Effect of Traveler’s Nationality on Daily Travel Time Expenditure Using Zero-Inflated Negative Binomial Regression Models: Results from Belgian National Household Travel Survey

Abstract

In this study, data stemming from the 2010 Belgian National Household Travel Survey were used to assess the effect of a traveler’s nationality on daily travel time expenditure. Negative binomial (zero-inflated) models were estimated to isolate the effect of nationality after other contributing factors such as sociodemographics, residential characteristics, transport options, and temporal characteristics were controlled for. The results indicate that even if one controls for a series of other influencing factors, nationality plays a significant role in differences in travel time expenditure. This finding is especially relevant in the development of policy packages that are targeted at social inequalities. From a methodological perspective, methodological options—two weighting schemes and two bootstrap solutions—were presented to provide sufficient support for the conclusions. To generalize the results in further studies, an oversampling of travelers of different nationalities is strongly recommended. Future research should focus more on the underlying psychological constructs of why ethnic and cultural differences persist even if one accounts for other determinants.