{"id":155483,"date":"2026-07-07T10:55:07","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T08:55:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/diaridigital.urv.cat\/?p=155483"},"modified":"2026-07-07T10:55:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T08:55:14","slug":"tourists-on-the-costa-daurada-are-more-than-willing-to-use-public-transport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/diaridigital.urv.cat\/en\/tourists-on-the-costa-daurada-are-more-than-willing-to-use-public-transport\/","title":{"rendered":"Tourists on the Costa Daurada are more than willing to use public transport"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two of the major challenges facing tourist destinations are reducing their environmental footprint and boosting their appeal in markets characterised by a high level of competition. On the one hand, ensuring that tourist mobility is sustainable is key to protecting residents\u2019 quality of life and providing a satisfying experience for visitors, particularly in areas under heavy tourist pressure. On the other hand, destinations need to boost their appeal and they can do this by increasing the number and variety of activities that they offer. Day trips represent a good opportunity for this because these enable visitors to explore the wider area beyond their accommodation and thus make the option of spending more days at the destination more appealing. However, for this model to work, it is necessary to understand how tourists travel and to facilitate these journeys in a sustainable manner.<\/p>\n

With this aim in mind, a research team from the Department of Geography at the Universitat Rovira i Virgili has analysed which factors influence the choice between a car and public transport for day trips undertaken by tourists staying on the Costa Daurada. The results, published in the journal Annals of Tourism Research<\/em>: Empirical Insights<\/em>, show that the relationship between these two modes of transport is much more flexible than previously thought. Tourists who use a car do not necessarily rule out public transport; that is, depending on the destination, accessibility or service conditions, they may opt for one alternative or the other. \u201cTraditionally, there has been a tendency to think that those who use a car are unlikely to use public transport, but our results indicate that this relationship is complementary rather than mutually exclusive,\u201d explains Daniel Miravet, a researcher in the Department of Geography at the URV.<\/p>\n

This flexibility, according to Miravet, paves the way for promoting mobility policies that reduce private car use without limiting tourists\u2019 ability to visit the region: \u201cThe fact that the same person may opt for one mode of transport or another depending on the type of trip they wish to take means there is scope for encouraging more sustainable mobility if competitive alternatives are offered.\u201d<\/p>\n

Understanding how tourists get around<\/h5>\n

To carry out the study, the research team interviewed 1,954 tourists staying on the Costa Daurada during the summer of 2021. The surveys gathered information on the visitors\u2019 socio-demographic profile, the length of their stay, the type of accommodation, the means of transport used to reach the destination, the excursions they undertook during their stay, the places they visited and the transport system they chose in each case.<\/p>\n

Using this data, the researchers analysed two closely related decisions together: whether tourists went on day trips and which mode of transport they used to get around. This approach made it possible to study not only which factors that encourage tourists to use either cars or public transport, but also the relationship between the two options.<\/p>\n

Almost half of the tourists surveyed (48.7 per cent) went on at least one excursion during their stay on the Costa Daurada. Of these trips, more than half were made by private car, confirming that this remains the most commonly used mode of transport. However, the results also show that this preference is not set in stone: when the nature of the journey changes, for example, if a destination is a well-connected city or if parking is difficult, the same tourists are willing to use public transport.<\/p>\n

This behaviour explains, for example, why many visitors prefer to take the train or bus to travel to Barcelona, whilst opting for the car on shorter trips or to destinations with more limited public transport options. For the researchers, this behaviour demonstrates that decisions about where to go and how to get there are made simultaneously and are mutually dependent: \u2018Visitors assess the options available to them for reaching the place they wish to visit and choose the mode of transport that best suits their needs.\u2019 This means that by improving the available alternatives, mobility patterns can also be improved.<\/p>\n

Coordinating mobility and tourism planning<\/h5>\n

However, promoting more sustainable tourist mobility requires going beyond simply expanding public transport provision. Although the study concludes that services must be frequent, reliable and provide adequate connections between the main tourist attractions and accommodation areas, it also highlights that these policies must be complemented by mobility management measures, such as increasing traffic-free spaces, planning and regulating parking, providing shuttle services to the main points of interest, and offering integrated travel passes that facilitate travel by public transport.<\/p>\n

As the researchers point out, it is essential to bear in mind that tourists decide both where they want to go and how they will get there. This means that transport planning cannot be separated from tourism planning; that is, when developing new itineraries, facilities and activities, it is also important to ensure that they can be accessed conveniently without necessarily relying on private vehicles. \u201cTourism and mobility strategies must be planned jointly because they are closely related areas that generate synergies,\u201d summarises Miravet.<\/p>\n

The study concludes that coordination between mobility policies and tourism development policies can facilitate the transition towards a more sustainable model that increases visitors\u2019 options for getting around the region without sacrificing the opportunity to discover new places. According to the authors, their research could help established Mediterranean destinations that are seeking to reduce private car use whilst enhancing their tourist appeal.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Aaron Guti\u00e9rrez i Daniel Miravet, del Departament de Geografia de la URV i dos dels autors de l’estudi.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Reference: <\/strong>Cattaruzzo, S., Miravet, D., & Guti\u00e9rrez, A. (2026). Tourist mobility and public transport use on excursions. Annals of Tourism Research Empirical Insights<\/em>, 7(1), 100213. DOI: 10.1016\/j.annale.2026.100213.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A URV study finds that tourists who move around by car are also happy to use public transport in certain circumstances, thus presenting an opportunity for policies that boost destinations\u2019 competitiveness and reduce the sector\u2019s environmental impact<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":155155,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[806,3488,819,82,818,195,235],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-155483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-communicating-science","category-geography","category-faculty-tourism-geography","category-general-en","category-press-releases","category-research","category-society-culture"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/diaridigital.urv.cat\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/diaridigital.urv.cat\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/diaridigital.urv.cat\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diaridigital.urv.cat\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diaridigital.urv.cat\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155483"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/diaridigital.urv.cat\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155483\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diaridigital.urv.cat\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/155155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/diaridigital.urv.cat\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diaridigital.urv.cat\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diaridigital.urv.cat\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}