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Changes in travel choices
Overland Overland travel includes rail and road transport as well as travel by means of bridge or tunnel (either underground or underwater). Increased demand for sustainable transport has increased tourist rail travel, as trains can carry large numbers of passengers and producess less gas emissions per kilometre. Infrastructure developments such as the Channel Tunnel between France and the UK have helped increase the volume of international passenger rail travel. Bridge, tunnel and causeway connections are fixed links. Fixed links may be combinations of these, for example Zealand in Denmark is linked to the rest of the country and so to the rest of Europe by the Great Belt Fixed Link. This 18 km (11 mile)-long link consists of a road bridge and railway tunnel combination.
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Tourists choose how to travel to destinations and how to move around within destinations. The travel choices available to tourists are changing. For example, there are increasingly sustainable travel options for tourists to choose. Sustainable travel is travel by means of sustainable forms of transport, which enable tourists to move around a place without causing damage to the environment or to people’s ways of life in the future.
Travel and tourism themes and concepts
Travel choices to destinations
Tourists can choose to travel to destinations by air, on water or overland.
Air
During the late 20th century and in the early 21st century, air transport became much more available to many more tourists. Air transport growth allowed the spread of mass tourism to destinations around the world, and so led to the growth of international and longhaul tourism.
KEY WORD
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The development of wide-bodied long-haul aircraft capable of carrying hundreds of passengers, and the use of more sustainable, fuel-efficient aircraft led to the continued growth of air travel, until the COVID-19 pandemic of the early 2020s caused a decline. At the same time, increasing environmental concerns have led to a shift from short-haul air flights to rail travel, especially for domestic tourism and international tourism between neighbouring or close countries.
Types of road transport for tourists are varied; they include privately owned and hire (rental) cars, taxis, buses and coaches, minibuses (shuttle vans), motorcycles and scooters, as well as more sustainable means of transport such as bicycles and e-scooters. Many city destinations operate bicycle and e-scooter shared-use hire (rental) systems.
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Within destinations, some travel and tourism providers operate short sightseeing or island-hopping flights, using light aircraft or helicopters.
Water
Tourist travel on water includes travel on cruise ships by boat or by ferry. Leisure tourists can choose to use cruise ships to travel to or between destinations or simply to enjoy a cruise as a holiday.
KEY WORDS
cruise: a relaxing leisure journey, normally on water ferry: ships or boats that link destinations or places within a destination
e-scooter (electric scooter): a type of sustainable, mass personal-use transport available for public use in many destinations. Users normally stand when riding e-scooters.
Travel choices around destinations Tourists can choose to travel around destinations: •
by road, including: •
cycling
•
shared transport, such as car-share or by minibus (shuttle van) sharing
•
buses and coaches
•
taxis and private hire vehicles, often made available to tourists by smartphone apps
•
personal transport hire schemes, including common-use cycle and e-scooter hire schemes. The popularity of e-scooters to move around within destinations has increased because they are readily available, often relatively cheap, flexible and convenient.
29 Original material © Cambridge University Press 2022. This material is not final and is subject to further changes prior to publication.
