanian borderland and represents an obstacle for the development of tourism in the Romanian–Ukrainian borderland. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Re-defining the Role of Transport in Sustainable Tourism Development)
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15 pages, 3104 KiB  
Article
Will the Consequences of Covid-19 Trigger a Redefining of the Role of Transport in the Development of Sustainable Tourism?
by Marek Więckowski
Sustainability 2021, 13(4), 1887; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13041887 - 09 Feb 2021
Cited by 50 | Viewed by 8483
Abstract
As there are very marked relationships between tourism and transport, integrated knowledge of these processes is essential if destinations and tourism enterprises are to be developed, an effective tourism policy pursued, and emerging local and global issues and conflicts surrounding tourism resolved. Beyond [...] Read more.
As there are very marked relationships between tourism and transport, integrated knowledge of these processes is essential if destinations and tourism enterprises are to be developed, an effective tourism policy pursued, and emerging local and global issues and conflicts surrounding tourism resolved. Beyond this, in an era of huge change reflecting the consequences of the COVID-19 viral pandemic, the importance of sustainable transport in tourism’s sustainable development appears to be of critical importance. Adopting this kind of perspective, this paper seeks to achieve a critical overview of conceptual dimensions of sustainability that link up with tourism and transport. To this end, ideas based on the literature and previous discussions are extended to include certain new propositions arising out of a (hopefully) post-COVID-19 world. Proceeding first with a systematic literature review (SLR), this article discusses the importance of transport to the development of tourism, dealing critically with modes of transport and their changing roles in sustainable development under COVID and post-COVID circumstances. The author summarises likely new way(s) of thinking in the aftermath of the pandemic, with the need for this/these to be far more sustainable and responsible, and characterised by a reorientation of behaviour in a “green” direction. It is further concluded that three aspects of transport–tourism relations will prove crucial to more sustainable utilisation—i.e., proximity, slower and less energy-intensive travel, and green transport. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Re-defining the Role of Transport in Sustainable Tourism Development)
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