Assessing transport policies for tourist mobility based on accessibility indicators

Abstract

Tourism is a key sector in the national economies, representing a real asset for increasing the competitiveness and the world-wide visibility of a Country. In Italy, the widespread diffusion of the tourist heritage represents a great potential for the economic development but requires efforts to identify sustainable and seamless travel solutions, given the limited resources available for tourist mobility. The Italian National Plan of Tourist Mobility identifies in accessibility one of the key drivers for investment, and to this aim has developed a Planning Support System (PSS) to identify the investments to bridge up the accessibility gap of national tourist sites from the main airports, ports and railway stations (i.e. the “access gates” to the Country), either on the road network or using collective transport services. The PSS is based on the methodology presented in this paper, combining two concepts extensively studied in the literature, i.e. the generalized travel cost and the accessibility, in order to identify where and how to invest either to improve existing mobility services or to build new infrastructure. Given the number of tourist sites scattered over the national territory, the application of the proposed methodology to the Italian case study represents a relevant example of how accessibility measures can be applied in practice to link with policy goals and to identify planning priorities. The application is easily replicable and transferable at regional and local level.

Tourism Economics

“…The results obtained, therefore, have both theoretical and practical value. The results of the study coincide with the opinions of other researchers, for example Zamparini and Vergori (2021) and Coppola et al (2020) regarding transport policies for tourist mobility, which should be synchronised as much as possible and should follow the principles of sustainable tourism, especially one that is environmentally friendly.…”

“…Innovative solutions for developing sustainable transport and improving tourist accessibility are very important (Szyma ńska et al 2021). In Italy, Coppola et al (2020) proposed the development of an Italian National Tourism Mobility Plan, which identifies one of the key drivers of investment in accessibility. For this purpose, they have developed a planning support system (PSS) with the aim of identifying investments that seek to close the accessibility gap of national tourist sites from the main airports, ports and railway stations (i.e., the 'access gates' to a country), either on the road network or using public transport services.…”

Accessibility-Based Location of International Multimodal Logistics Hubs: A Case in China

“…Since the concept of accessibility was proposed and extended, it has been widely used in many fields, such as urban green areas ( 22 ), tourist mobility ( 23 ), and public transport ( 24 ), especially transportation and logistics infrastructure ( 25 – 27 ). The accessibility of a location is, naturally, a major factor for the location decision of transportation infrastructures and logistics enterprises, such as transportation hubs, warehouses, logistics/distribution centers of manufacturers ( 28 – 30 ).…”

Laboratory Experiments on Soil Stabilization to Enhance Strength Parameters for Road Pavement

“…Transport network plays a key role in many various aspects of the modern society: sustainability and safety, well-being and tourism, freight, haulage and logistics, connections and communication, economic stability and growth. These aspects have been discussed in many relevant publications pointing at the importance of transport functionality for societal development (Combes and Leurent, 2013;Jacobs-Crisioni et al, 2016;Coppola et al, 2020;Lowe, 2006;Banister and Berechman, 2001;Meijers). In the transport system roads have a dominant role due to the availability, convenience and flexibility of use (Ye et al, 2014;Carboni and Dalla Chiara, 2018).…”