ABSTRACT
In the past decades we have seen a constant increase in transport demand, at the same time the share of tourism and leisure-related transportation has grown considerably over the last decades both in absolute and relative terms (Schiefelbusch et al., 2007). Taking Germany as an example around 48 per cent of passenger transport performance is caused by leisure activities (Bundesregierung, 2001). Beside the simple increase of demand one can witness a shift towards more unsustainable transport modes, as for example the increasing air travel or as Chapmann (2007, p. 357) puts it: “All transport sectors are experiencing expansion and unfortunately there is a general trend that the modes which are experiencing the most growth are also the most polluting.” However, this growth is a result of the simple fact that holidays and short breaks have become a part of today’s societies. Whereas in the past travelling used to be a privilege, nowadays tourism has become a mass phenomenon of the western world. Exactly this increase has caused several debates and fostered a broad academic discussion on how to establish a more sustainable tourism industry. However, most studies focus on a local destination level and do not consider the related transport demand. Even studies examining the environmental impact of tourism frequently only consider the effects of tourism at the holiday destination. Their main objective is the development of a sustainable, green or gentle tourism and the protection of ecologically sensitive regions (e.g. Griffin, 2003); usually, the effects of travelling to these places are neglected. Therefore, the starting point for debating more sustainable tourism mobility is relatively complex. There are numerous studies on the environmental impact of transport and on the environmental impact of tourism, but as Schiefelbusch et al. suggest (2007,p. 94), “For some time transport research has considered leisure travel as a ‘residual’ part of mobility”. Therefore only little attention and resources have been spent to understand this aspect of people’s mobility. As a consequence there is a clear lack of understanding of what the determinants for transport needs in leisure and tourism actually are.
