Adaptive Travel Behaviors to Cope with COVID-19: A Swedish Qualitative Study Focusing on Everyday Leisure Trips

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a rapid change in travel behavior for different types of trips, including everyday social and recreational leisure trips. People have used adaptive travel behaviors to cope with the new circumstances for activities and transport. Due to the Swedish strategy focusing on more voluntary restrictions, people have had reason to consider which trips and activities to skip and which to keep. The overall aim of the study is to explore and deepen the knowledge about adaptive behaviors used and seek to understand its possible implications for future travel behavior change towards sustainable mobility through the use of qualitative interviews focusing on everyday leisure trips. The results illustrate how people have used a range of adaptive behaviors to cope with the implications of the pandemic, with cancellation and change of transport mode being the ones most reflected upon by the interviewees. Further, the results reveal how the overall label “everyday leisure trips” in fact includes a variety of trip purposes that differ in terms of flexibility and importance and must thus be approached in different ways in transport policy measures.

Could practices of reduced consumption during the COVID-19 pandemic facilitate transformative change for sustainability? Experiences from Sweden and Ireland

“…Second, an important observation with huge policyimplications is that around adaptative abilities (Strömblad et al, 2021;Hoolohan et al, 2022). The interviews indeed reveal that people relatively easy adapted to the situation during the pandemic with covid-related restrictions.…”

“…Some previous COVID-19 studies observed that people during the lockdowns, faced with a situation of scarcity of socializing, longed for socializing with relatives and friends rather than for material objects (de Haas et al, 2020;Echegaray, 2021;Moynat et al, 2022). Faced with mobility restrictions they longed for freedom in a spatial sense, and they missed activities that were restricted and the possibility to travel various places (Echegaray, 2021;Strömblad et al, 2021;Moynat et al, 2022). However, physical stuff can also be sought for: the pandemic could stimulate a resurgence of hedonistic attitudes connected with phrases such as "I could die tomorrow" or "You only live once" (Zwanka and Buff, 2020).…”

“…In contrast, freeing up time can help nurture alternative practices (see Gojard and Veron, 2018;Boström, 2022). For some segments of the population, the mobility restrictions and teleworking opportunities brought on by the pandemic created a potential for a slower pace of life and improved work-life balance, which in turn could favor the development of slower alternatives to (fast) consumerism, including practices such as repairing, gardening, developing DIY skills, searching for local food and engaging in "slower" cooking and baking (Ehgartner and Boons, 2020;Jribi et al, 2020;Aktar et al, 2021;Babbitt et al, 2021;Cosgrove et al, 2021;Filimonau et al, 2021;Matacena et al, 2021;Strömblad et al, 2021;Forno et al, 2022;Greene et al, 2022;Moynat et al, 2022). However, the blurring of work and other activities in the home could also increase stress (Sheth, 2020;Echegaray et al, 2021), and more time spent in home can be problematic for other reasons, for example in over-crowded domestic environments (De Groot and Lemanski, 2020).…”

Users’ Preferences in Selecting Transportation Modes for Leisure Trips in the Digital Era: Evidence from Bandung, Indonesia

“…Simma et al [32] studied the destination choice within Switzerland for different activity types. A study on the characteristics of everyday leisure trips for social and recreational purposes was conducted by Strömblad et al [33]. Sener et al [34] studied discretionary leisure activity engagement by children in detail, using data from the United States.…”

Unique times, unequal mobilities: Daily mobility during the de‐escalation of the COVID‐19 pandemic

“…People restructured their daily lives in light of these policies, showing a tendency to reduce their participation in social activities, a shift from public to private transportation and an increase in active mobilities such as walking and cycling (Kolarova et al, 2021; Strömblad et al, 2021). Over time, compliance with NPIs turned the most basic daily movements into a valuable resource to cope with the feeling of being stuck at home (Arroyo et al, 2021; Kellerman, 2022).…”