What prompts tourists to become public transportation users at their destination? The case of a Mediterranean city

Abstract

The multiple dimensions of mobility decisions made by visitors add additional pressure to the sustainable equilibrium of destinations that combine residents’ daily activities with the arrival of tourists. Thus, the use of public transportation by tourists becomes central to improving ecoefficiency and mitigating negative externalities resulting from the massive mobility of tourists at their destinations. This research addresses the determinants of intra-destination public transportation use and departs from the hypothesis that the main impact derives from the transportation choice made during the longest trip from the traveller’s origin to his or her destination. The study uses data obtained from a survey of tourists (N = 939) staying overnight in Tarragona (Catalonia, Spain), a medium-sized historic Mediterranean city. Logit estimations, Chi-square Automatic Interaction Detector (CHAID) analysis and interactions in the logit estimations are used to fulfil the research objective. The results suggest that tailor-made strategies are required to foster the use of sustainable transportation modes at tourist destinations. The study therefore highlights the importance of disentangling tourist profiles in order to properly customize mobility policies.