The role of road safety in a sustainable urban mobility: An econometric assessment of the Spanish NUTS-3 case

There has been a structural change in mobility in major Spanish cities in recent decades, with a switch to the pattern followed in other countries in the area. A shift has taken place from a traditional Mediterranean model to a North American city stereotype, with uncontrolled motorization and major implications for public health. This article specifically analyzes negative road safety-related externalities that result from this process, given that the trend seems to show a steady decline in road safety accidents on urban roads in Spain, with major differences among NUTS-3 provinces. The objective is to evaluate the factors that empirically explain these differences for the 2003–2013 period using a panel data analysis. Results show that a key role is played by urban development variables, such as population density and improvements in health services, with advances linked to more accessible and sustainable urban transportation, such as the Smart City concept. Not only does this article close a gap in the literature, but the findings can also serve as a practical guide for the development and implementation of urban mobility and road safety plans, and reveals the special needs of the most vulnerable groups.     

Analysing Chinese citizens' intentions of outbound travel: a machine learning approach

Due to the tremendous expansion of Chinese outbound travel market, it is of great significance to identify the characteristics of potential Chinese outbound tourists so as to develop targeted marketing strategies. As both extrinsic and intrinsic characteristics of individuals are important in influencing their decision-making process, this study explores potential Chinese outbound tourists from these two aspects. Demographic and psychographic factors, as the proxy of extrinsic and intrinsic characteristics, respectively, are incorporated into this study to construct the relationship between tourists' characteristics and their intentions of outbound travel. An advanced machine learning approach, called twice-learning, is employed for modelling in this study. As an intelligent data analysis tool, this method is able to construct models that can provide insight into the ground-truth relationships hidden beneath the data in an essentially comprehensible way, without being limited by the typical assumptions held by the traditional data analysis methods. By applying this method, the important personal factors that influence Chinese citizens' intentions of outbound travel are detected, and the typical groups of potential Chinese outbound tourists are characterised. The findings would be beneficial for destination marketers to develop marketing strategies on positioning and advertising which are tailored to potential Chinese outbound travel market.     

Information searching and the travel behaviours of MICE travellers: a cross‐cultural study

Despite growing academic interest in meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions (MICE) travel in recent years, there has been little investigation of the comparative information search behaviours of MICE travellers on the basis of their country of origin and cultural background. This paper proposes that country of residence and primary language spoken are significant factors in explaining the information searching and travel behaviours of MICE travellers. The sample population included Japanese‐, English‐ and Chinese‐speaking MICE travellers. A self‐completion questionnaire was administered to travellers undertaking MICE‐related travel in Taipei, Taiwan. Some significant differences were identified between the three respondent groups. The findings demonstrate the important role that is played by internal and external information sources among MICE travellers as a predictor of their subsequent travel to Taiwan. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Big data for big issues: Revealing travel patterns of low-income population based on smart card data mining in a global south unequal city

Smart card data (SCD) allow analyzing mobility at a fine level of detail, despite the remaining challenges such as identifying trip purpose. The use of the SCD may improve the understanding of transit users' travel patterns from precarious settlements areas, where the residents have historically limited access to opportunities and are usually underrepresented in surveys. In this paper, we explore smart card data mining to analyze the temporal and spatial patterns of the urban transit movements from residents of precarious settlements areas in São Paulo, Brazil, and compare the similarities and differences in travel behavior with middle/high-income-class residents. One of our concerns is to identify low-paid employment travel patterns from the low-income-class residents, that are also underrepresented in transportation planning modeling due to the lack of data. We employ the k-means clustering algorithm for the analysis, and the DBSCAN algorithm is used to infer passengers' residence locations. The results reveal that most of the low-income residents of precarious settlements begin their first trip before, between 5 and 7 AM, while the better-off group begins from 7 to 9 AM. At least two clusters formed by commuters from precarious settlement areas suggest an association of these residents with low-paid employment, with their activities placed in medium / high-income residential areas. So, the empirical evidence revealed in this paper highlights smart card data potential to unfold low-paid employment spatial and temporal patterns.     

Assessing the contribution of flagship projects to city image change: a quasi‐experimental technique

The aim of this paper is to identify a simple technique that can be used to indicate whether flagship urban projects contribute to city image change. The quasi‐experiment outlined is grounded in established marketing efficacy measures and involves establishing the relationship between awareness levels of projects and image change. After an explanation of the proposed technique, it is applied to projects in Birmingham, Manchester and Sheffield to demonstrate its potential value. Despite raising some concerns, the paper concludes that the technique provides a useful indicator of the effects of flagship projects, particularly when longitudinal research is not possible. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Freeway traffic congestion in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: attitudes and policy implications

The last few years have shown an unprecedented increase in traffic congestion in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, especially on radial freeways. Unorganized distribution of land uses, inefficient traffic management, and low-cost automobile use have been major contributors to the problem. This article shows a strong awareness amongst drivers of the negative consequences of the congestion problem. Interviewees have strongly supported several land use, traffic management and transportation provision measures to alleviate freeway congestion but have strongly opposed increasing automobile travel costs. The study suggests an integrated approach to reduce the congestion problem through integrated policies for land use, economics and transportation.     

Toward a solar city: Trade-offs between on-site solar energy potential and vehicle energy consumption in San Francisco,California

This study demonstrates the trade-offs between vehicle energy consumption and on-site solar energy potential in a city landscape. While higher urban density may curb many of the problems associated with sprawl mainly by reducing vehicle travels and associated energy use, it can also limit on-site rooftop solar energy utilization due to more shade on rooftops in dense urban settings and less available rooftop area per person. Using travel survey, Geographic Information System (GIS) and Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data, we estimated vehicle energy use and rooftop solar potential in the City of San Francisco as a case study and calculated possible offsetting effects between vehicle energy consumption and rooftop solar potential. Given the prevalence of gasoline-based vehicles and today's solar photovoltaic (PV) panel efficiency, vehicle energy use per capita appears to exceed energy generated by rooftop solar PVs per capita across all density ranges, especially in lower density environments. At the point when electric cars and advanced, highly efficient solar PV panels penetrate the market, the results change based on the combination of different technological options. A significant reduction of energy consumption can be achieved through the immediate and rapid spread of energy efficient technologies in vehicles and solar PVs along with the long-term effect from gradual urban densification.     

Short haul business travel in the European Union: a segmentation profile

Business travellers tend to be charged a premium for the air services they consume due to the nature of demand, and therefore represent a potentially high source of revenue to airlines. Airlines are keen to secure and maintain executive travel business. The research investigates the short haul business air travel market in Europe, using a conceptual benefit segmentation model that addresses the industrial nature of the market. Three distinct market segments are identified; the schedule driven segment, the corporate cog segment, and the informed budgeter segment. A profile of these market groupings is given and implications for marketing strategy discussed.     

Linking transportation and population health to reduce racial and ethnic disparities in transportation injury: Implications for practice and policy

In both developing and advanced economies, it is commonly believed that lower income and minority populations are disproportionately at risk of being injured or killed in a motor vehicle crash, especially as pedestrians. However, this risk is rarely quantified with information about exposure. We argue that a combined transportation–population health framework is one way to quantify, and therefore prioritize, equity considerations in transportation safety decision-making. We illustrate this approach with an analysis that compares age-adjusted fatal and nonfatal injury rates per 100 million person-trips by race/ethnicity and sex for motor vehicle occupants, bicyclists, and pedestrians. We found that, per trip, whites are equally safe as pedestrians and motor vehicle occupants, whereas other racial and ethnic groups for whom we have data are less safe when they walk. In addition, black/African-American female motor vehicle occupants and pedestrians have higher inpatient injury risk than female travelers of other races and ethnicities (for whom we had sufficient data). Such differences in transportation injury risk by race and ethnicity warrant deeper analysis to understand the underlying reasons, such as whether certain groups of travelers are exposed to qualitatively different hazards when they travel. We discuss frameworks for including information about injury disparities in decision-making.     

Car-sharing organizations: The size of the market segment and revealed change in mobility behavior

Car-sharing organizations (CSO) have recently spread throughout central European cities and currently have 20000 members. They lower individual fixed costs of car availability change the incentive structure of private vehicle use by transforming nearly all costs into variable costs. A survey of all current Austrian CSO members is used to identify the characteristics significant of members. A procedure is proposed to quantify urban local market segment potentials and is applied to two residential areas. The net impact of CSOs depends on how the new incentive structure changes mobility behavior. A controlled experiment of voluntary new members was carried out to compare pre-membership and membership trip structure and modal split. Results indicate a substantial reduction of aggregate private vehicle mileage. While the share of trips by car is constant, changes in trip length are observed, with there being different changes for households which previously owned a car and those which did not. Combining behavior impact with market segment size results in the quantification of emission reduction and car ownership reduction (land use demand) due to car-sharing, which is a decentralized demand-side transport policy.     

Visual tourism and post-colonialism: imaginative geographies of Africa in a Portuguese travel magazine

This paper is about tourism, visual culture, and imperialism in the post-colonial present. International literature on these issues has been especially focused on the experience of British and French post-colonialism. Few studies have addressed this issue regarding other post-colonial realities. This paper runs counter to that fact by analysing the visual touristic discourse produced in the post-colonial Portugal. The paper examines the way the sub-Saharan Africa is represented in a Portuguese travel photo-magazine – the Blue Travel magazine – so as to verify the extent to which the ideology of colonialism continues to shape the post-colonial touristic discourse in this former colonizing country of the southern Europe. More than 522 photographs were analysed. Using visual methodologies, the paper concludes that many aspects of the photographs contain encoded encomiastic messages of colonialism and participate in a discursive construction of Africa that was clearly shaped by an imperialist gaze. The paper suggests that not only there is an obvious nostalgia for empire in the Portuguese touristic discourse on sub-Saharan Africa, but also that many imperialist myths continue to circulate diffusely within the Portuguese post-colonial society and to shape the way sub-Saharan Africa is touristically imagined.     

Analysis of travel behavior in Arab communities in Israel: a comparison of household surveys

This paper analyzes the main characteristics of travel behavior by the Arab minority community in Israel and discusses two issues related to household travel surveys: data collection among minorities and under-reporting of mid-day trips.Household travel surveys are generally designed and conducted for the majority population and, therefore, lack a proper accounting of minorities and miss many of their less-frequent trips. An alternative approach to conducting household surveys is presented, with the aim of improving data quality for transportation planning. The survey was designed for and conducted in three Arab towns in Israel. The main improvement of the survey involves better interaction between interviewer and interviewee, which should materialize into a relaxed environment that allows for obtaining detailed, reliable results within a reasonable amount of time.The results of the survey employing the alternative approach were compared to a sub-sample of the same towns taken from a regional survey conducted by the regional planning agency at the same time. The paper presents simple statistics on the main variables for each survey. Significant differences are found in the two data sets, mostly regarding the frequency of less frequent, non-home-based trips. A plausible explanation for these differences relates to the more detailed and improved data collected in the new survey.     

Representing protected areas: a critical discourse analysis of tourism destination building in a Greek travel magazine

The present paper examines the way protected areas are constructed as tourism destinations by the information sources (i.e. a Greek travel magazine) that are consumed by potential visitors to such areas. Specifically, it explores what form of tourism is proposed for virtual visitors, whether it is ecotourism (i.e. both tourism and environmentalism) or simply a nature‐based one (i.e. exclusively tourism). Examining the way a Greek travel magazine builds protected areas as tourism destinations, and consequently what expectations are created for readers and potential visitors to such areas, the focus of the present paper is on whether the media contribute to the failure on the part of visitors to protected areas, who are the majority of the people engaging in ecotourism activities, to incorporate environmentalist besides tourism pursuits in their travel experiences. The analysis suggests that the travel magazine cultivates the view that other protected areas (with a tradition in mass tourism) are suitable for nature‐based tourism, others (with great ecological interest) for environmentalism, but few for ecotourism. This means that visitors to protected areas will probably have a difficulty in combining tourism with environmentalist pursuits, rather than in developing environmentalist concerns in general. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The politics of flying: aeromobile frictions in a mobile city

This article joins recent calls for greater attention to be paid to the politics of mobility. In particular, it examines how air transport is not only experienced inequitably among different social groups, but is also an activity whose access and opportunities are geographically distributed in uneven ways. Using Singapore as a candidate and foil to reflect on this issue, this paper interrogates how three ‘international’ legislative frameworks—air traffic rights, air navigation rules, and climate change initiatives—have variously limited the city-state’s potential to ‘move’ at different stages of its flying career. Despite the city-state’s widely-acclaimed aviation success, this paper demonstrates how it remains subject to the geopolitical actions of more dominant players, residing interstitially between being at the vanguard, and at the peripheries of global air traffic. It is suggested that further interrogations on how particular transport practices and configurations become salient in the world are needed.     

Exploring heterogeneity in travel time expenditure of aging populations in the Netherlands: results of a CHAID analysis

The aim of this paper is to contribute to the increasing literature on travel behavior and time use of the elderly. The Dutch National Travel Survey, administered in 2009, was used as a data source. First, various facets of activity-travel patterns of the elderly were compared against overall sample averages. Results indicate that the new generation of elderly people do not differ that much from other age groups in terms of their activity-travel behavior. Differences in behavior can be largely understood in terms of constraints acting on agendas. Moreover, travel patterns of elderly are affected by socio-demographic variables. Second, to further qualify the average findings, the Chi-square automatic interaction detection (CHAID) method was applied to explore heterogeneity among the elderly in terms of travel time expenditure. It is analyzed how differences in travel time co-vary with socio-demographics, in addition to activity type, activity duration and travel aspects. The results suggest that the aging population can be systematically broken down into several homogeneous cohort segments. Travel time of elderly groups depends significantly on transport modes, travel motivation, and seven socio-demographic variables (gender, age, living environment, personal net-income, household size and season). Moreover, there is less heterogeneity in travel time of elderly who are older than 75 years old. However, for younger elderly people, especially the group aged from 65 to 74 years old, heterogeneity affects their travel.     

Marketing performance measurement in hotels,travel agencies and tour operators: a study of current practices

As successful tourism firms invest heavily in marketing to defend or improve their competitive position, they increasingly need to measure their marketing performance. Previous studies related to tourism have largely focused on financial and operational performance, but the marketing perspective has been largely overlooked. Drawing on an in-depth investigation involving 12 hotel chains, 8 travel agencies and 8 tour operators, this study provides an overview of the state-of-the-art marketing performance measurements among some of the leading tourism firms in Italy. Several issues and unanswered questions are also identified.     

Process innovation capability and subsequent collaborative team performance in travel planning: a knowledge exchange platform perspective

Purpose: Backpacker tourism is flourishing in this century as the high development of Internet technology which enables travellers to search for resources they need easier. The research goal of this study was to exam how virtual skill and collective efficacy affect process innovation capability and subsequent team performance of collaborative design team in a virtual community. Design/methodology/approach: In this study, we formulated the virtual team model from the perspectives of open innovation paradigm and virtual competence, and we collected virtual community participation samples from the online communities. Invitation emails were delivered to numerous trip plan initiators in two well-known online travel communities for filling survey questionnaires for this study. In total, 3000 invitation messages were mailed, of which 373 were returned completed. The model and hypotheses were tested by structural equation modelling. Findings: Virtual competence, including collective efficacy and virtual media skill, is the essential key to facilitate process innovation capability and subsequent team performance success. Besides, knowledge sharing significantly moderates the relationship between process innovation capability and the team performance. Originality/value: Backpackers in the online travel communities have to have not only the willingness to collaborate, but also the abilities of using the correct tool to help with their tasks. When a self-efficacy gets into collective efficacy, it enables the collaborative team to develop with good virtual competencies. Accordingly, trip plan initiator and participants of a virtual team are as expertise contributors between conformity in online communities and online compulsive control tendencies.     

Household decision-making for everyday travel: a case study of walking and cycling in Lancaster (UK)

Increased walking and cycling for short journeys in urban areas has many obvious advantages yet so far gains from the promotion of more sustainable travel of this type are mostly small. This paper reports on a large research project which uses a mixed method approach to explore attitudes to and perceptions of walking and cycling, and which examines the process of household decision-making for everyday travel and the constraints that this imposes. Using survey, interview and ethnographic data it is argued that many people hold ambiguous and sometimes contradictory views of walking and cycling as effective means of everyday travel, that what they do rarely matches precisely what they believe, and that the complexity and contingency associated with everyday travel for many households is a major barrier to the use of more sustainable travel modes. It is suggested that better understanding of these processes could help to inform both future transport policy and the promotion of walking and cycling for short trips in urban areas.     

Career paths and labour mobility in the conventions and exhibitions industry in eastern Australia: results from a preliminary study

The Conventions and Exhibitions Industry has undergone substantial economic growth worldwide and is seen as an excellent provider of new employment opportunities. The sector is recognised and considered attractive for both new and existing employees and provides excellent career prospects. However careers within the sector are relatively new with little information available as to potential progression or pathways. In an industry that is subject to high mobility rates and labour turnover this paper presents the preliminary findings of a study that is focused on establishing the potential career paths, patterns and strategies of managers in the convention and exhibition industry in Australia. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Concrete U(dys)topia in Bethlehem: a city of two tales

The aim of this article is to deconstruct the utopian character of Israel by analysing the case of Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem. In this illustration of how cultural heritage became dominated by Israel's utopia, this article proposes to create an inspirational alternative. Therefore, two tales of Bethlehem will be juxtaposed. Participatory observation and interviews were conducted in order to examine the context of Rachel's Tomb as well as the family of Claire Anastas. On this platform, different groups of people were invited to discuss complex political issues within the context of alternative tourism. By using Arendt's concept of the ‘agora’ and Habermas' theoretical framework, the lifeworld situation of the Palestinians has been addressed seriously. This creates the necessary condition in order to create hope in a highly politically unstable situation, such as the occupation and colonisation of the Palestinian territories. A critical value-laden perspective supports a stronger concept of communicative action in controversial areas. This concept functions as a structured approach to find an escape from the utopian supremacy of the Israeli ideology. It is an inclusive attempt to create room for a plural dialogue between all the lifeworlds of this region, Palestinians and Israelis.