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Importance of scenic byways in route choice: a survey of driving tourists in the United States

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  • Eby, David W.
  • Molnar, Lisa J.

Abstract

In order to develop more effective tourist information systems for use along scenic byways, it is important to know the characteristics of those people who include the presence of scenic byways in their selections of routes. Gaining a better understanding of these characteristics was the purpose of this study. The data presented here are from a United States (US) survey of the driving tourist's information needs and preferences weighted to be representative of US tourist travelers. The study showed that when planning a route to a destination on an overnight automobile trip, the driving tourist is most concerned with factors related to the actual driving of the route, such as the directness, safety, amount of congestion, and distance. Of secondary importance are factors that make the route entertaining or pleasant to drive, including whether the route is a scenic byway. Analysis of the importance of scenic byways by several demographic factors showed little difference in importance ratings except for age and household income. Examination of importance ratings by trip characteristics showed that the presence of scenic byways in selecting a route was more important for the traveler whose trip purpose is a vacation, who is in the midst of a long distance and duration trip, who will be either camping or staying in a hotel, and who has planned the trip well in advance. These results suggest that scenic byways are an excellent area for the implementation and testing of in-vehicle information systems for the driving tourist.

Suggested Citation

  • Eby, David W. & Molnar, Lisa J., 2002. "Importance of scenic byways in route choice: a survey of driving tourists in the United States," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 95-106, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:transa:v:36:y:2002:i:2:p:95-106
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    Cited by:

    1. Díez-Gutiérrez, María & Babri, Sahar, 2020. "Explanatory variables underlying the route choice decisions of tourists: The case of Geiranger Fjord in Norway," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 398-409.
    2. Tongyan Zhang & Shengrui Zhang & Yingjie Wang & Hu Yu & Hongrun Ju & Hanyun Xue, 2022. "Selection of the Most Scenic Viewpoints on an Island Based on Space–Time Perception: The Case of Nan’ao Island, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(3), pages 1-16, January.
    3. Thomas, Tom & Tutert, Bas, 2015. "Route choice behavior in a radial structured urban network: Do people choose the orbital or the route through the city center?," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 85-95.
    4. Jaap Vreeswijk & Tom Thomas & Eric Berkum & Bart Arem, 2014. "Perception bias in route choice," Transportation, Springer, vol. 41(6), pages 1305-1321, November.
    5. Liu, Yaping & Zhang, Yu & Nie, Linlin, 2012. "Patterns of self-drive tourists: The case of Nanning City, China," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 225-227.
    6. Hallo, Jeffrey C. & Manning, Robert E., 2009. "Transportation and recreation: a case study of visitors driving for pleasure at Acadia National Park," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 17(6), pages 491-499.
    7. Papinski, Dominik & Scott, Darren M., 2011. "A GIS-based toolkit for route choice analysis," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 434-442.

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