Exploring the social and spatial potential of an intermodal approach to transport planning

Gilbert and Perl (2007 Gilbert, R., &; Perl, A. (2007). Transport revolutions: Moving people and freight without oil. London: Earthscan. [Google Scholar]) established how different epochs in human history came with specific “transport revolutions.” Our research suggests that intermodal approaches could constitute an invisible transport planning revolution.

Based on a review defining “social” sustainability as it applies to urban passenger transportation, we consider the potential of an intermodal focus to better integrate non-motorized (walking-cycling) and public transportation. We start from the premise that rather than being a primary “mono-mode” such as buses or trains, sustainable transport is best understood as an ecology of modes with specific strengths and complementarities that can be mobilized through planning.

Using data from Metropolitan Santiago (Chile), we explore this potential, from a conceptual, mainly social, and spatial perspective. We find that paying more attention to different formats of cycling, public transport integration could significantly improve low-cost alternatives for individual and feeder trips. Moreover, adjusting land use to non-work trip purposes could yield substantial benefits. This approach also offers the possibility of developing relatively simple tools helpful for improving the deliberative aspects of participatory planning, thereby increasing buy-in as well as improving health, efficiency, safety, and other benefits of sustainable transport.     

Researcher with a movie camera: visual ethnography in the field

This paper seeks to ‘promote’ the use of moving image visual ethnography within tourism research while concurrently acknowledging the methodological and practical challenges inherent in the use of this method. The paper introduces Dziga Vertov's 1929 Vertov, D. (Director). 1929. The man with the movie camera (duration: 67 minutes), Moscow: VUFKU.  [Google Scholar] groundbreaking film ‘The Man With the Movie Camera’ and argues that a certain parallel can be drawn between the film and contemporary moving image visual ethnography in so far as the latter is, like Vertov's film, about the glimpses of the everyday as perceived by the researcher/filmmaker. Important within this context is the role of the ‘self’ of the researcher, something further explored through a case study of academic filmmaking, a project which investigates the construction and consumption of images of Greekness by visitors to the Athenian Acropolis. This case also highlights the practical challenges involved in adopting this method and investigates various filming techniques which could successfully be used by tourism researchers to either ‘collect data’ or create ethnographic documentaries, which can in turn be used for a range of other academic and pedagogic purposes. The paper concludes that being a ‘researcher with a movie camera’ although challenging can prove to be remarkably fruitful and rewarding, especially in the context of tourism studies.     

Exploring the cultural landscape of the Obeikei in Ogasawara,Japan

The southern Japanese archipelago of Ogasawara is currently being represented as a nature paradise, featuring a host of related nature/adventure-based ‘eco’ activities, with a growing representation of its historical and cultural attractions. Yet, the cultural landscape remains underrepresented, with limited mention made of the western settlement of these islands in 1830 or of their descendants who are still living there. One way to expand the recognition of the Obeikei 1 The term ‘Obeikei’ means ‘Westerner’ and is used here (and by the Obeikei) to refer to Ogasawara islanders of mixed western ancestry. and their heritage is by exploring the social values and practices that constitute their way of life. Examining the Obeikei narrative would allow for a more community-orientated approach to the development of this officially designated ecotourism site that is currently vying for World Heritage listing. This study explores the voice of the Obeikei community and its impact on the development of ecotourism at this site. Greater recognition of the Obeikei would serve to empower this community, draw them into the ecotourism process and comply with the socio-cultural tenets and spirit of ecotourism.2 Ecotourism has been defined by Ceballos-Lascurain (1991) Ceballos-Lascurain, H. Paper presented at the Ecotourism and Resource Conservation, A Collection of Papers. Tourism, Eco-tourism and Protected Areas,  [Google Scholar] as ‘tourism that involves traveling to relatively undisturbed or uncontaminated areas with the specific objective of studying, admiring, and enjoying the scenery and its wild plants and animals, as well as any existing cultural manifestations (both past and present) found in these areas’ (p. 25).      

Potential for electric vehicle adoption in Australia

Data from the New South Wales (NSW) Household Travel Survey (2014/15 NSW, T. f. (2014/15, 9/15/2016). SA3 Household Travel Survey (HTS). Retrieved from https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B12S3-OIR0hOT3oyYzJnMVp1UWs [Google Scholar]) was analyzed to determine the trip-by-trip range of automobile travel in NSW. The results show that 88% of trips were less than 30?km, which could readily be provided by electric vehicles, consuming a total of 18?GWh in electrical energy per weekday. Even if all electric vehicles were recharged from non-renewable coal-fired power plants, the greater efficiency of electric vehicles would result in a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions across NSW by 18% carbon dioxide equivalent (CO_2(eq))_. Additionally, we mapped the average state of charge distribution of the electric vehicles at key times during the day, indicating the maximum net load (for recharging) and/or available energy (for vehicle-to-grid services) across NSW. The results are consistent with other international studies and demonstrate the potential for wide scale electric vehicles adoption in Australia.     

Environmental risk perception and public trust—from planning to operation for China's high-speed railway

China has the world's largest high-speed railway (HSR) network, but while HSR is meeting high transportation demand, the Decide-Announce-Defend approach to infrastructure policy and projects still prevails in China and is often criticized for not addressing public concerns of environmental and social risks. In recent years, researchers have investigated the economic and environmental impacts of HSR, yet few studies have evaluated the public's views on HSR risks or their views on the trustworthiness of key information sources, which are believed to be critical in predicting public behavior and reaction to infrastructure projects. Using random survey data from communities along the Beijing-Shenyang and Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway lines, our study shows that perceived risks of HSR are higher in the operating stage rather than during construction. We also find that in the construction stage, risk-related information is often obtained through informal channels, while the government becomes a more trusted information provider only after HSR goes into operation. Furthermore, we confirm that the public's perception of the level of knowledge, transparency, and attention to risk of the information sources¹¹ These are broad terms used in the survey to refer to information sources' general level of environmental knowledge, level of transparency with the decision-making process and information disclosure, and level of concern for environmental risks perceived by the public.View all notes are key determinants of their perceived trustworthiness. Lastly, this study reveals that socioeconomic characteristics are more important than project phase in explaining the regional differences in risk perception and trustworthiness of key information sources. This key finding calls for a strategy of stakeholder engagement that is carefully tailored to the demographics of the affected population in the decision-making and implementation process of HSR, as well as other infrastructure projects.     

The impact of abusive supervision and co-worker support on hospitality and tourism student employees’ turnover intentions in Ecuador

Ram (2015. Hostility or hospitality? A review on violence, bullying and sexual harassment in the tourism and hospitality industry. Current Issues in Tourism. doi:10.1080/13683500.2015.1064364) posits that violence and harassment are areas of concern within the hospitality industry, and scholarly interest in abusive supervision in the workplace has grown since the last decade. This study extends Ram's (2015. Hostility or hospitality? A review on violence, bullying and sexual harassment in the tourism and hospitality industry. Current Issues in Tourism. doi:10.1080/13683500.2015.1064364) assertion by examining the effect of abusive supervision experiences on student employees’ turnover intentions in a hospitality and tourism context in a high power distance culture, Ecuador. The results showed that abusive supervision was positively related to turnover intentions, and its effect was stronger than co-worker support, with the abusive supervision–turnover intentions relationship being fully mediated by perceived organizational support (POS). In addition, co-worker emotional support was found to attenuate the negative effects of abusive supervision on POS. All in all, the findings highlight the roles of POS in explaining the relation between abusive supervision and turnover intentions and co-worker emotional support in buffering the negative effect of abusive supervision. The important role of culture is discussed.     

Travel behaviour among inbound medical tourists in Kuala Lumpur

Despite recording the highest growth among tourism sub-sectors [Dhesi, D. (2009, March 25). Medical tourism rises in Malaysia despite economic downturn. The Star Online. Retrieved from http://www.malaysiahealthcare.com/; Leonard, T. (2009, July 24). Medical tourists to bring in RM 540 million by 2010. Retrieved from http://www.malaysiahealthcare.com/; Tourism Malaysia. (2008). Profile of tourist by selected markets 2008. Kuala Lumpur: Tourism Malaysia], little is known empirically with regard to travel behaviour among inbound medical tourists in Malaysia. This study examined the demographic profile, travel motivation, healthcare consumption, and expenditure behaviour among them in Kuala Lumpur. Using the combination of purposeful and convenience sampling, a total of 138 questionnaires were completed, returned, and analysed. The majority of the respondents were female, middle aged, travelling with two others and Indonesians. Their main travel motivation factors were ‘value for money’, ‘excellent medical services’, ‘supporting services’, ‘cultural similarity’, and ‘religious factor’ in descending order of importance. Medical treatment, cosmetic procedure, surgical procedure, and medical check-up were important healthcare services sought after by the respondents. On average, medical tourists spent MYR 26,844.19 per visit, with females and tourists of European descent contributing significantly more. Tourists from ASEAN had stronger motivation of ‘cultural similarity’ compared with other tourists. This paper is unique in providing the empirical evidence of the city's unique selling points (pull factors) in attracting inbound medical tourists. It also highlights the potential economic contribution and some managerial implications in terms of marketing and product development.     

Mobilising tourism research in emerging world regions: contributions and advances

This commentary reflects on the empirical richness and theoretical possibilities of tourism research from the emerging world. In ‘A mobilities approach to tourism from emerging world regions' Cohen and Cohen [2014. Current Issues in Tourism. doi:10.1080/13683500.2014.898617] spare no effort in sketching a comprehensive portrait of non-Western tourism from and within Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa. Using a modified mobilities approach to interpret the extant literature, the authors enrich our understanding of tourism mobilities and the fundamental differences between Western and non-Western forms of travel, as well as variations from within the non-Western world. This commentary critiques Cohen and Cohen's contributions and explores how knowledge on emerging world tourism might be better advanced through the mobilities paradigm and its modified form as proposed by the authors.     

On academic publishing,the myth of the East–West nexus,and tourism scholars in a regime era – a commentary on “The global permutations of the Western publication regime” by Erik Cohen,Scott A. Cohen,and Victor T. King

The article, “The global permutations of the Western publication regime” (http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2016.1272556), inspires this short commentary. I respond directly to two points made in the original article about academic publishing and divisions between the “East” and “West” and make an additional point about the role of tourism scholars in these debates. My reason for writing this commentary is twofold: to take seriously the publishing regime’s influence in academia around the world and to challenge a universalizing critique of its features.     

Regional policy issues for rail freight services

This paper presents some of the results of the shortlines research project for Ademe (French agency for the environment) and Predit (French support program for surface transport research). The paper focuses on France, and makes some comparisons with North America and Germany. It is organized in two parts. The first part analyses the notion of “short line” freight railways in the European context. We observe that to date, unlike short lines in North America, which have mostly sought cooperation with major railways, the new rail operators in Europe are competing with the majors. The second part discusses regional policies on rail freight transport. We observe that for some time, local governments in France have been afraid that the on-going reduction of regional rail freight services will increase truck traffic and environmental impacts. Today, however, these governments appear to be more reluctant to promote rail freight activities than they were a few years ago. The current conditions under which local lines operate in Europe and especially in France, including small capacity on the infrastructure and high cost of labor and low productivity, may explain this reluctance.