Kevan, Simon. “Quests for Cures: A History of Tourism for Climate and Health.” International Journal of Biometeorology 37 (1993): 113–24.
Korte, Barbara. English Travel Writing from Pilgrimages to Postcolonial Explorations, translated by Catherine Matthias. Houndmills, UK: Macmillan, 2000.
Koshar, Rudy. “‘What Ought to Be Seen’: Tourists’ Guidebooks and National Identities in Modern Germany and Europe.” Journal of Contemporary History 33 (1998): 323–40.
Löfgren, Orvar. On Holiday: A History of Vacationing. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999.
Lomine, Loykie. “Tourism in Augustan Society (44 BC–AD 69).” In Histories of Tourism: Representation, Identity, and Conflict, edited by John Walton, 69–87. Clevedon, UK: Channel View Publications, 2005.
Prideaux, Bruce. “The Role of the Transport System in Destination Development.” Tourism Management 21 (2000): 53–63.
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Chapter 5
The Transport Geography of Tourism
Although it is easy to daydream about the places we’d like to visit, our travel decisions are often based on far more practical logistical issues. Few of us have the luxury of traveling without constraints. We may be limited by our travel budget, the amount of vacation time available, even our personal preferences or biases. Consequently, we have to consider how accessible the places are that we want to go by asking questions like: How would I get there? How long would it take? How much would it cost? Then we have to negotiate between where we want to go and where we can (reasonably) go. Much of this is contingent upon transportation.
While the transportation infrastructure may shape where we travel today, in the early eras of travel discussed in the last chapter, it determined whether people could travel at all. The development and improvement of transportation was one of the most important factors in allowing modern tourism to develop on a large scale and become a regular part of the lives of millions of people around the world. Technological advances provided the basis for the exponential expansion of local, regional, and global transportation networks and made travel faster, easier, and cheaper. This not only created new tourist-generating and -receiving regions but also prompted a host of other changes in the tourism infrastructure, such as accommodations. As a result, the availability of transportation infrastructure and services has been considered a fundamental precondition for tourism.1
Transport geography is a topical branch of geography that evolved out of economic geography. Like tourism, transportation is, of course, inherently geographic because it connects places and facilitates the movement of goods and people from one place to another. Transport geography fundamentally depends on some of the basic geographic concepts introduced in chapter 1, such as location or scale. For example, location shapes patterns of movement, including whether movement is possible from and/or to a given location and how that movement might occur. Transportation networks exist at local and regional scales and, in the modern world, are increasingly being connected into a global system. In addition, there are many geographic factors of places—both physical and human—that either allow or constrain transportation.
There is a distinct and reciprocal relationship between tourism and transport. Tourists constitute an important demand for transportation services and therefore play a role in the study of transport geography. At the same time, transportation is a fundamental component of tourism and thus is important for our purposes in the geography of tourism. We need to understand the means of connection between the people who demand tourism experiences and the places that are able to supply those experiences. As tourism is based on the temporary movements of people across space, the transportation that facilitates these movements is key in converting suppressed demand to effective demand. Beyond getting tourists to a destination, transportation also facilitates their experience of that destination. Given the extent of interconnection between tourism and transport, a recent “progress report” on the state of transport geography argued that there should be a closer relationship between this topical branch of geography and the geography of tourism.2
This chapter further develops the geographic foundation of tourism by examining transportation as a fundamental component of tourism through the concepts of transport geography. This topical branch provides us with the framework to examine the transport system, particularly the role of different transportation modes in tourism, the geographic factors that facilitate movement, and the spatial patterns of movement in tourism. In addition, we will look at some of the new ways researchers are examining the intersection between tourism and transport.
Studying Tourism Transport
It is widely recognized that transport is a vital element in tourism, but its role is not always well developed in the literature. In fact, there are some inherent difficulties in trying to understand tourism transport. It can be difficult to even identify what would be considered “tourism transport.” Tourists use a multitude of different types of transportation in varied contexts for a wide array of purposes. In some cases, these tourists may be able to use a personal form of transport. In others, they must pay for the services of government-subsidized public transport or those provided by a private company. Although there are several examples of dedicated tourism transport at a destination or specific attraction, tourists are typically only one group of users of transportation facilities and services. Employees of the tourism industry, local residents, and other transit passengers may also use the same transportation. Generally, no distinction is made between these different passengers, which provides us with little data on how tourists are using transportation. Moreover, tourism and transport are typically managed by different governmental agencies with little in the way of collaboration.
The approach to studying issues in tourism transport is not always clear either. Tourism studies and transport studies are interdisciplinary fields that have drawn upon concepts and theories from different perspectives.3 Geography has been one of the common areas. Spatial concepts in geography have been applied to understanding the role of transport in facilitating tourists’ movements, both from tourist-generating regions to receiving regions and within receiving regions.
Yet, the application of geographic models to tourism has not always been successful. For example, urban transportation models for commuting patterns are based on the assumption that the majority of people will take the most efficient route possible from home to work. This is predicated on commuters’ knowledge of the situation, including the type of transportation available to them, potential routes, traffic, and congestion patterns.4 However, these assumptions cannot be made in the context of tourism. The decision-making process of tourists about where to go and how to get there is not always rational. They frequently have little or no knowledge about the place they are visiting. They rely on guidebooks, maps, tourist information services, hotel personnel, and random strangers to provide them with information about how to get to a particular destination. Those tourists who try to take the most efficient route may get lost several times along the way, and man
y others will voluntarily choose a route that is less than direct because they consider exploration to be part of the experience. Even when tourist routes can be modeled for a specific destination, there is typically little transferability to other contexts.
Nonetheless, geographers argue that an understanding of the distribution of accommodations and attractions at a destination, as well as the transportation network that connects these places, can be extremely valuable. This type of data should allow the destination to efficiently plan and manage the transportation system to meet the needs of tourists and better provide them with the information they need. In particular, geographers cite the potential for geospatial technologies to more effectively understand the patterns of and opportunities for tourism transport in the context of specific destinations.
The Evolution of Transportation and Tourism
From the historical geography of tourism, we can begin to appreciate how vital transportation has been to the development of tourism. For example, the ancient Romans were among the earliest societies to travel, and an extensive road network—combined with an organized system of horse-and-cart transport—was one of the key factors in this development. Likewise, the deterioration of these roads after the collapse of the Roman Empire was one of the issues that brought all nonessential travel to a halt.
Over time, new transportation systems developed throughout Europe that allowed greater opportunities for travel. From the mid to late Middle Ages, while roads remained poor, water transport provided some means for travel. Major river systems such as the Rhine, Danube, and Loire, as well as canal networks, formed the basis for transportation within the region and provided regular passenger services. New options for travel over land also gradually developed and expanded across the region. In the fifteenth century, the post system was developed in France, where travelers could change horses at relay stations established at regular intervals. This evolved into a widespread network of coach services by the middle of the eighteenth century.
The innovations with the greatest impact on tourism came at the beginning of the nineteenth century with the development of commercially successful steam locomotion. Regular steamboat service offered faster, more reliable, and increasingly comfortable transportation. Steamboats operated along river systems and supplanted earlier, slower, riskier oceanic sailing vessels. Steam packets traveling regular transatlantic routes were the most efficient means of travel throughout much of the nineteenth century. Originally intended for transporting the mail, they also began carrying cargo and passengers. Then, as rail service developed and expanded, it trumped all previous means of transportation. Although railways were originally intended for carrying heavy freight, like coal, they also proved extremely successful for passenger travel. Not only were railroads faster and more efficient than other available modes, they could also routinely carry ten times the number of passengers as a horse-drawn coach.5 In addition, the typical charge of one penny per mile for rail travel was substantially lower than coach fares.6
Both forms of steam locomotion reshaped patterns of tourism in a myriad of ways. Due to decreased travel time and cost, more people from the middle and lower classes were enabled to participate. This increase in tourism raised concerns among the earlier generations of tourists. In some cases, these earlier tourists sought new destinations in previously distant or inaccessible places. In other cases, they fought to limit the changes that were taking place at existing destinations. For example, prominent English poet William Wordsworth strongly objected to the proposed rail development in the Lake District on the grounds that it would destroy the natural beauty of the area that he and other visitors came there for. Although this line was not built, rail stations on the periphery of the area nonetheless brought substantial numbers of tourists, who traveled into the area on foot or by coach.
The invention of the sleeping car provided greater opportunities for long, uninterrupted train trips. This idea evolved into the Pullman car—luxury sleeping cars that effectively served as a hotel on wheels and allowed the upper classes to travel longer distances in comfort. However, rail travel created new challenges as well. For example, where it formerly took weeks for a tourist to travel from locations in northern Europe to destinations in southern Europe, trains reduced the trip from London to Nice to just one and a half days. Prominent physicians claimed that this was not enough time for passengers, particularly those traveling for health reasons, to adjust to changing environmental conditions. To avoid potentially serious health complications, these physicians argued that travelers should break the journey down into intermittent stages.7
Steam-based transportation also changed the ways people experienced places. Tourists had the opportunity to see different landscapes in locations farther afield and to see them in a new way. Instead of stopping at strategic vantage points, tourists viewed the landscape through glass windows on scenic cruises and railroads, and they had to learn to focus on a moving landscape. These tourists were also somewhat restricted in what they saw along transportation corridors, whether it was a river, canal, or rail line. Additional modes of transport were necessary for further exploration. Tourists would have to take horse-drawn carriages or buses to nature sites and scenic vistas. Secondary transport was even needed to reach downtown centers, as rail stations were typically located outside of town. Consequently, enterprising innkeepers invested in shuttle services and opened inns near the station to capture the in-transit market.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, the automobile further reshaped and expanded tourism. Widespread personal car ownership is considered to be key in the development of modern mass tourism. In the United States, this—combined with the expansion of the interstate highway system—allowed tourists increasing freedom to visit multiple destinations during the course of a single trip and to explore new areas of the country. New attractions and destination regions emerged, leading to the development of new types of accommodation, such as the motor hotel (motel), to meet tourists’ needs.
Finally, air transportation created ever more opportunities for tourism—especially mass international tourism—in the second half of the twentieth century. Air travel had been made available to a select group of affluent tourists following the end of World War I, but it was greatly expanded in the years following World War II. Innovations in air transportation, such as the jet engine and wide-bodied passenger jets, allowed planes to increase both the distance traveled and the numbers of passengers carried. As such, all parts of the world have been opened up to tourism, including many destinations that are almost entirely dependent on air transportation for international tourist arrivals.
While these innovations in transportation were not driven by tourism, the tourism industry directly benefited from improvements in safety and efficiency as well as reductions in cost. The framework of historical geography helps us examine these changes that have taken place over time to better understand the interconnections between transport and tourism. This gives us valuable insight because the transport industry continues to evolve with new technological developments. In turn, this will present ongoing opportunities and challenges for the tourism industry. For example, the development of commercially viable supersonic transport would reduce long-haul travel times, thereby creating new destinations and opening up new markets. Conversely, stricter regulations and/or prohibitive emissions taxes could result in significant changes to travel patterns, from where tourists go to what types of transportation they use.
The Transport System
Transport geography recognizes transport as a system that involves networks, nodes, and modes and is based on demand. For tourism, the primary function of this transport system is to facilitate the movements of passengers to and from destinations. Secondary functions include getting tourists to the transport terminal and supporting the movements of tourists within the destination. Since tourism is typically considered to be nonessential travel, transport services must be safe, relatively convenient and comfortable,
and competitively priced to support tourism. However, the networks, nodes, and modes of this system will not be solely used for the purposes of tourism. Instead, the tourism industry generally takes advantage of existing transport systems, with the exception of new destinations that were specifically planned for the purpose of tourism. Yet, even in this case, when the transport infrastructure must be developed to facilitate tourism, the network will serve other transportation needs as well.
A transportation network is the spatial structure and organization of the infrastructure that supports, and to some extent determines, patterns of movement. The transportation infrastructure has been expanding at both the local and global scales, becoming an ever more complex web of interconnections. At the same time, the relative cost of transportation has declined. These factors have allowed more movement to take place than ever before.8 The nature of the network can encourage people to travel along one route or discourage them from traveling along another. These networks may be highly dependent on geography. For example, the physical geography of a place will affect patterns of transportation, whether it is physical features like mountains, river systems, and ground stability; atmospheric conditions such as wind directions; or oceanic conditions such as currents. The human geography of a place, such as the circumstances of political geography, can also have an effect on transport. National boundaries may affect the ability to create a transportation network and efficiently connect places, either on the ground or in the air through no-fly zones.
Transportation nodes are the access points to the network. These nodes may be terminals, where transport flows begin or end, or interchanges within a network. Population geography often plays the most significant role in determining the location of nodes. In general, nodes are likely to be situated in areas with high population densities, and terminals in particular will be located in or near major cities. Transportation modes are the means of movement or the type of transportation. Broadly, there are three categories of modes based on where this movement takes place—over land (surface), water, or air—with different types within each category9 (see table 5.1).
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