Special Issue "Re-defining the Role of Transport in Sustainable Tourism Development"

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Tourism, Culture, and Heritage".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2021.

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Marek Więckowski
E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
Head of Urban and Population Studies Department, Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization, Polish Academy of Sciences Twarda str. 51/55, 00-818 Warsaw, Poland
Interests: issues related to political borders and trans-border cooperation; tourism geography; transport geography; spatial mobility; regional development
Prof. Dr. Jan A. Wendt
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Regional Development Department, Institute of Geography, Gdansk University, Bażyńskiego str. 4, 80-309 Gdansk, Poland
Interests: political geography; tourism geography; transport geography; international relations; regional development
Dr. Daniel Michniak
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Geography of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Štefánikova 49, 814 73 Bratislava, Slovakia
Interests: transport geography; spatial mobility; regional development; tourism geography

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The role of transport in tourism is significant and emphasized by many authors; it is a component of tourism development, tourism theories and concepts, and tourism product (Cardenas, Tabares, 1998, Prideaux 2000, Lew 2004, Hall 2008). Transport infrastructure contributes to economic success based on tourism. Good transport accessibility of the region contributes to the overall attractiveness of the area from the perspective of its potential visitors and frequency of visits. On the other hand, an unfavorable level of accessibility of the region or place may lead to a lack or outflow of tourists to better accessible areas offering similar conditions (Hall 2008, Tóth & Dávid,  2010, Michniak et al. 2015). The improvement of accessibility and its quality for tourists is high on the agenda for scientists, planners, and policy makers. The issue of transport accessibility is particularly important in the development of tourism in peripheral and cross-border regions where the border plays different roles depending on its specificity (Więckowski et al. 2014). Within the EU, most of them are symbolic in nature, and constitute a barrier at its external borders (Bar-Kołelis, Wendt, 2018).

Good accessibility is only one of the important prerequisites for the development of tourism, which is affected by a number of different factors.  Tourists tend to select destinations based on local possibilities and attractions in the first place. Additionally, in our differentiating world many other factors play important roles, such as the commodity of transport, price, mode, and the symbolic value of the tourism centre or region (Michniak et al. 2015). At the same time, however, concerns about tourism “overcrowding” in many areas as a result of high attractiveness, promotion and good accessibility are increasing. New tourism and transport infrastructure, new attractions and tourism products have been created, and cultural and natural heritage resources are being increasingly utilized in tourism for local and regional development. All this has created a need to discuss and critically evaluate transport infrastructure, accessibility and other issues linked to growing tourism sectors.

We would like to know how transport transforms tourist destinations in contemporary world. We hope that sustainable tourism and sustainable transport to and within tourist destinations could be considered as a new way of thinking and practising tourism. The constant change would seem to be a feature of most tourist destinations, not least as the creation and development of spaces for tourism are seen to reflect wider political, economic and social processes are often driven non-locally, if manifesting themselves very locally indeed (Więckowski & Saarinen 2019). In some places, specific turning points and radical contextual changes may have proved extremely influential, with elements to the development of tourism profound enough in their effects to cause transformations in completely new directions (Müller 2018; Mayer et al. 2019).

This Special Issue calls for theoretical, methodological, and empirical case studies illustrating the diversity of the role of transport infrastructure in sustainable tourism development, transport and accessibility changes, transitions and formations that influence, guide and control tourism development in different temporal and spatial scales and settings.

We particularly welcome papers addressing the following topics:

  • transformations of transport for tourist spaces and places in the changing political, economic and social contexts
  • new trends and processes in changing of accessibility to tourism places and spaces
  • the role of transport in tourism and regional and local development
  • impact of transportation accessibility on economic effectiveness of other tourism and travel sectors
  • spatial patterns of accessibility and tourism
  • policy, governance and marketing analyses in (and for) tourism
  • public transport to and within tourist destinations
  • the use and role of transport as resources in tourism
  • sustainable transport as a tourist attraction
  • new methodological approaches
  • transport, tourism, and climate change
  • overtourism vs sustainable tourism
  • comparative analysis of the role of transport in tourism development

Prof. Dr. Marek Więckowski
Prof. Dr. Jan A. Wendt
Dr. Daniel Michniak
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Transport
  • Tourism
  • Sustainability
  • Accessibility
  • tourism attraction

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

Article
Transport Infrastructure and Political Factors as Determinants of Tourism Development in the Cross-Border Region of Bihor and Maramureş. A Comparative Analysis
Sustainability 2021, 13(10), 5385; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13105385 - 12 May 2021
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Abstract
This article follows two important interconnected aspects. On one hand, it investigates whether the political factors represented by the presence of ethnic minorities can be a catalyst for tourism development in cross-border regions, in addition to the development of transport infrastructure. On the [...] Read more.
This article follows two important interconnected aspects. On one hand, it investigates whether the political factors represented by the presence of ethnic minorities can be a catalyst for tourism development in cross-border regions, in addition to the development of transport infrastructure. On the other hand, it offers a comparative analysis and territorial diagnosis of the Bihor-Hajdú–Bihar and Maramureş–Zakarpattya cross border regions, analyzing the main tourist indicators and the advances made in the development of the transport infrastructure with a role in the development of tourism. The paper is based on desk and quantitative research involving national and regional statistic data. Research on the literature regarding Hungarian–Romanian and Romanian–Ukrainian borderland was also realized, in order to conduct comparative analysis useful to identify and evaluate the factors linked with tourism development. Using a multiscale approach, the objective is to determine if there is a correlation between the development of the transport network and the increase in tourist traffic. The results show that transport infrastructure plays a critical role in ensuring the connections of border regions. Although the two regions are contiguous, there is an obvious difference in cross-border traffic due to the presence of two different types of border. The transport network and tourism situation in Bihor has improved in the last years, especially under the impact of cross-border cooperation, but the accessibility remains relatively low. In Maramureş, the development of cross-border connections is based on cultural exchange, and less on economic relations. Transport accessibility is a strong point of the Hungarian–Romanian borderland and represents an obstacle for the development of tourism in the Romanian–Ukrainian borderland. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Re-defining the Role of Transport in Sustainable Tourism Development)
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Article
Will the Consequences of Covid-19 Trigger a Redefining of the Role of Transport in the Development of Sustainable Tourism?
Sustainability 2021, 13(4), 1887; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13041887 - 09 Feb 2021
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 1339
Abstract
As there are very marked relationships between tourism and transport, integrated knowledge of these processes is essential if destinations and tourism enterprises are to be developed, an effective tourism policy pursued, and emerging local and global issues and conflicts surrounding tourism resolved. Beyond [...] Read more.
As there are very marked relationships between tourism and transport, integrated knowledge of these processes is essential if destinations and tourism enterprises are to be developed, an effective tourism policy pursued, and emerging local and global issues and conflicts surrounding tourism resolved. Beyond this, in an era of huge change reflecting the consequences of the COVID-19 viral pandemic, the importance of sustainable transport in tourism’s sustainable development appears to be of critical importance. Adopting this kind of perspective, this paper seeks to achieve a critical overview of conceptual dimensions of sustainability that link up with tourism and transport. To this end, ideas based on the literature and previous discussions are extended to include certain new propositions arising out of a (hopefully) post-COVID-19 world. Proceeding first with a systematic literature review (SLR), this article discusses the importance of transport to the development of tourism, dealing critically with modes of transport and their changing roles in sustainable development under COVID and post-COVID circumstances. The author summarises likely new way(s) of thinking in the aftermath of the pandemic, with the need for this/these to be far more sustainable and responsible, and characterised by a reorientation of behaviour in a “green” direction. It is further concluded that three aspects of transport–tourism relations will prove crucial to more sustainable utilisation—i.e., proximity, slower and less energy-intensive travel, and green transport. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Re-defining the Role of Transport in Sustainable Tourism Development)
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