Travel Preferences Research Articles

Feasibility of a randomised controlled trial of financial incentives to promote alternative travel modes to the car

IntroductionAlternatives to the car, such as walking, cycling and public transport can integrate physical activity into everyday life. Interventions promoting alternatives to the car targeting individual behaviour have shown modest effects, and supportive environments appear important. MethodsThis mixed-method study assesses the scientific and operational feasibility of conducting a randomised controlled trial (RCT) of individual financial incentives within a supportive physical environment. We invited residents of Northstowe, Cambridgeshire, UK who had not previously claimed financial incentives to complete a baseline questionnaire assessing socio-demographic characteristics and travel behaviour. On completion, households were randomly assigned to (1) control – claimed incentives online; (2) intervention - received incentives via email; and (3) intervention plus - received greater value incentives via email. We assessed incentive use via questionnaires at three and six months. Longitudinal qualitative interviews at baseline, three months and six months elicited views of incentives and factors influencing use. Results99 residents from 88 households (household response rate: 88/475 (19%)) completed the baseline questionnaire and were randomised at household level. The local authority delivered all incentives. Compared to the control group, incentive use was higher in the intervention and intervention plus groups at six months, but there was little difference between intervention and intervention plus group. Qualitative data suggests that incentives worked by prompting existing intentions, raising awareness of alternative travel modes and to a lesser degree by reducing travel cost. This resulted in some new leisure travel behaviour, but most often to subsidise existing travel. Qualitative data suggests that existing travel preferences and environmental conditions influenced incentive use. ConclusionIt is feasible to deliver an RCT in collaboration with a local authority and future trials should account for recruitment challenges. Reducing the effort required to obtain incentives increased their use, but future research should investigate the surrounding enabling environmental contexts.

Investigating occasional travel patterns based on smartcard transactions

Public transportation (PT) studies often neglect non-routine trips focusing predominantly on commuting. However, recent research revealed that occasional trips make up a substantial portion of public transport journeys, and traveler preferences for non-routine trips diverge from their preferences for regular commuting. We study non-routine trips based on a database of 63 million smartcard (SC) records of PT boardings made in Israel during June 2019. The characteristics of these trips are revealed by clustering PT users’ boarding records based on the location of the boarding stops and time of day, applying an extended DBSCAN algorithm. Our major findings are that (1) conventional home-work-home commuters are a minority in Israel and constitute less than 15% of the riders; (2) at least 30% of the PT trips do not belong to any cluster and can be classified as occasional; (3) The vast majority of users make both recurrent and occasional trips. A linear regression model provides a good estimate (R2 = 0.85) of the number of occasional boardings at a stop as a function of the total number of boardings, time of day, and land use composition around the location of trip origin. We discuss the potential applications of our approach in the landscape of diverse flexible PT.

How Underlying Attitudes Affect the Well-Being of Travelling Pilgrims—A Case Study from Lhasa, China

This study used structural equation modelling to analyse the relationship between the attitudes of a pilgrim group and their well-being when travelling. Using market segmentation theory, the travel market of the pilgrim group was segmented, and the travel preferences of different sub-markets were separated according to each pilgrim’s subjective feelings of travel quality. The results show that travel emotional value, travel expectancy perception, and perception of fairness impact the travel well-being of pilgrims. K-means clustering was used to segment the travellers into markets and to propose strategies to improve the travel well-being of travellers. To meet the attitudes of various people, this analysis was based on different travel sub-markets. The results show that, to improve travel well-being, the preferences of female and elderly groups should become the focus to ensure better comfort and convenience, moderate safety, and reliability. For younger age groups, the emotional value of the travel process should be considered, which may help to improve their well-being.

How does tourism affect permanent residents’ travel preferences? The case of Rhodes, Greece

ABSTRACT Tourism is a major source of income for many regions; however, its impacts on residents’ daily lives are significant, especially regarding their travel behavior. Local transportation infrastructure is challenged by large tourist flows, and thus residents need to adapt to the new environment by changing their usual habits, such as travel mode, frequency, destination etc. In this study, a multinomial logistic regression mode choice model is developed to capture tourism impacts on residents’ travel behavior, using data from the island of Rhodes, Greece. According to study findings, tourism has in fact an impact on residents’ travel mode preferences, as they tend to opt for more agile modes such as motorcycles, instead of cars, and adopt defensive driving during tourist seasons. This study can facilitate public transport operators, planners, and municipalities in tourist regions, to apply effective policies to mitigate negative impacts of tourism in local traffic conditions.

Perception of COVID-19 rapid antigen testing approach prior to flight schedule among air travelers: a questionnaire-based study

PurposeThe COVID-19 pandemic had a huge impact on people's lives, air travel and tourism. The authors explored travelers' perceptions of COVID rapid antigen tests before boarding aircraft, willingness to fly and the precautionary actions for safe air travel.Design/methodology/approachAll the participants were asked to complete the survey while reflecting on their experiences of air travel during this COVID-19 pandemic. The questionnaire consisted of demographic information of the participants and air travel preferences during pandemic. The survey was conducted through Google Form in both English and Arabic language. The link was shared through emails and WhatsApp.FindingsIn this survey, majority had willingness to fly during pandemic. 45.2% preferred to undergo rapid test before boarding, while 41.9% refused owing to no added benefit (23.8%) and nasal discomfort (9.3%) among others. The best indicators to resume safe air travel were COVID-19 vaccination (80.4%), wearing face mask during flying hours (70.8%) and maintain social distancing with aircraft seating (49.6%).Research limitations/implicationsThe findings of the current survey could help the organizations and the biosecurity authorities to act and support accordingly and thus reduce passenger anxiety about resuming the flights, thereby increasing willingness to fly and preparing oneself and the aviation industry for future pandemics.Originality/valueThe findings of the current survey could help the organizations and the biosecurity authorities to act and support accordingly and thus reduce passenger anxiety about resuming the flights, thereby increasing willingness to fly, and preparing oneself and the aviation industry for future pandemics.

Mobility-Aware Proactive Edge Caching for Large Files in the Internet of Vehicles

By shifting the requested content to the edge in the Internet of Vehicles (IoV), edge caching is expected to be an effective solution to satisfy the low latency and high reliability requirements of IoV users for multimedia services. However, the edge node’s coverage area and storage space are limited. Moreover, since vehicles have high mobility and in-vehicle multimedia applications require sequential delivery for contents, we need to address two main issues: 1) How to optimize the proactive content caching decision (i.e., the placement of cached content chunks) among edge nodes (ENs) to provide better Quality of Services (QoS) for IoV users. 2) How to ensure that vehicles can download the required contents sequentially to improve Quality of Experience (QoE). In this paper, we propose a mobility-aware proactive edge caching scheme (MSTPS), where the spatial and temporal prediction of vehicles are taken into account for content deployment and scheduling. Specifically, we optimize the caching decision based on predicting the vehicle’s driving trajectory and travel preference. The scheme learns the vehicle’s travel preferences to cope with mobility uncertainty by combining users with similar travel patterns. Meanwhile, the proposed scheme can support the sequential downloading of content chunks. Furthermore, in order to deal with the dynamic characteristics and unpredictable challenges of the IoV, we design a system recovery strategy, which can avoid the degradation of the proposed scheme due to the failure of prediction. Finally, by using real mobility datasets and scenarios, we explore the impact of the number of ENs deployed in advance for each vehicle’s request when the cache needs to be updated on system performance. In addition, we evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme. Our proposed scheme can achieve the best cache hit ratio and decrease caching costs compared to the existing mobility-aware caching schemes.

Intelligent Travel Recommendation System

Abstract: This survey paper presents a project focused on developing an online platform designed to provide users with efficient recommendations to enhance their travel experiences. The platform aims to assist users in selecting their preferred location of stay, exploring recommended places to visit, choosing appropriate modes of transportation, and identifying suitable dining options, all while considering the user's budget. The project incorporates various filtering algorithms to ensure accurate and tailored recommendations. Through this platform, users can create personalized itineraries aligned with their travel preferences. The paper emphasizes the functionality of the filtering algorithms and discusses their implementation within the system. Additionally, the paper highlights the future potential and scope for further advancements in the platform.

Trend of Share of Domestic Tourism Expenditure to Household Final Consumption Expenditure

This study employs a data-driven research methodology to investigate the evolving proportion of domestic tourism expenditure in relation to household final consumption expenditures in the Philippines over the period from 2000 to 2022. Leveraging secondary data from the trusted Philippine Tourism Satellite Account, managed by the Department of Tourism, this research provides a comprehensive analysis that spans both pre-pandemic and pandemic periods, offering insights into trends, fluctuations, and the influence of significant events on the interaction between these variables. The focal point centers on the dynamic relationship between share of domestic tourism expenditure to household final consumption expenditure and time, scrutinized through the lens of linear regression analysis, renowned for its ability to unveil linear trends over time. The years from 2010 to 2019 exhibited substantial growth, reflecting a growing preference for domestic travel, potentially influenced by government initiatives, infrastructure improvements, and rising incomes. However, the COVID-19 pandemic severely impacted the industry in 2020, highlighting its susceptibility to external shocks. While some recovery has occurred in subsequent years, figures remain below pre-pandemic levels, posing challenges for the sector's revival. The regression analysis indicates a gradual annual increase in the growth rate, but only about 26.2% of this variability can be attributed to the linear relationship with time, emphasizing the influence of other factors. Policymakers and stakeholders must consider these dynamics to foster domestic tourism growth in the Philippines, particularly in the post-pandemic era

Boldness predicts plasticity in flight responses to winds.

Behavioural plasticity can allow populations to adjust to environmental change when genetic evolution is too slow to keep pace. However, its constraints are not well understood. Personality is known to shape individual behaviour, but its relationship to behavioural plasticity is unclear. We studied the relationship between boldness and behavioural plasticity in response to wind conditions in wandering albatrosses (Diomedea exulans). We fitted multivariate hidden Markov models to an 11-year GPS dataset collected from 294 birds to examine whether the probability of transitioning between behavioural states (rest, prey search and travel) varied in response to wind, boldness and their interaction. We found that movement decisions varied with boldness, with bolder birds showing preferences for travel, and shyer birds showing preferences for search. For females, these effects depended on wind speed. In strong winds, which are optimal for movement, females increased time spent in travel, while in weaker winds, shyer individuals showed a slight preference for search, while bolder individuals maintained preference for travel. Our findings suggest that individual variation in behavioural plasticity may limit the capacity of bolder females to adjust to variable conditions and highlight the important role of behavioural plasticity in population responses to climate change.

Exploring Non-Routine Trips Through Smartcard Transaction Analysis

Abstract. Public transportation (PT) studies often overlook non-routine trips, focusing on commuting trips. However, recent research reveals that occasional trips comprise a significant portion of public transportation trips. Furthermore, traveler preferences for non-routine trips essentially differ from their preferences for regular commuting. We investigate non-routine trips based on a database of 63 million records of PT boardings made in Israel during June 2019. The behavioral patterns of PT users are revealed by clustering their boarding records based on the location of the boarding stops and time of day, applying an extended DBSCAN algorithm. Our major findings are that (1) conventional home-work-home commuters are a minority and constitute less than 15% of Israeli riders; (2) at least 30% of the PT trips do not belong to any cluster and can be classified occasional; (3) The vast majority of users make both recurrent and occasional trips. A linear regression model provides a good estimate (R2 = 0.85) of the number of occasional boardings at a stop as a function of the total number of boardings, time of a day, and land use composition around the trip origin.

Developing Sustainable Indicators for Forest Farm Tourism Services for Senior Citizens: Towards the Establishment of a Comprehensive and Comfortable Environment

The evolving travel preferences of senior citizens have necessitated the customization of tourism services by the industry to cater to their specific needs. Forest ecology landscapes have been identified as offering significant advantages for senior citizens in the context of tourism. This study aims to address the research gap in this area by developing sustainable forest farm tourism service indicators tailored to the senior citizens in Taiwan, taking into consideration the benefits of forest ecology landscapes. The Fuzzy Delphi Technique (FDT) is employed to gather expert opinions and establish indicators, while triangular fuzzy numbers and defuzzification techniques are utilized to evaluate professional opinions from various agricultural fields. The analysis reveals 5 dimensions and 28 indicators that are deemed appropriate for creating a sustainable forest farm tourism service environment for the senior citizens. Key indicators include the ability of service personnel to effectively address guest concerns, cleanliness of farm accommodations, safety of farm routes, friendliness of service staff, and the presence of barrier-free facilities in farm accommodations. This study provides valuable insights for promoting sustainable farm management and the development of forest farm tourism in Taiwan, emphasizing the significance of forest ecology landscapes in enhancing the tourism experience for senior citizens.

Analysis of Staycation Preferences of Egyptian Travelers Post COVID-19 Pandemic

Analysis of Staycation Preferences of Egyptian Travelers Post COVID-19 Pandemic

Profile of German senior tourists travelling on river cruise ships in the post-COVID period

The German sending market has always been a major priority for domestic tourism in Hungary. For example, before the COVID-19 epidemic, Germany was ranked first among the outbound markets in terms of guest nights spent in commercial accommodation in 2019, with a share of 12.9%. The expenditure of German visitors traveling by Danube River cruise ships is also a determinant factor concerning destinations in Hungary. Due to their prominent role, we aimed to identify the main characteristics and preferences of German senior travellers arriving in Hungary, therefore, following the lifting of the pandemic-related travel restrictions, we conducted a personal survey of German visitors arriving from river cruise ships. Our findings revealed that interpreting 55+-year-old travellers as a homogeneous segment is a misconception, as they are highly heterogeneous. Therefore, we used factor analysis and cluster analysis to identify traveller groups within the segment and also included Barak and Schiffman's (1981) cognitive age scale to partly explain the difference in consumer preferences between self-reported age and chronological age. Linear regression modelling was also used to identify the extent to which differences in sending area location, destination preferences, and travel modes can shape spending. The study provides innovative results, both in theoretical and practical terms. Furthermore, the value of the research is enhanced by the inclusion of the guests of the most prominent German travel agencies in river cruising.

나홀로 여행객과 동반여행객의 온라인 리뷰 차이 분석: 토픽모델링 기법을 중심으로

Online reviews based on experiences serve as important sources of information for potential tourists and provide valuable insights for tourism marketers to understand the preferences of tourists. After COVID-19, external activities have been restricted, leading to an increase in the online market. Additionally, the trend of solo travel has increased due to the rise in single-person households. To understand the difference between solo travelers and accompanied travelers, we analyzed the sentiment of reviews written by TripAdvisor users from 2015 to 2020 based on the presence or absence of companions. As a result of the analysis, we found that solo travelers expressed positive sentiment towards topics such as ‘relaxing’, ‘commentary’, ‘knowledge’, ‘sightseeing’, ‘palace tour’, ‘scenery’, and ‘walking’, with no negative sentiment topics identified. On the other hand, we found that companion travelers expressed positive sentiment towards the topics of ‘entrance fee’, ‘memory’, and ‘palace tour’, while expressing negative sentiment towards the topics of ‘scenery’, ‘park’, and ‘family’. Based on these results, it was confirmed that reviews written by Seoul visitors differ in terms of topics and emotional expressions depending on the presence or absence of companions, with the exception of ‘palace tours’. Therefore, by distinguishing preferred travel behaviors and sentiment language, it is expected that an emotional marketing strategy can be established using customized target marketing and online reviews.

Sistem Pendukung Keputusan Pengembangan Ekowisata Mangrove Potensial Menggunakan Simple Additive Weighting (SAW)

Adjusting resource availability and traveler preferences will allow for an objective assessment of prospective mangrove ecotourism growth. In order to build mangrove ecotourism destinations effectively, it is vital to identify their priority locations. It is required to create the development program as a criterion and the development zone as a prioritized alternative in light of this. This study used the Simple Additive Weighting (SAW) technique, which includes the following stages: deciding on criteria and alternatives; weighing the relative importance of each criterion; creating a matrix of findings; and ranking the alternatives based on the biggest value. The study's findings indicate that five criteria can be categorized based on benefit and cost with varying relative values: attraction (benefit), ancillary (benefit), accommodation (cost), accessibility (cost), and amenities (cost). Attraction has a relative value of 0.3, ancillary has a relative value of 0.2, and amenities (cost) has a relative value of 0.15. The ranking results showed that the amenity criteria came first, followed by accessibility, then attractions, lodging, and ancillary. Attractions were ranked third, while accommodations came in fourth. This demonstrates the necessity for amenities that pique tourist interest and accessibility through accessible modes of transportation, informational resources, and roads to tourist destinations to support the growth of mangrove ecotourism special interest tourism. The management of mangrove ecotourism destinations can be improved by offering lodging options. Following amenities, accessibility, attractions, and lodging, organizations or groups can be established, and infrastructure in tourist sites can be enhanced. As a result, the SAW approach can be used as a system to help decide which initiatives to prioritize

Analysis on the Tourism Direct Gross Value Added and Share to Gross Domestic Productof the Philippines

This study employs a data-driven research methodology to investigate the evolving proportion of domestic tourism expenditure in relation to household final consumption expenditures in the Philippines over the period from 2000 to 2022. Leveraging secondary data from the trusted Philippine Tourism Satellite Account, managed by the Department of Tourism, this research provides a comprehensive analysis that spans both pre-pandemic and pandemic periods, offering insights into trends, fluctuations, and the influence of significant events on the interaction between these variables. The focal point centers on the dynamic relationship between share of domestic tourism expenditure to household final consumption expenditure and time, scrutinized through the lens of linear regression analysis, renowned for its ability to unveil linear trends over time. The years from 2010 to 2019 exhibited substantial growth, reflecting a growing preference for domestic travel, potentially influenced by government initiatives, infrastructure improvements, and rising incomes. However, the COVID-19 pandemic severely impacted the industry in 2020, highlighting its susceptibility to external shocks. While some recovery has occurred in subsequent years, figures remain below pre-pandemic levels, posing challenges for the sector's revival. The regression analysis indicates a gradual annual increase in the growth rate, but only about 26.2% of this variability can be attributed to the linear relationship with time, emphasizing the influence of other factors. Policymakers and stakeholders must consider these dynamics to foster domestic tourism growth in the Philippines, particularly in the post-pandemic era

Kentsel Koridorlarda Yürümeyi Teşvik Edici Planlama Ölçütlerinin Belirlenmesi: Trabzon Sakinleriyle Bir Çalışma

Urban corridors, which were organized as pedestrian-oriented in the period before the invention of the automobile have entered the process of being organized as automobile-oriented in the modernization period when cities began to be reshaped. The widespread of automobile usage has been changing people's travel preferences which resulted in the decrease of walkable environments. Scientists from different disciplines conducted studies on walking and walkability. It is necessary to understand the sociocultural structure and environmental features that persuade people to walk. “Walking Preference Survey”, which can be used as a preliminary study in the planning of walkable corridors, was prepared for this research. The survey was conducted with 597 participants in Trabzon/Ortahisar. The survey was subjected to validity and reliability tests for standardization. 8 walkability criterions were reached in the factor analysis applied to the survey within the scope of the constructive validity analysis. In the study, differences in walking preference were observed according to demographic characteristics and travel habits.

Understanding the drivers of destination equity in the post-pandemic era: the case of Australia

ABSTRACT Drawing on the appraisal theory of emotions and based on an online Qualtrics survey conducted among members of the Australian consumer panel (n = 357), this study examined destination equity considering the changing travel preferences in the post COVID-19 pandemic era. The findings empirically support that in addition to conventional destination equity drivers, tourists in the post-pandemic era consider the internal environment when deciding on a travel destination. Peace of mind was identified as a key manoeuvring factor influencing tourists’ behaviours such as higher payment and share-of-wallet. Theoretical and managerial implications of the findings are presented.

Sustainable E-Service Quality in Tourism: Drivers Evaluation Using AHP-TOPSIS Technique

The Internet’s meteoric rise in popularity has led to the growing importance of the quality of online services in numerous industries, including the rapidly expanding tourism industry. Accordingly, this study aims to ascertain the leading attributes of selected travel websites based on sustainable e-service quality. This study was conducted in four phases. In phase I, the key drivers of sustainable e-service quality (SESQ) were identified from a literature review and expert opinions and then categorized and validated using the EFA technique based on the responses of 100 respondents in phase II. Phase III was performed to determine the priority weightage of the identified and validated SESQ drivers using AHP, whereas in phase IV, the five most popular travel websites in India were ranked based on the SESQ drivers using the TOPSIS method. A case study is presented in this paper to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed framework. Finally, a sensitivity analysis was conducted to determine the robustness of the results. The findings of the study revealed that security, hedonic value, and efficiency were the most important drivers of SESQ that influenced customers’ selection of travel websites, and makemytrip.com was the most preferred travel website by customers.

Car-Pooling System (CapX)

With traffic congestion and environmental concerns on the rise, carpooling systems have become increasingly popular. This paper proposes a carpooling system that matches drivers and riders based on their travel preferences and routes using an advanced algorithm. The system considers factors such as pickup and drop-off locations, preferred departure time, and route to find the most compatible matches. Additionally, real-time updates are provided on the driver's location and the rider's estimated time of arrival. This carpooling system not only reduces traffic congestion but also lowers carbon emissions, promoting environmental sustainability. It also offers a safe and reliable alternative for individuals without access to private transportation or public transit. The proposed carpooling system has the potential to transform commuting, providing a practical solution for a more sustainable future.