Tourism and intraregional transport: The assimilation of local transport in tourist destination – the perception of Lisbon’s residents

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the importance that scientific research has given to tourists’ transport, understand the perception of visitors on the adequacy of intraregional transport in the visited destinations, understand the value different type of transports assume in tourist visits, identify the most used means of locomotion in a tourist destination and evaluate the acceptance levels of a tourist transport circuit organized with crossing points at the main touristic attractions, where visitors can leave their vehicles in strategically located car depots. In this case study, 226 valid respondents were considered. The main conclusion of this research is that Portuguese visitors do not consider adequate the supply of public and collective transportation in the national destinations they visit. Not only, most travellers do not use this type of transport to reach a travel destination as, once there, they won’t use it. Different factors influence the choice of the travel transportation but if the destination provides efficient supply of collective transportation or environmental vehicles for individual use, visitors are willing to drop their vehicles in car deposits outside touristic centres.