Citation

Shailes A, Senior ML, Andrew BP. J. Transp. Geogr. 2001; 9(1): 49-60.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2001, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/S0966-6923(00)00033-8

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This study examines the manner in which tourists adjust travel behaviour in response to congestion. It differs from previous work because urban tripmakers have typically been the focus of similar research. A sample survey of domestic tourists travelling by car to Cornwall, a popular UK holiday destination, has been analysed and various factors that influence whether or not tourists avoid congestion have been hypothesised. These include: distance travelled to the holiday destination; number of previous visits; size and composition of the tourist group; anticipation of congestion and acquisition of information on congestion; the main priority in pre-trip planning; and whether a caravan was taken on holiday or not. Approximately 54% of respondents took action to avoid congestion, commonly in the form of trip timing adjustments rather than route diversion. A binary logit analysis reveals that three variables significantly influence congestion-avoiding travel behaviour, namely higher vehicle occupancy, a relatively large number of previous visits to the area and prioritising congestion avoidance in pre-trip planning.