Abstract

Travelling by land is a phenomenon that utilizes different surface transport modes, such as trains, buses, bicycles etc. The slow travel contributes also to the concerns about ecological footprint and climate change derived from air travel. Slow travel aims to encourage individuals to travel to their destinations more slowly, stay for a longer period in the chosen destination, and travel less. For slow travellers, travelling to the destination is a significant part of the travel experience. The qualitative research aimed to understand the phenomena of travelling by land and the tourist experience holistically using a netnographic approach. The data was collected from the Finnish Facebook -group, Maata pitkin matkustavat. (Those who travel by land) in January 2020. The data consisted of 185 posts and their comments. The goal of the data analysis was to understand the role of consumer value in the slow travel experience. The research findings show the importance of minimizing travel time and the costs of travelling by land. Also, leisure time, and “having fun” are valued in travelling by land experience. Thus, self-oriented, active value components, Efficiency, and Play, were most applicable in the collected data set. These findings help us to understand slow travel as a tourism experience better and provide important insights into the requirements to develop consumer-centric slow travel for sustainable development in the future.

Highlights

  • IntroductionThe tourism industry has a sustainability problem

  • 1.1 BackgroundThe tourism industry has a sustainability problem

  • This paper aims to study consumer value in slow travel through a netnographic study of a social media community focused on travelling by land

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Summary

Introduction

The tourism industry has a sustainability problem. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the transport-related emissions from tourism represented 5% of all man-made emissions [31]. Air transportation often required by tourism has been seen as one of the main sources of CO2 emissions in the industry. Most studies examining the environmental impact of tourism often neglect the effects of travelling to a destination (and back), and mostly just focus on tourism’s effects at the holiday destination. As Böhler et al [3] state that car travel still dominates the holiday mobility, increasing global tourism there has been a significant demand for growing holiday air travel [3]. To reduce CO2 emissions alternative forms of transportation are needed and understanding their appeal for consumers is a major factor in succeeding to increase alternative transport method use in tourism

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