Search Results (5)

The COVID-19 pandemic altered the holiday plans of many people. Whether it was due to travel bans or the fear of contracting the infection, people modified, among other aspects, their chosen destination, travel transport, accommodations, length of stay, and activities to be undertaken during the stay. In this context, we aim to disentangle the effect of these changes on tourist satisfaction. Previous research on the effects of COVID-19 on the tourism sector has studied the shrinkage of tourism demand, changes in tourist behaviour and adaptation processes on the supply side. Nonetheless, few works have analysed changes in tourists’ plans. Two main hypotheses have been put forward. First, tourists might be dissatisfied given that they could not attain their holiday expectations. In contrast, the second hypothesis suggests that those individuals who changed their holiday plans might be more satisfied because they diminished their perceived risk of contagion. We have used data drawn from a survey of tourists (N = 2009) who visited Costa Daurada, a very popular Mediterranean coastal destination just after the end of the Spanish lockdown. Then, statistically significant differences in satisfaction levels between the groups that altered their plans and those who did not are assessed by means of Kruskal–Wallis and Wilcoxon Rank Sum tests. Results signal that tourists were not more dissatisfied when they had modified their initial holiday plans. Indeed, the overall satisfaction of those visitors who switched their initial destination to travel to Costa Daurada was slightly lower, and the difference was significant, compared to the ones who were planning to travel there from the very beginning. Satisfaction was not significantly lower for those who changed their holiday plans in the case of the rest of the items analysed (transportation, length of stay, accommodation, and overall activities). On the contrary, in the case of activities, changes apparently contributed to mitigate the risk perception and led to a better tourist experience. Results also suggest that tourists were willing to adapt to a new situation in order not to renounce their holidays. In terms of implications for destination management and stakeholders, the main conclusion is that continuous cooperation and mutual trust are key to adapting to turbulent environments in which risk perception becomes central. Full article

In this paper, the use of HVAC systems and non-HVAC control measures to reduce virus-laden bioaerosol exposure in a highly occupied indoor space is investigated. A simulation tool was used to model the fate and transport of bioaerosols in an indoor space in the hotel industry (bar or pub) with three types of HVAC system (central air handling system (CAHS), dedicated outdoor air system (DOAS), and wall unit system (WUS)). Non-HVAC control measures such as portable air cleaners (PAC) and local exhaust fans were considered. Occupant exposure was evaluated for 1 μm bioaerosols, which transport SARS-CoV-2, for 3 h/day of continuous source and exposure. The combined effects of ventilation (400 l/s of outdoor air), recirculated air filtration (90% efficacy), and a PAC with a capacity up to 900 m³/h mitigated the (normalized) integrated exposure of the occupant by 0.66 to 0.51 (CAHS) and 0.43 to 0.36 (DOAS). In the case of WUS, the normalized integrated exposure was reduced by up to 0.2 when the PAC with a capacity of up to 900 m³/h was used. The corresponding electricity consumed increased by 297.4 kWh/year (CAHS) and 482.7 kWh/year (DOAS), while for the WUS it increased by 197.1 kWh/year. Full article

This article analyses the factors that determine the mode of transport (bus, taxi or private car) chosen by tourists for transfers from a peripherally located high-speed rail station to their final destination. The study is based on a survey completed by tourists who used high-speed rail services to travel to the Costa Daurada, a tourism area on the Mediterranean coast of Southern Catalonia, Spain. The results of this study show that variables associated with the characteristics of the stay had a more decisive influence upon the decisions made by the travellers than the socio-demographic profiles of the tourists surveyed. The availability of direct public transport services for transfers from the station to the final destinations was a much more relevant factor than the cost and duration of the resulting trip. This study provides empirical evidence of the importance of accessibility for peripheral stations. In these cases, good connections via public transport apparently play a key role in both improving tourism development and promoting more sustainable mobility within the region. Full article

This article develops a methodology for evaluating the effectiveness and spatial coverage of public transport in tourist cities. The proposed methodology is applied and validated in Cambrils municipality, in the central part of the Costa Daurada in Catalonia, a coastal destination characterised by the concentration of tourism flows during summer. The application of GIS spatial analysis tools allows for the development of a system of territorial indicators that spatially correlate the public transport network and the distribution of the population. The main novelty of our work is that this analysis not only includes the registered resident population, but also incorporates the population that temporarily inhabits the municipality (tourists). The results of the study firstly permit the detection of unequal spatial accessibility and coverage in terms of public transport in the municipality, with significant differences between central neighbourhoods and peripheral urban areas of lower population density. Secondly, they allow observation of how the degree of public transport coverage differs significantly in areas with a higher concentration of tourist accommodation establishments. Full article

Of all the activities associated with tourism, transport is the one that creates most pollution. However, the mobility of tourists at their destination is an activity that has so far received very little attention from researchers in comparison with that afforded to the transport mode used to travel from their point of origin to their destination. This paper provides new evidence about the use of public transport by tourists at their final destination. The study is based on data obtained from a survey conducted with tourists (N = 4336) on the Costa Daurada (Catalonia), a Mediterranean sun and beach resort. The empirical analysis is based on estimations made using a multinomial model of the transport mode chosen by tourists to travel to the Costa Daurada combined with another model that estimated the probability of them using public transport during their stay. The results show that the tourists who arrived by private car were the ones who least used public transport at the destination. This was despite the fact that these tourists had the profile that made them most likely to use this type of transportation. On the other hand, although the tourists who arrived by plane had the profile that made them least likely to use public transport, they were the ones who used it most. It is, therefore, possible to conclude that, in addition to tourist profile, another key factor in deciding whether tourists will use public transport at their destination is whether they will take their own car. Full article