The Role of Transport in Tourism Essay

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Need to write an essay on the role of transport in tourism? This essay example focuses on the issue. Learn more about the role of transport in tourism, economy, and social development.

Introduction

  • Role of Transport in Tourism Development

Reference List

The growth and development of tourism depends on transportation to a great extent. Although transportation and tourism development are, nevertheless, this paper has tried to demonstrate that the relationship between these two issues is somewhat controversial owing to the many schools of thought that are available.

Nevertheless, new technologies in transportation has greatly improved tourism sector. The development of these newer technologies has come about because there is a growing demand for newer, faster and more efficient modes of travel.

Development in transportation impacts on the mobility of individuals, not to mention that it influences their demand and motivation (Duval 2007).

On the other hand, transportation may also impact negatively on tourism development owing to the issues of pollution, destruction of the environment and wildlife, and congestion. The paper attempts to examine the role of transportation in tourism development.

The Role of Transportation in Tourism

The role played by transportation in tourism development remains controversial mainly because there are various schools of thoughts regarding its role in comparison with development.

Some schools of thought have for example sought to categorize the role of transportation in tourism into negative, positive, and neutral. With regard to the positive perspective, transportation is seen as a key driver of the tourism industry.

On the other hand, the neutral perspective holds that transportation facilities may not yield productive tourism activities on their own.

In contrast, the negative point of view seeks to examine circumstances under which transportation might lead to an in the spread of disease, increased migration, or a reduction in per capita income levels (Musa & Ndawayo 2011).

Many scholars have expressed conflicting views on the issue of the role of transportation in tourism development, but most of them prescribe to the base structure described above.

Nevertheless, there is compelling evidence to support the claim that transportation plays a crucial role in the development of the tourism industry in any given economy.

At the same time, there are many common interests shared by both the transportation and tourism sectors. As such, the two sectors appear to be somewhat interdependent (Musa & Ndawayo 2011).

As the tourism industry expands, this interdependence begins to become more apparent, not least because the sector plays a key role in the economic development of a country.

A lot of scholars contend that the infrastructure base of any nation acts as a determining factor of how attractive tourist destinations in such a country are. With regard to specific transport infrastructure, charged with the responsibility of offering vital transportation services, we can rightly assume that transportation plays a key role in this respect.

In their work, Khadarooa and Seetanahb (2008) have identified the role played by transportation network in the growth of a country’s tourism sector. They see transportation network as a vital ingredient for the successful development of the tourism sector.

The authors have further noted that transport is a key component in our quest to create and develop successful new tourist attractions sites.

Transportation is also important in terms of promoting the growth and development of existing tourist destinations. It is important to note that by providing ideal transportation services to hitherto dead centers for tourist attraction, we are likely to transform them into active and successful; tourist destinations and in the process, we could end up witnessing multitudes of people paying visits to such sites every year.

Prideaux (2000) has also recognized the role played by transpiration infrastructure in tourism development. Even as many authors have recognized the importance of efficient transport as a prerequisite for the successful implementation of a tourism development program, there is not much work that has been carried out to explore the role played by transportation in tourism development.

Only a limited number of researchers have dedicated their research to studying the impact of transportation on tourism development.

Majority of the tourism studies appear to define the link between tourism and transport with regard to the issuer of accessibility. In this case, transport acts as a link between on the one hand, tourist destination centers and on the other hand, tourist generating centers.

A number of authors have explored the historical background of tourism within the context of how different modes of transportation have been developed over the years.

Others have deemed it necessary to view transportation from an interdisciplinary approach, in which case it acts as one among several elements which when combined forms the tourism system (Palhares 2003, p. 405).

A number of researchers have also developed and tested various models of tourism flows, although the role of transportation has been quite limited.

We also have other scholars who views transportation form the geographical context and examine the flow of tourists between rural and metropolitan destinations.

Tourism involves a lot of travelling and in this case, transportation links tourists with different tourist destinations, in addition to ferrying goods and services.

As such, transportation plays a crucial role in tourism development. In a bid to demonstrate that tourism and transportation are interconnected, we need to realize that once transportation in a given tourism region has been improved, we end up expanding tourism in such a region.

We have a number of scholars who view transportation as part of the larger tourism system which plays a key role in ensuring that tourists get to the desired destinations.

This means that transportation is seen as only a means to enable such tourists to get to the desired tourist destination and once they are finished with their expeditions, they are ferried back to their place of residence.

According to Page and Lumsdon (2004), the system of transport available at a given tourist destination affects the experience of tourists, and this may perhaps explain the manner in which people decide to travel, as well as their choice of holiday destinations, types of holiday, and mode of transport.

The development of tourist destination relies heavily on transport networks. This is the case especially with regard to the issues of connectivity and accessibility (Duval 2007).

As such, the scope and pattern of tourism is eventually determined by the degree of connectivity and accessibility within a given transport network.

For example, the United States is a key market of tourist destinations in New Zealand. The host country has benefited from the non-stop and long-haul air services that the US provides.

In the same way, the United States operates nonstop air flights from key urban areas such as New York and Washington, D.C to the Caribbean, another tourist destination.

This is a clear indication that as the efficiency and availability of transportation increases, so does the number of tourists to a given destination.

Some tourist destinations have largely remained unpopular in the past simply because they could not be accessed easily as the transport infrastructure was either unavailable or very poorly developed (Sorupia 2005).

However, with improvements in transportation, coupled with reduced transportation costs, accessibility to such areas has increased dramatically. In the process, such areas have continued to attract a large number of tourists all year round.

It is important however to remember that the level of accessibility to tourism sites will differ depending on the state of the existing transport infrastructure, nature of the site, as well as how efficient the public transport system in use is.

Transportation could also impact negatively on tourism development. For example, it could pose a threat to the environment and consequently, hinder tourism development.

With regard to land transportation, both road and rail transport affects the habitat and by extension, the wildlife. This is because the two mode of transport traverse natural areas, in effect dividing hitherto contiguous areas.

In addition, emissions from air and road transport remain by far the most widespread sources of greenhouse gasses (Peters 2000).

Noise and air pollution in the form of engine noises from motor vehicles, planes, overhead cable carts, and constructions can all have negative ramifications on wildlife, thereby impacting negatively on the tourism sector.

Moreover, pollution also affects the natural habitat and may end up driving tourists away as the tourist destination in question is no longer attractive.

On the issue of access and modes of transport, it is important to note that both tourism and accessibility could be connected with the degradation levels of a given tourist destination.

Some of the matters arising from such an association include the impacts per capita, carrying, as well as visitor management. The way in which we are able to manage these issues is an indication of the mode of tourism that the community, the government, and the operator advocate for (Page & Lumsdon 2004).

Therefore, accessibility can ensure the success or failure of a destination. One school of thought regarding this argument is that with a lot of people are likely to frequent a given tourist destination as accessibility increases.

Consequently, the level of degradation increases, thereby affecting the state of natural resources. Another argument considers the ratio of host population to that of visits and the type and level of the impact created.

It is important to ensure that such a ratio is maintained at a level that the local community is comfortable with in order to avoid any emerging conflict on the issue of resources allocation.

As the number of tourist visiting a given tourist destination increases, we are likely to witness increased rail and road congestion, not to mention the rise of air, road and noise pollution levels.

In case the existing infrastructure is not sufficient to accommodate this increase, conflicts could emerge. Besides, an increase in the number of tourists would affect the environment and wildlife as well.

Although a lot of scholars have recognized the importance of efficient transport as a prerequisite for the successful implementation of a tourism development program, only a handful of studies have been dedicated to researching on the role of transportation in tourism development.

There is a controversy surrounding the role of transportation in tourism development as there are divergent schools of thought regarding the issue in question.

The schools of thought have sought to explore the positive, negative, and neutral role played by transportation in as far as tourism development is concerned.

Nonetheless, both the transportation and tourisms sectors share some common interest and for this reason, they are interdependent. Transportation affects the mobility of tourists, in addition to influencing their demand and motivation to visit a certain tourist destinations.

The successful development of new tourist destinations depends heavily on the accessibility and connectivity of the existing transport network.

Transportation is also important in terms of promoting the growth and development of existing tourist destinations. On the other hand, transportation leads to pollution, and this can affect both the wildlife and the natural habitat, thereby driving tourism away.

Also, improved transportation can result in massive migration, with a resultant increase in population and congested transport system. This may bring about conflict between the hosts and the tourists.

Duval, D, 2007,Tourism and transport: modes, networks and flows, Channel View Publications, Bristol Khadarooa, J & Seetanahb, B, ‘The role of transport infrastructure in international tourism development: A gravity model approach’, Tourism Management, vol. 29, pp. 831–840.

Musa, I & Ndawayo, B,’ The role of transportation in the development of tourism in Nigeria’, An international multidisciplinary journal of tourism, vol. 6, no.1, pp. 297-305 Page, S & Lumsdon L, 2004, Tourism and transport: Issues and agenda for the new millennium, Elsevier, Boston.

Palhares, GL 2003, ‘The Role of Transport in Tourism Development: Nodal Functions and Management Practices’, Journal of Tourism Research, vol. 5, no. 5, pp. 403–407.

Peters, D, 2000, A sustainable transport convention for the new Europe. Earthscan Publications Ltd., London.

Sorupia, E 2005, Rethinking the role of transportation in tourism, http://www.easts.info/on-line/proceedings_05/1767.pdf

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Tourism Essay IELTS – Writing Style and Samples

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Updated on 29 May, 2024

Shivangi Mishra

Shivangi Mishra

Sr. content editor.

Shivangi Mishra

International English Language Testing System (IELTS) is a  language test for study abroad aspirants. Candidates appearing for IELTS may be asked a question on tourism essay IELTS in Writing Task 2. Candidates will have to write IELTS essay on tourism   in a minimum of 250 words. The examiner will assess your abilities to respond to the topic by providing an opinion and justifying it with arguments. The essay may require you to summarize information, outline any problems, discuss the premise, or identify solutions. You will have to be logical while giving reasons and examples in the essay. 

IELTS Writing task 2 section has more weightage compared to IELTS Writing Task 1 . Certified and trained examiners evaluate the essays. Make sure that you do not copy the question in your essay. Paraphrasing the same in your introduction is necessary for avoiding any penalties. You should not spend more than 40 minutes on the assignment. 

Table of Contents

  • How Tourism Essays Fit Into Task 2's Various Formats

Common Themes in Tourism Essays

Effective writing style for tourism essays, techniques for tourism writing task 2 engaging introductions and impactful conclusions:, language and vocabulary for tourism essays, tourism essay sample - 1, tourism essay sample - 2, download e-books for ielts preparation, tourism essay sample - 3, common mistakes to avoid, learn more about study abroad, types of ielts essays.

In IELTS Writing Task 2, there are 5 different types of essays:

  • Discussion essay 
  • Agree/disagree essay 
  • Advantages/disadvantages
  • Problem/solution essay
  • Two-part question essay (Direct question essay)

How Tourism Essays Fit Into Task 2's Various Formats 

Travel and tourism essay is a versatile topic for IELTS tourism writing task 2 and can be adapted to fit various essay formats.

  • Argument-Based Essay : Discuss the pros and cons of the travel and tourism impact on the economy and culture, and present your opinion.
  • Opinion-Based Essay : State and support your view on a tourism-related issue.
  • Problem-Solution Essay : Identify issues caused by tourism and suggest solutions.
  • Discussion Essay : Examine the tourism essay for IELTS by presenting both sides of an argument and conclude with your view.
  • Two-Part Questions : Answer why a trend is occurring and how it can be managed.
  • Advantages and Disadvantages Essay : Analyze the positives and negatives of tourism as an economic strategy.
  • Cause and Solution Tourism Essay IELTS : Explore the causes of a problem related to tourism and propose solutions.

Common topics and themes related to tourism writing include:

  • Economic impacts (positive and negative) of tourism.
  • Environmental effects (sustainability, wildlife preservation).
  • Cultural impacts (effects on local communities, commodification of culture).
  • The balance between tourism and conservation.
  • The role of technology in tourism (e.g., virtual reality tours, online bookings).

Here’s how you can approach common tourism writing themes in an IELTS essay:

Before you start writing, take some time to read and understand the instructions provided carefully. It's crucial to grasp the IELTS essay on tourism tasks fully.

  • Begin by thoroughly reading and understanding the instructions.
  • Brainstorm and jot down keywords and main ideas.
  • Introduction: Paraphrase the topic of tourism IELTS essay or question.
  • Essay Body: Organize your tourism in India essay into 2-3 body paragraphs. Develop your ideas with supporting points and examples.
  • Conclusion: Summarize your main points without introducing new ideas.
  • Ensure your essay flows logically, using clear language and cohesive linking words.
  • Check for grammatical accuracy and alignment with the tourism IELTS essay prompt.

The three main key principles of a strong IELTS writing task on tourism are clarity, coherence, and varied vocabulary.

  • Clarity : Make sure your thoughts are presented clearly and thoroughly. Avoid using jargon or too complicated language, which may confuse readers. 
  • Coherence : Make logical connections between your thoughts throughout the tourism essay IELTS. Use cohesive techniques like transitional words and phrases to ensure paragraphs flow smoothly.  
  • Vocabulary : Use a wide range of words to minimize repetition and increase the depth of your work.

Structuring Your Tourism Essay

The following tourism writing task 2 essay structure indicates your coherence skills - 

  • Introduction: Begin by rephrasing the essay question and clearly state your thesis or main argument.
  • Body Paragraph 1: Start by exploring one of the benefits, aspects or points related to tourism.
  • Body Paragraph 2: You may choose to present another advantage (optional). 
  • Body Paragraph 3: Discuss one of the drawbacks. 
  • Body Paragraph 4: You can include another disadvantage (optional).
  • Conclusion: Summarize your points and reiterate your viewpoint.
  • Engaging Introductions: Grab the reader's attention with stories, facts, or thought-provoking questions.  
  • Impactful Conclusions: Conclude with a compelling remark that reinforces the major point of your argument. Depending on the topic, you can encourage readers to take action or make further implications.  

These are some of the essential words for travel and tourism essays:

  • Accommodation : Places where tourists or visitors stay. Examples include hotels, hostels, and so forth.
  • Acculturation : the process of integrating ideas from various cultures. For example, a resort may adapt to its tourists' cultural preferences.
  • Backpacking : Traveling frequently to many destinations with your stuff in a backpack.
  • Camping : a holiday spent in a tent or camper van.
  • Infrastructure : The basic organizational structures in a place, such as roads, transport 
  • Cruise : a sea-based journey that follows a pre-planned path and visits multiple ports.
  • Excursion : Excursions are brief excursions generally taken while on vacation.
  • Heritage : Objects and attributes prized for their cultural or historical significance.
  • Homeland : Homeland refers to the nation where you were born or raised, whereas infrastructure refers to the underlying organizational framework.

Tips for using synonyms and avoiding repetition for tourism IELTS essay:

  • Choose synonyms that fit the context.
  • Use a thesaurus for variety.
  • Maintain the tone of your writing.
  • Use synonyms sparingly.
  • Vary sentence structures.
  • Focus on key terms.
  • Use different word forms.
  • Include transitional phrases.
  • Proofread your content for effectiveness.

Question- Some people believe that tourism contributes more towards creating tension amongst countries instead of helping travelers better understand new cultures and traditions. 

To what extent do you agree or disagree? 

Answer:  

Several individuals still feel that tourism leads to strained relationships between countries instead of helping visitors get acquainted with new regions and cultural aspects. In my opinion, tourism is still a harbinger of positive experiences and strengthens shared empathy and cross-cultural bonds despite a few unfortunate incidents hogging newspaper headlines at times. 

The main reason behind people advocating against tourism as a means of global peace and understanding is linked to sudden issues that snowballed into major controversies. Let us take a fictional example. Suppose residents belonging to a particular country get ridiculed and culturally attacked in the country where they live and work. In these cases, the percentage of such incidents, if mapped closely, would be overwhelmingly low to justify mass protest. Yet, some of these unfortunate incidents often mushroom into bigger problems. 

Several organizations may call for a boycott of the country, while some countries may stop sending tourists altogether. These reactions, while natural, prove to be irrational, since the host country will always deal strongly with perpetrators of violence. After things settle down and positive steps are taken by the authorities towards boosting health and safety, tourists will return in higher numbers. This is just an illustrative example and shows that irrational and bigoted reactions can never take away from shared empathy, mutual trust, and the power of good relationships between countries.

Visitors’ experience and interactions with local citizens in other countries are mostly based on discovery, warmth, and friendliness. This contributes immensely to building knowledge and insights regarding new cultures, traditions, habits, daily life and beliefs, and the history and development of any nation. 

Tourism is the biggest driver for global cooperation, interaction, mutual understanding, and cultural exchange. Every country and its citizens wish to create a positive impression or image of themselves in the minds of visitors. To conclude, I will state that people should keep these aspects in mind when they are traveling or considering the relevance of tourism. Rising above prejudices is the need of the hour.

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Question- Most nations feel that global tourism has a harmful impact. What are the problems arising from tourism? What are the solutions for changing these perceptions? 

There are many reasons behind the prevalent feeling amongst nations that tourism may have a negative impact. Yet, these mindsets can be tackled through a few solutions, which have been discussed below. 

Firstly, the growing visits by global travelers are often perceived as a major contributor to pollution levels. Many countries get offended with the way tourists litter irresponsibly, contaminating the soil, water and air. Furthermore, demand for transportation goes up sizably, leading to a sharp plunge in air quality levels at popular cities/regions. 

Secondly, global tourists also come with risks of spreading contagious and infectious ailments throughout the country. Several viruses often spread in this manner in several nations. Suppose there is an outbreak of any infectious disease in a particular country and this coincides with the arrival of tourists in large numbers from another nation. 

People may start blaming these people and their government for their woes, however unjustified it is. This example illustrates why many nations are firmly against the development of global tourism any further. 

Yet, several solutions may help in bettering the current scenario. Governments should continue awareness measures for enlightening tourists on their visits to various countries. They should release stringent dos and don’ts or codes of conduct while making provisions for health tests and documentation to minimize infections risks. 

Travelers should be incentivized for responsible waste disposal, usage of public transport, and undergoing medical check-ups at airports and international borders. A travel pass or some other rewards can be given to ensure that most international travelers adhere to these new regulations. 

To conclude, negative perceptions about global tourists are still widespread in mainstream society. However, the situation can be turned around with the above solutions.

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Question: Several global destinations depend on tourism as their central income source. Unfortunately, tourism may lead to several problems in the absence of suitable management. Describe the pros and cons of modern tourism. Do you think that the pros outstrip the cons? 

Tourism is the main income driver for several global regions today, although it may create some issues. This essay will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of tourism before concluding. 

The biggest benefit of global tourism is income generation and a boost for the economy of the country. Tourism automatically means transportation and accommodation and accompanying services including food and beverages, nightlife, entertainment, guides, local transport, and a lot more. 

These help in churning out extra income for the nation in question while increasing overall growth in GDP as well. The second benefit is that tourism leads to full-scale employment, creating job opportunities in the travel and transportation, hospitality, restaurants, entertainment and cultural sectors. Tourism also has a third benefit, i.e., fostering global relationships with other countries and building a platform for mutually beneficial cross-cultural exchange. 

Yet, there are some problems caused by global tourism as well. They include littering across tourist landmarks, an increase in unlawful activities, and also damages to historical landmarks and centers of pilgrimage. National resources are also strained while coping with the influx of global tourists in large numbers. At the same time, there are always instances of rising crime or thefts with a rise in international tourism. 

To conclude, despite the numerous cons of tourism, including damages to historical structures, pollution, crime, and over-extension of natural resources, the pros far outweigh them. Tourism contributes towards cross-cultural exchange and global harmony along with contributing massively towards the national economy. It also generates employment for a sizable chunk of the local population. 

These are the frequent errors in IELTS writing tourism essay:

  • Using contractions in an IELTS essay on tourism (e.g., I don't instead of I do not)
  • Being overly personal (for example, using I, me, my)
  • Employing emotive language in tourism in India essay (e.g., disgusting, fabulous)
  • Relying solely on personal examples 
  • Using colloquial expressions
  • Using simple vocabulary (e.g., say, think, bad) and basic linking words in the IELTS essay (e.g., and, but, also)
  • Repeating the same vocabulary excessively
  • Writing only simple sentences (e.g., Everyone thinks it's true. I disagree.)
  • Making over-generalizations (e.g., everyone, always, never, all)

These are the tips to correct these mistakes for tourism writing task 2:

  • To retain formality, always use whole words rather than abbreviations.
  • Limit the usage of personal pronouns to keep the conversation focused on the tourism essay for IELTS rather than yourself.
  • Use neutral language to retain impartiality and prevent emotional bias.
  • Use various examples, not just personal ones, to back up your claims.
  • Expand your vocabulary to avoid repetition in the tourism writing task 2.
  • Provide nuanced arguments instead.

Frequently Asked Questions

How to promote tourism in india essay.

Tourism is the lifeblood for any nation, not just from an economic and employment perspective, but also from a socio-cultural point of view. India, in particular, has a thriving tourism sector, while boasting of immense diversity and a rich historical and cultural legacy that has charmed the entire world. Tourism also adds considerably to our GDP as a nation, increasing our economic capabilities, adding to community income, enhancing employment and entrepreneurship and facilitating invaluable cultural exchange with people from other countries. However, I believe, that there should be a four-pronged strategy towards promoting tourism in India, with a view towards retaining its appeal for foreign travellers. 

I suggest a renewed emphasis on digital marketing. Governments can consider new-age technologies like virtual walkthroughs and 3D views in order to promote major landmarks. More marketing initiatives digitally will help us reach out to wider audiences, thereby giving the tourism industry a major boost. 

I also suggest a more localized focus where States and regions have the autonomy to market their landmarks, cultures and cuisines. This will help them come up with innovative offerings for tourists. 

I feel that heritage structures, monuments, parks, forts, water bodies, etc. may be outsourced to responsible government/private agencies or companies for maintenance. It can be made a part of the CSR activities of companies, thereby ensuring their preservation. We also need to build better infrastructure including roads, washrooms and other public amenities. 

Tourism is one of the most important facets to our nation and also ensures how we are perceived globally. With the latest technology, an innovative mindset and zeal to excel, we can certainly promote our tourism sector more effectively.

Why tourism is important essay?

Tourism is one of the most essential economic and cultural pursuits for any country. It not only adds to the country’s revenues but also fosters knowledge exchange and helps countries get global exposure in turn. I believe that tourism is not only important but indispensable for the continued progress of any country.

Tourism is a big contributor to the GDP of the nation. It ensures higher revenues for the Government and local communities alike. It puts more money into the hands of local communities who are dependent upon the sector. Tourism also ensures the creation of more employment opportunities, while boosting sectors like hospitality, travel, transport, culture, food and beverages and more. Tourism is also a big stimulant of entrepreneurship in the country.

Tourism builds positive relationships between countries. It facilitates cultural exchange and exposure. It enables the growth of infrastructure, cultural activities and ensures the continued preservation of priceless treasures and natural landmarks which are big draws in a country.

I would like to conclude by stating that tourism is immensely important for any country. Governments and authorities should encourage tourism in order to be a part of a peaceful and united global community of nations.

Should countries encourage tourism essay?

Tourism is one of the biggest global sectors today, accounting for a major chunk of global revenues, employment and socio-cultural events or experiences. The question is, should countries encourage tourism? I would like to opine that they should encourage the growth of tourism for multiple reasons, which are enumerated below.

First and foremost, tourism enables cultural exchange and bonds between nations. The world gets to know more about a country’s cultures, unique experiences and heritage. This enables more knowledge gathering and dissemination, while contributing immensely towards scholarship and research at the same time.

Second, tourism contributes significantly to the country’s coffers by way of revenues. It also contributes towards generating more employment and entrepreneurship opportunities while driving various product and service-based industries alongside. Tourism also has the potential to transform entire communities and help them embrace sustainability.  It is with these opinions that I would like to conclude by saying that in today’s fragmented and increasingly digitized world, the age-old adage Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam holds greater relevance. It means the World is a Family. Tourism is the biggest enabler of global peace, friendships and knowledge exchange. All countries should encourage the same.

What kind of vocabulary is used in tourism essay?

There is a need to enhance your vocabulary for writing the IELTS tourism essay. The terms used in these essays often include passenger, traveler, tourist, transportation, travel, airport, check-in, landing, fly, flying, plane, camping, destinations, heritage, culture, landmarks, sightseeing, community, hospitality, hotels, routes, tours, voyage, and more. You should also focus on words related to global cultural exchange, historical sites, tourist attractions, local economies, entrepreneurship and job creation for writing your essay.

What are some common themes in tourism essays for IELTS?

Common themes in tourism essays for IELTS often revolve around:

  • Cultural Exchange
  • Sustainability
  • Economic Impact
  • Heritage Preservation
  • Tourism Promotion
  • Community Involvement
  • Tourism Trends
  • Cultural Immersion
  • Tourism Infrastructure

What key vocabulary should I use in a tourism essay?

Key Vocabulary for Tourism Essay IELTS: Tourism; Accommodation; Attractions; Cultural Exchange; Sustainability; Heritage; Infrastructure; Ecotourism; Cuisine; Visitors.

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Tourism Teacher

What is the relationship between transport and tourism?

Disclaimer: Some posts on Tourism Teacher may contain affiliate links. If you appreciate this content, you can show your support by making a purchase through these links or by buying me a coffee . Thank you for your support!

One thing that many people in the travel industry may not realise is the important and vital relationship between transport and tourism. This is something that I teach to my tourism students each year as part of their tourism management degree and it is the relationship between transport and tourism which forms the basis of the tourism industry. 

Without transport, the tourism sector would not be able to exist. Therefore, transport is a fundamental part of the tourism industry.

The relationship between transport and tourism

relationship between transport and tourism

Image source: Unsplash

As seen in the dictionary, the definition of transport is to “take or carry (people or goods) from one place to another by means of a vehicle, aircraft, or ship.” Also found in the dictionary is the definition of tourism which is “the commercial organisation and operation of vacations and visits to places of interest.

Transport is a hugely complex activity, impacting on every one of us in our daily lives. In a sense, we are all transport stakeholders-we all have an involvement with the transport industry in some way or another. Whether it means travelling to your job every day or flying to your holiday spot, transportation is essential to each of us in many different ways.

To help understand this relationship further there are a couple of core texts that I would recommend for any student studying travel and tourism or person who is interested in learning more about the relationship between transport and tourism.  Transport and Tourism: Global Perspectives by Steven Page is my favourite book in this area as it is the leading, authoritative text providing a much-needed synthesis of the key, contemporary issues occurring at the intersection of transport and tourism. I also recommend  Tourism, Transport and Travel Management by M.R Dileep , which analyses the structure, functions, activities, strategies and practices of each of the sectors in the travel industry, such as airlines, airports, tour operators, travel agencies and cruises. 

Transport within the tourism industry

The key task for the tourism sector is to comprehend and present the vital importance of adequate transport links to destinations – recognising the appropriate modes of travel for the different types of journeys – and to advocate a proper understanding of those links and the value that they have to local economies among the transport policy and planning community.

A better understanding of the tourism sector must be built with those public bodies (government, local authorities and relevant agencies) responsible for transport policy and planning, and for maintaining and developing transport infrastructure. This is imperative to ensure sustainable tourism management. 

Likewise, the tourism sector must understand how the transport sector operates and to what extent it is able to influence decisions and planning. This can become rather complex when you take into consideration different transport infrastructures , rules and regulations across different geographical contexts. Some countries, for example, will rely heavily on train infrastructure, others may be reachable only by boat and some may require private charter transport for tourists to get around. 

The impacts of transport on tourism

Compared to some of our European competitors such as Switzerland , England has a lack of transport integration and this is compounded by deregulated service provision in areas outside London. This can cause problems for local attractions, accommodations and such like… because if a tourist cannot reach a destination then it I likely to thrive from tourism! 

This is an issue that has been demonstrated time and time again with regards to air transport. Many budget airlines have started up new routes where they fly into destinations that had previously had little business from tourism. This encourages the growth of tourism in the area and it is common for new businesses to open up and to be successful. Should the airline feel that said route, however, is no longer profitable, they will simply remove the route from their operations. This has been known to decimate the tourism industry of an area, which can have devastating impacts on the local economy and livelihoods of local people. 

This is an area where destination organisations can take a lead by ensuring transport is integrated into destination management planning. More can also be done to ensure that individual attractions and organisations that operate a number of sites develop travel plans and provide options to reach them by public transport.

Tourism helps support transport services and infrastructure across the country. Without tourism many areas of England would be likely to lose many of the public transport services that are currently provided and benefit residents as well as visitors.

Benefits particularly apply to remote communities with low population thresholds and in rural areas throughout the country. However, even in popular destinations such as seaside resorts or in the densely populated South East, the transport infrastructure that serves visitors provides benefits to local residents as well.

All in all, it is important to understand the relationship between transport and tourism and the benefits that tourism brings to the economy. One cannot be successful without the other!

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Tourism in the Mediterranean Sea

ISBN : 978-1-80043-901-6 , eISBN : 978-1-80043-900-9

Publication date: 1 March 2021

Tourism sector is one of the main important sectors of the world economy. There are very close, complex and complementary relationships between transport and tourism, in both positive and negative ways. An increase in traffic due to world tourism growth can have adverse effects in terms of congestion, safety and security problems, pollution, etc. But transport is a key element in the tourism industry, facilitating and constraining the development of tourism. In other words, transport is the cause and the effect of the growth of tourism at the same time. There is a close connection between mobility and transport. Mobility is commonly defined as the quality of moving freely. At European level, the right of freedom of movement is ensured by the combined provisions of Articles 45 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (CFR) and Article 3(3) TEU. According to a social approach, the right of movement must be ensured on Community territory within the framework of economic, social and territorial cohesion. Air transport has been transformed from a niche phenomenon to a mass phenomenon thanks to improved mobility, cheap prices of tourists packages and the low-cost airlines, as a result of the liberalization of this sector.

  • Transport-tourism-mobility
  • Sustainable development
  • Low-cost phenomenon
  • Tourist packages
  • Cruise contract

Pellegrino, F. (2021), "Transport and Tourism Relationship", Grasso, F. and Sergi, B.S. (Ed.) Tourism in the Mediterranean Sea , Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 241-256. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80043-900-920211017

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IELTS Podcast

Sample writing travel and transport topics for task 2

Travel and transport is a topic you will have to discuss and write about in your IELTS writing exam.

Although it is not overly complicated, this topic can be a little confusing while under pressure.

That’s why we created a list of exercises to help you prepare yourself for this part of the exam.

Go down the list of exercises and answer the questions like you would in the actual exam.

Travel and transport practice topics

1. In many countries people tend to move overseas or move to a different part of their country after their retirement. Discuss why they do so and what the outcome of this situation is. Provide specific reasons and examples to support your opinion.

2. Some people prefer to use energy-saving modes of transportation like hybrid cars and bicycles. Others prefer the usual mode of transportation like buses and trains because it is fast and efficient. Which mode of transportation do you prefer and why? Use specific reasons and details to support your answer.

3. Low-price airlines lack most of the conveniences of normal air plane flights. However, the prices of the tickets are usually lower. Discuss negative and positive aspects of having lower rates of air plane tickets for travellers. Provide specific reasons and examples to support your response.

4. Is it good for families if parents need to travel a lot in their job or if they need to move to other cities? Is moving to a new location positive for children? Discuss your opinion and support it with specific reasons and examples.

5. Better driver education for better driving habits is more effective than heavier punishments for driving offences. To what extent do you agree or disagree? Use specific reasons and examples to support your position.

6. Some people like to travel outside of their countries. Others would rather travel to the tourist spots in their own country first before travelling abroad. Which do you prefer to do and why? Include specific details and examples to support your choice.

7. Although more and more people use public transport, some city streets are still overcrowded with traffic. How can this problem be solved? Provide specific reasons and examples to support your opinion.

8. People are more mobile nowadays. They seldom live in one city all of their lives. Why do you think this is happening? What are the consequences of this trend? Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of this situation. Provide specific reasons and examples to support your opinion.

9. In some countries the government promotes public transport as the primary means of transportation, and discourages private vehicle ownership. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of this situation. Provide specific reasons and examples to support your opinion.

10. Compared to the past, people can now work in places that are far from their homes because of modern means of transportation. How has this affected the lives of workers? Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of having modern transportation. Support your answer with specific reasons and examples.

11. Recent surveys show increased interest in relocation and travel to other countries. What may be the reasons for this trend, and what will be the possible outcome from this behaviour? Provide examples for your opinion.

For an introduction on how to start IELTS writing task 2 click here.

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transport travel and tourism essay

Tourism Transportation

The transport industry has gained a vital place in the global network system and is one of the most important components of the tourism infrastructure. It now becomes easier for people to travel from one place to another because of the various modes of transportation available.

The earliest forms of transportation in the ancient times were animals on land and sails on the sea. Travel development from the need to survive, to expand and develop trade to far off countries, and the hunger to capture new lands and territories. This was followed by the use of steams and electricity in the nineteenth century followed by internal combustion engines.

Aircraft with the jet engines were introduced in the 1950s . With the development of technology, travel became faster and more and people could travel around the globe.

Since tourism involves the movement of people from their places of residence to the places of tourist attractions, every tourist has to travel to reach the places of interest. Transport is, thus, one of the major components of the tourism industry. To develop any place of tourist attraction there have to be proper, efficient, and safe modes of transportation.

Transportation is vital to tourism. Studies have shown that tourists spend almost 30 to 40 percent of their total holiday expenditure on transportation and the remaining on food, accommodation, and other activities. This aspect once again highlights the importance of transportation.

A tourist can travel by a variety of means. The tourism professional, as well as tourist, should be aware of the various modes of transport available to reach the destination and at the destination.

The various mode of transport can be broadly divided into the following three categories :

  • Air transport
  • Land transport
  • Water transport

Air Transport

Due to the growth of air transport in recent years, long-distance travel has become much simpler and affordable. Distance is now measured in hours and not in kilometers. The world has indeed shrunk and becomes a small village.

The development of air transport mostly occurred after World War I and II. Commercial airlines were created for travelers. Because of increasing air traffic, the commercial sector grows rapidly. Before the World War II, Swissair already was carrying around 14-16 passenger between Zurich to London.

The first commercial service was introduced by KLM, the Dutch Airlines, in 1920 between Amsterdam and London. Commercial air travel grew mostly after World War II. More facilities were introduced and there was more comfort in travel.

Jet flights were inaugurated by Great Britain in the year 1952. In the year 1958 Pan American introduced the Boeing 707 services between Paris and New York. Due to the introduction of jet flights, the year 1959 onward saw a tremendous increase in air traffic. The concept of chartered flights was also introduced during this year.

Jumbo jets have revolutionized travel. A large number of people travel by air because of the speed, comfort, and economy in terms of time saved.

The modern era, thus, is the era of mass air travel. After road transport, air travel is the most popular mode of travel, particularly for international travel. For the business travelers, air transport is more convenient as it saves their precious time and offers a luxurious and hassle-free travel. Many airlines nowadays offer special facilities to the business tourist such as Internet on board.

There two types of airlines . These are following as:

Scheduled airlines operate as regular schedules. Chartered airlines or the non-scheduled airlines operate only when there is a demand, mainly during the tourist seasons. The chartered flights work out cheaper than the scheduled carriers as they are operated only when there is a high load factor. Chartered flights provide cheaper packages to the destination such as Portugal and Spain.

India receives more than 400 chartered flights, especially to Goa. Goa has a maximum number of chartered flights coming in during the months of December to January.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) regulates international air travel. IATA has more than 105 major airlines of the world as its members. IATA regulates the price of tickets on different sectors of travel in the world. The concerned government decides the domestic fares.

The airfares are normally determined on the volume and the air travel demand in an area.

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) is an intergovernmental organization established in the year 1945. Only the government of the country can become a member. The government has to enter into a bilateral agreement for the frequency of flights for operating commercial airlines between them.

Airlines are classified into two broad categories namely small carrier and large carrier . The small carrier also known as commuter airlines have less than 30 seats . The larger carriers, also known as major airlines fly direct routes between the major cities and seat and seat 100 to 800 passengers .

The recent boom in the aviation technology has certainly bought some new development to airlines industry. There has been a major change in the size of the aircraft.

Every year there are a growing number of new airlines being introduced. Because of the growing number of new private airlines, there is stiff competition among them. This has resulted in a considerable reduction in air fairs and has boosted the growth of air traffic. To woo and attract customers, many airlines offer cheaper promotional fares such as excursion fares, group fares, and apex fares.

Million of tonnes of cargo and mail are also handled by the air transport industry.

Road Transport

Humans travel place to place in search of food in the primitive era. They tamed animals such as the dog, ox, horse, camel, reindeer, elephants, etc. for carrying the load and traveling. After the discovery of the wheel, humans developed the cart, the chariot, and the carriage.

Until the seventeenth century, horses were used for traveling. Later on better roads were constructed and some of these roads developed into trade routes, which linked many countries. One of them is the Silk Route which was used for transporting silk from China to Persia and the Blue Gem road from Iran to Afghanistan and India.

Today, the most popular and widely used mode of road travel is the automobile or the car. Road transport is dominated by the automobile, which provides views of the landscape and the freedom to travel. Tourist often travels with their entire family for holidays.

To promote tourism , the vehicle required are coaches and tourist cars. Tourist coaches or buses are preferred for large tourist groups traveling together on a specified tour itinerary. Many tourists prefer to travel in comfort and privacy and hire cars. Cars of various makes and standards are available on a rental basis.

Tourist also uses their own motorcar when holidaying. Cars and coaches carried long distance by train facility is also available in some countries.

The car rental segment of the tourism industry is in a very advanced stage in foreign countries. The client can book a car, himself or through agents, and make it wait at the desired place at the destination. The client can then drive the car himself /herself on reaching the destination.

Rail Transport

The railway is the most economical, convenient, and popular mode of travel especially for long distance travel all over the world. The railroad was invented in the seventeenth century in Germany with wooden tracks. The first steel rail was developed in the USA during the early 1800s . The railways revolutionized transportation and mass movement of people seen in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

The broad gauge lines account for more than 55 percent of the total network and carry 85 percent of total traffic. The steam engines have been replaced by diesel and electric engines which have helped in increasing the speed. Railways have promoted tourism by introducing a special tourist train.

In Europe, the railway systems of six European countries have been clubbed to make rail travel easier for the people of Europe. A rail passenger can buy a ticket in any one country of Europe and travel through six countries. For the foreign tourists, Eurail Passes offer unlimited discounts travel in express trains for periods ranging from a week to three months. In the USA, AMTRAK operates trains.

Water Transport

Humans have been traveling through water since time immemorial and carried good and people from one place to another. The boats progressed from the simple raft with some modifications and improvement and were first used around 6000 BC.

Travel by ship was the only means for traveling overseas until the middle of the twentieth century. The Cunard Steamship Company was formed in 1838 with regular steamship services operating on the North Atlantic. During the World War I, in 1914 the operations of the steamship company had to be suspended. After the World War I, the steamship luxury liners were back to business till World War II.

After the World War II, the large luxury liners again started their operations all over the world and carried passengers and holidaymakers. Some of the linear were very large accommodating up to 1000 passengers and had facilities like swimming pools, cinema halls, shops, casino, etc.

The cruise lines are the new attraction among the tourist. The cruises are booked several months in advance for trips into the tropical and sub-tropical waters of the Hawaii, Caribbean, Mediterranean, etc. Water transport today plays two main roles in travel and tourism namely ferrying and cruising .

Modern vessels such as the wave -piercing, the hydrofoil and the hovercraft are the over the water transport and used for short distance routes.

Water transportation is also used in riverboat travel. The Mississippi River has been a popular tourist river since the first settlers came to the USA. Today, tourists enjoy two or three-day luxury trips along the river. In Europe, the Rhine, winding through the grapes growing areas of Germany, offers similar leisure tourist trips.

Motorized ferries and launches are used over rivers to transport tourists and locals, to transport vehicles, and offer facilities such as car parking, restaurants, viewing decks, etc.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Various Modes of Transport

Tourist has a wide variety of transport options available today. There are several advantages and disadvantages of all the model of transport. These are following as:

Direct root, high speed, quick service, social and political significance, luxurious travel are the advantages of air transportation.

High cost, jet lag, unsuitable for heavy bulk cargo, accidents always fatal, international rule to be observed are the disadvantages of air transportation.

Flexibility, reliable, door to door service, economical, supplements other modes of transport, quick transit for short distances are the advantages of road transport.

Slow speed, carrying capacity limited, accidents, none- AC coaches not so comfortable, comfort depends upon the conditions of roads are the disadvantages of road transport.

Long distance travel cheaper, carrying capacity large, dependable service, quicker than road transportation, ability to view scenery en route is the advantage of railways.

Inflexible, unfit to hilly regions, difficulties in rural areas, dining car facilities not always available are the disadvantage of railways.

Economical, carrying capacity enormously, develops international and coastal trades are the advantages of water transport.

Transportation As An Attraction

To attract customers as well as take them around an attraction, destination developers have used many forms of transport to move people around. These novel modes of transport ensure that major exhibits are viewed in a certain sequence and ensure that the crowd moves through at a reliable pace.

Overcrowding should be avoided at all costs to prevent untoward incidents and to maintain the beauty of the place. Tourist can cover the entire park in a shorter duration with the help of these modes of transport.

Transportation is the most crucial component of the tourism infrastructure. It is required not only for reaching the destination but also visiting the site and moving about at the destination. Variety in modes of transportation adds color to the overall tourism experience.

Unusual forms of transportation are also an attraction such as the cable cars in hilly terrain, the funicular railway, or jet boating. The choice of mode of transport is vast and tourists can choose a mode to suit their budget. They can opt for scheduled or non-scheduled transport such as the hiring of vehicles, boats, coaches or trains so that they can travel with their group.

Essay On Travel

500 words essay on travel.

Travelling is an amazing way to learn a lot of things in life. A lot of people around the world travel every year to many places. Moreover, it is important to travel to humans. Some travel to learn more while some travel to take a break from their life. No matter the reason, travelling opens a big door for us to explore the world beyond our imagination and indulge in many things. Therefore, through this Essay on Travel, we will go through everything that makes travelling great.

essay on travel

Why Do We Travel?

There are a lot of reasons to travel. Some people travel for fun while some do it for education purposes. Similarly, others have business reasons to travel. In order to travel, one must first get an idea of their financial situation and then proceed.

Understanding your own reality helps people make good travel decisions. If people gave enough opportunities to travel, they set out on the journey. People going on educational tours get a first-hand experience of everything they’ve read in the text.

Similarly, people who travel for fun get to experience and indulge in refreshing things which may serve as a stress reducer in their lives. The culture, architecture, cuisine and more of the place can open our mind to new things.

The Benefits of Travelling

There are numerous benefits to travelling if we think about it. The first one being, we get to meet new people. When you meet new people, you get the opportunity to make new friends. It may be a fellow traveller or the local you asked for directions.

Moreover, new age technology has made it easier to keep in touch with them. Thus, it offers not only a great way to understand human nature but also explore new places with those friends to make your trip easy.

Similar to this benefit, travelling makes it easier to understand people. You will learn how other people eat, speak, live and more. When you get out of your comfort zone, you will become more sensitive towards other cultures and the people.

Another important factor which we learn when we travel is learning new skills. When you go to hilly areas, you will most likely trek and thus, trekking will be a new skill added to your list.

Similarly, scuba diving or more can also be learned while travelling. A very important thing which travelling teaches us is to enjoy nature. It helps us appreciate the true beauty of the earth .

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Conclusion of the Essay on Travel

All in all, it is no less than a blessing to be able to travel. Many people are not privileged enough to do that. Those who do get the chance, it brings excitement in their lives and teaches them new things. No matter how a travelling experience may go, whether good or bad, it will definitely help you learn.

FAQ on Essay on Travel

Question 1: Why is it advantageous to travel?

Answer 1: Real experiences always have better value. When we travel to a city, in a different country, it allows us to learn about a new culture, new language, new lifestyle, and new peoples. Sometimes, it is the best teacher to understand the world.

Question 2: Why is travelling essential?

Answer 2: Travelling is an incredibly vital part of life. It is the best way to break your monotonous routine and experience life in different ways. Moreover, it is also a good remedy for stress, anxiety and depression.

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Chapter 2. Transportation

Morgan Westcott

Learning Objectives

  • Understand the role of transportation in the tourism industry
  • Recognize milestones in the development of the air industry and explain how profitability is measured in this sector
  • Report on the historic importance of rail travel and challenges to rail operations today
  • Describe water-based transportation segments including cruise travel and passenger ferries
  • Recognize the importance of transportation infrastructure in tourism destinations
  • Specify elements of sightseeing transportation, and explain current issues regarding rental vehicles and taxis
  • Identify and relate industry trends and issues including fuel costs, environmental impacts, and changing weather

The transportation sector is vital to the success of our industry. Put simply, if we can’t move people from place to place — whether by air, sea, or land — we don’t have an industry. This chapter takes a broad approach, covering each segment of the transportation sector globally, nationally, and at home in British Columbia.

Let’s start our review by taking a look at the airline industry.

According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), in 2014, airlines transported 3.3 billion people across a network of almost 50,000 routes generating 58 million jobs and $2.4 trillion in business activity (International Air Transport Association, 2014a).

Spotlight On: International Air Transport Association

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is the trade association for the world’s airlines, representing around 240 airlines or 84% of total air traffic. It supports many areas of aviation activity and helps formulate industry policy on critical aviation issues (IATA, 2014b). For more information, visit the  International Air Transport Association website : http://www.iata.org

The first commercial (paid) passenger flight took place in Florida on New Year’s Day 1914 as a single person was transported across Tampa Bay (IATA 2014a). There have been a number of international aviation milestones since that flight, as illustrated in Table 2.1.

Rules and Regulations

Aviation is a highly regulated industry as it crosses many government jurisdictions. This section explores key airline regulations in more detail.

The contrail from a plane streaks across a blue sky.

The term open skies refers to policies that allow national airlines to fly to, and above, other countries. These policies lift restrictions where countries have good relationships, freeing up the travel of passengers and goods.

Take a Closer Look: The 1944 Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation

This document contains the original statements from the convention that created the airline industry as we know it, providing a preamble statement as well as detailed articles pertaining to a range of issues from cabotage to pilotless aircraft. Read the 1944 Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation [PDF] : www.icao.int/publications/Documents/7300_orig.pdf

Canada’s approach to open skies is the Blue Sky Policy , first implemented in 2006. The National Airlines Council of Canada (NACC) and Canadian Airports Council (CAC) support the Blue Sky Policy.

While opening up a ir transport agreements (ATAs) with other jurisdictions is important, the Canadian government doesn’t provide blanket arrangements, instead negotiating “when it is in Canada’s overall interest to do so” (Government of Canada, 2014a). Some su ggest the government should be more liberal with air access so more competitors can enter the market, potentially attracting more visitors to the country (Gill and Raynor, 2003).

Taxes and Fees

According to a 2012 Senate study on issues related to the Canadian airline industry, Canadian travellers are being grounded by airline fees, fuel surcharges, security taxes, airport improvement fees, and other additional costs. Airports are charged rental fees by the Canadian government ($4.8 billion from 1992 to 2004), which they pass on to the airlines, who in turn transfer the costs to travellers. Some think eliminating rental fees would make Canadian airports more competitive, and view rental and other fees as the reason 5 million Canadians went south of the border for flights in 2013, where passenger fees are 230% lower than in Canada (Hermiston and Steele, 2014).

Profitability

Running an airline is like having a baby: fun to conceive, but hell to deliver. – C. E. Woolman, principal founder of Delta Air Lines ( The Economist , 2011).

As the quote above suggests, airlines are faced with many challenges. In addition to operating in a strict regulatory environment, airlines yield extremely small profit margins. In 2013 the industry accumulated $10.6 billion worldwide in revenues, although global profit margins were just 1.5% (IATA, 2014a). To put that into perspective, while the average airline earned 1.5%, Apple’s profit margins were almost 14 times that at 20.15% (YCharts, 2014).

Passenger Load Factor

Key to airline profitability is passenger load factor , which relates how efficiently planes are being used. Load factor for a single flight can be determined by dividing the number of passengers by the number of seats.

A two-decker plane picks up speed on a runway.

Passenger load factors in the airline industry reached a record high in 2013, at just under 80%, which was attributed to increased volumes and strong capacity management in key sectors (IATA, 2104a). One way of increasing capacity is by using larger aircraft. For instance, the introduction of the Airbus A380 model has allowed up to 40% more capacity per flight, carrying up to  525 passengers in a three-class configuration, and up to 853 in a single-class configuration (Airbus, 2014). 

Low-Cost Carriers

Another key factor in profitability is the airline’s business model. In 1971, Southwest Airlines became the first low-cost carrier (LCC), revolutionizing the industry. The LCC model involved charging for all extras such as reserved seating, baggage, and on-board service, and cutting costs by offering less legroom and using non-unionized workforces. Typically, an LCC has to run with  90% full planes to break even (Owram, 2014). The high-volume, lower-service system is what we have become used to today, but at the time it was introduced, it was groundbreaking.

Ancillary Revenues

The LCC model, combined with tight margins, led to today’s climate where passengers are charged for value-added services such as meals, headsets, blankets, seat selection, and bag checking. These are known in the industry as ancillary revenues . Profits from these extras rose from $36 billion in 2012 to $42 billion in 2013, or more than $13 a passenger. An average net profit of only $3.39 per passenger was retained by airlines (IATA, 2014a).

As you can see, airlines must strive to maintain profitability, despite thin margins, in an environment with heavy government regulation. But at the same time, they must be responsible for the safety of their passengers.

Air Safety and Security

IATA encourages airlines to view safety from a number of points, including reducing operational risks such as plane crashes, by running safety audit programs. They also advocate for improved infrastructure such as runway upgrades and training for pilots and other crew. Finally, they strive to understand emerging safety issues, including the outsourcing of operations to third-party companies (IATA, 2014a).

In terms of security, coordination between programs such as the Interpol Stolen and Lost Travel Documents initiative and other databases is critical (IATA, 2014a). As reservations and management systems become increasingly computerized, cyber-security becomes a top concern for airlines, who must protect IT (information technology) because their databases contain information about flights and passengers’ personal information. Unruly passengers are also a cause of concern, with over 8,000 incidents reported worldwide every year (IATA, 2014a).

Now that we have a better sense of the complexities of the industry, let’s take a closer look at air travel in Canada and the regional air industry.

Canada’s Air Industry

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In 1937, Trans-Canada Air Lines (later to become Air Canada) was launched with two passenger planes and one mail plane. By the 1950s,   Canadian Pacific Airlines (CP Air) entered the marketplace, and an economic boom led to more affordable tickets. Around this time CP Air (which became Canadian Airlines in 1987) launched flights to Australia, Japan, and South America (Canadian Geographic, 2000). In 2001, Canadian Airlines International was acquired by Air Canada (Aviation Safety Network, 2012).

In 1996, the marketplace changed drastically with the entry of an Alberta-based LCC called WestJet.  By 2014, WestJet had grown to become Canada’s second major airline with more than 9,700 staff flying to 88 destinations across domestic and international networks (WestJet, 2014).

As it grew, WestJet began to offer services such as premium economy class and a frequent-flyer program, launched a regional carrier, and introduced transatlantic flights with service to Dublin, Ireland, evolving away from the LCC model (Owram, 2014). With those changes, and in the absence of  a true low-cost carrier, in 2014, some other companies, such as Canada Jetlines and JetNaked, sought to raise upward of $50 million to bring their airlines to market.

However, outside of Air Canada and WestJet, airlines in Canada have found it very challenging to survive, and some examples of LCC startups like Harmony Airways and Jetsgo have fallen by the wayside.

Challenges to Canada’s Air Industry

When looking at these failed airlines in Canada, three key challenges to success can be identified (Owram, 2014):

  • Canada’s large geographical size and sparse population mean relatively low demand for flights.
  • Canada’s higher taxes and fees compared with other jurisdictions (such as the United States) make pricing less competitive.
  • Canada’s two dominant airlines are able to price new entrants out of the market.

In addition to these factors, the European debt crisis, a slow US economic recovery, more cautious spending by Canadians, and fuel price increases led to a $900 million industry loss in 2011 (Conference Board of Canada, 2012) prior to the industry returning to profitability in 2013.

Take a Closer Look: One Size Doesn’t Fit All

In 2013, a special report to the Canadian Senate explored the concept that one size doesn’t fit all when it comes to competitiveness in the country’s airline industry. The report contains general observations about the industry as well as a number of recommendations to stakeholders, including airport managers. Read the report: “One Size Doesn’t Fit All: the Future Growth and Competitiveness of Canadian Air Travel” [PDF] : www.parl.gc.ca/Content/SEN/Committee/411/trcm/rep/rep08apr13-e.pdf

Today, the Canadian airline industry directly employs roughly 141,000 people and is worth $34.9 billion in gross domestic product. It supports 330 jobs for every 100,000 passengers and contributes over $12 billion to federal and provincial treasuries, including over $7 billion in taxes (Gill and Raynor, 2013).

Let’s now turn our attention to the regional air market, focusing on British Columbia.

Regional Airlines

Transportation in BC has always been difficult: incomplete road systems and rugged terrain historically made travel between communities almost impossible. In 1927, a number of businessmen promised to change all that when they opened British Columbia Airways in Victoria with the purchase of a commercial airliner (Canadian Museum of Flight, 2014).

As commercial flying became more popular, and the province grew, regional airports started to spring up around BC as a means of delivering surveying equipment, forestry supplies, and workers. Many of these airports were legacies of Canada’s strategic position for the military. Fort Nelson’s airport, for instance, was established so the US Air Force could fuel aircraft bound for Russia in World War II (Northern Rockies Regional Airport, 2014).

In 1994, Transport Canada transferred all 150 airports under its control to local authorities under the National Airports Policy (NAP). This policy is considered to have been a turning point in the privatization of the airline industry in Canada. A 2004 study showed that after 10 years, 48% of these airports were not able to cover annual costs of operation, leading to concerns about the viability of small local airports in particular (InterVISTAS, 2005).

In 2012, the BC government released its aviation strategy, entitled Connecting with the World , which acknowledged the economic challenges for airports large and small. These range from Vancouver International Airport (YVR), which supports more than 61,000 jobs and creates more than $11 billion in economic activity each year, through to regional and local airports. The strategy outlined a framework to remove barriers to aviation growth including potentially eliminating the two-cent-per-litre International Aviation Fuel Tax ( British Columbia Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure , 2012).

Given a highly complex regulatory environment, razor-thin profit margins, and intense competition, the airline industry is constantly changing and evolving at global, national, and regional levels. But one thing is certain: air travel is here to stay.

On the other hand, the rail industry has been faced with significant declines since air travel became accessible to the masses. Let’s learn more about this sector.

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In Chapter 1, we looked at the historic significance of railways as they laid the foundation for the modern tourism industry. That’s because in many places, including Canada and British Columbia, trains were an unprecedented way to move people across vast expanses of land. With the Canadian Pacific company opening up hotels in major cities, BC’s hospitality sector was born and a golden age of rail travel emerged.

However, starting in the 1940s and 1950s, the passenger rail industry began to decline sharply. In 1945, Canadian railways carried 55.4 million passengers, but just 10 years later passenger traffic had dropped to 27.2 million. The creation of VIA Rail in 1977 as a Canadian Crown corporation was an attempt by the government to ensure rail travel did not disappear, but in the years since its founding VIA has struggled, relying heavily on federal subsidies in order to continue operations.

Between 1989 and 1990, VIA lost over 45% of its ridership when it cut unprofitable routes, focusing on areas with better potential for revenue and passenger volumes. From there, annual ridership has stabilized at around 3.5 million to 4.0 million passengers per year, slowly increasing throughout the 1990s and 2000s (Dupuis, 2011).

Despite this slight recovery, there are a number of challenges for passenger rail in Canada, which will likely require continued government support to survive. Three key challenges to a successful passenger rail industry are:

  • Passenger rail must negotiate with freight for right-of-use of tracks.
  • There is limited potential of routes (with the highest volume existing in the Quebec-Windsor corridor).
  • Fixed-cost equipment is aging out, requiring replacement or upgrading.

High-speed rail seems like an attractive option, but would be expensive to construct as existing tracks aren’t suitable for the reasons given above. It’s also unlikely to provide high enough returns to private investors (Dupuis, 2011). This means the Canadian government would have to invest heavily in a rapid rail project for it to proceed. As of 2014, no such investment was planned.

Spotlight On: Rocky Mountaineer Rail Tours

Founded in 1990, Rocky Mountaineer offers three train journeys through BC and Alberta to Banff, Lake Louise, Jasper, and Calgary, and one train excursion from Vancouver to Whistler. In 2013, Rocky Mountaineer introduced Coastal Passage, a new route connecting Seattle to the Canadian Rockies that can be added to any two-day or more rail journey (Rocky Mountaineer, 2014). For more information, please visit the Rocky Mountaineer website : http://www.rockymountaineer.com

While the industry overall has been in a decline, touring companies like Rocky Mountaineer have found a financially successful model by shifting the focus from transportation to the sightseeing experience. The company has weathered financial storms by refusing to discount their luxury product, instead focusing on the unique experiences. The long planning cycle for scenic rail packages has helped the company stand their ground in terms of pricing (Cubbon, 2010).

Rail Safety

In Canada, rail safety is governed by the Railway Safety Act , which ensures safe railway operation and amends other laws that relate to rail safety (Government of Canada, 2014b). The Act is overseen by the Minister of Transport. It covers grade crossings, mining and construction near railways, operating certifications, financial penalties for infractions, and safety management.

The Act was revised in late 2014 in response to the massive rail accident in July 2013 in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec. A runaway oil train exploded, killing 47 people, and subsequently MM&A Railway and three employees, including the train’s engineer, were charged with criminal negligence (CBC News, 2014).

In addition to freight management issues, a key rail safety concern is that of crossings. As recently as April 2014, Transport Canada had to issue orders for improved safety measures at crossings in suburban Ottawa after a signal malfunctioned in the area (CTV News, 2014a). According to Operation Lifesaver Canada (2014), in 2011, there were 169 crossing collisions across Canada, with 25 fatalities and 21 serious injuries. In general, however, Canada’s 73,000 kilometres of railway tracks safely transport both people and goods. And while railways in Canada, and elsewhere, are being forced to innovate, companies like Rocky Mountaineer (see Spotlight On above) give the industry glimmers of hope.

The rail industry shares some common history with the cruise sector. Let’s now turn our focus to the water and learn about the evolution of travel on the high seas.

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Travel by water is as old as civilization itself. However, the industry as we know it began when Thomas Newcomen invented the steam engine in 1712. The first crossing of the Atlantic by steam engine took place in 1819 aboard the SS Savannah , landing in Liverpool, England, after 29 days at sea. Forty years later, White Star Lines began building ocean liners including the  Olympic -class ships (the Olympic, Britannic , and Titanic ), expanding on previously utilitarian models by adding luxurious amenities (Briggs, 2008).

A boom in passenger ship travel toward the end of the 1800s was aided by a growing influx of immigrants from Europe to America, while more affluent passengers travelled by steamship for pleasure or business. The industry grew over time but, like rail travel, began to decline after the arrival of airlines. Shipping companies were forced to change their business model from pure transportation to “an experience,” and the modern cruise industry was born.

The Cruise Sector

We’ve come a long way since the Olympic class of steamship. Today, the  world’s largest cruise ship, MS  Oasis of the Seas , has an outdoor park with 12,000 plants, an 82-foot zip wire, and a high-diving performance venue. It’s 20 storeys tall and can hold 5,400 passengers and a crew of up to 2,394 (Magrath, 2014).  A crew on a cruise ship will include the captain, the chief officer (in charge of training and maintenance), staff captain, chief engineer, chief medical officer, and chief radio officer (communication, radar, and weather monitoring).

Spotlight On: Cruise Lines International Association

Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) is the world’s largest cruise industry trade association with representation in North and South America, Europe, Asia, and Australasia. CLIA represents the interests of cruise lines and travel agents in the development of policy. CLIA is also engaged in travel agent training, research, and marketing communications (CLIA, 2014). For more information on CLIA, the cruise industry, and member cruise lines and travel agencies, visit the Cruise Lines International Association website : www.cruising.org

Cruising the World

According to CLIA, 21.7 million passengers were expected to travel worldwide on 63 member lines in 2014. Given increased demand, 24 new ships were expected in 2014-15, adding a total capacity of over 37,000 passengers.

Over 55% of the world’s cruise passengers are from North America, and the leading destinations (based on ship deployments), according to CLIA, are:

  • The Caribbean (37%)
  • The Mediterranean (19%)
  • Northern Europe (11%)
  • Australia/New Zealand (6%)
  • Alaska (5%)
  • South America (3%)

River Cruising

While mass cruises to destinations like the Caribbean remain incredibly popular, river cruises are emerging as another strong segment of the industry. The key differences between river cruises and ocean cruises are (Hill, 2013):

  • River cruise ships are smaller (400 feet long by 40 feet wide on average) and can navigate narrow passages.
  • River cruises carry fewer passengers (about 10% of the average cruise, or 200 passengers total).
  • Beer, wine, and high-end cuisine are generally offered in the standard package.

The price point for river cruises is around the same as ocean trips, with the typical cost ranging from $2,000 to $4,000, depending on the itinerary, accommodations, and other amenities.

From 2008 to 2013, river cruises saw a 10% annual passenger increase. Europe leads the subcategory, while emerging destinations include a cruise route along China’s Yangtze River. As the on-board experience differs greatly from a larger cruise (no play areas, water parks, or on-board stage productions), the target demographic for river cruises is 50- to 70-year-olds. According to Torstein Hagen, founder and chairman of Viking, an international river cruising company, “with river cruises, a destination is the destination,” although many river cruises are themed around cultural or historical events (Hill, 2013).

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Cruising in Canada

According to a study completed for the North West & Canada Cruise Association (NWCCA) and its partners, in 2012, approximately 1,100 cruise ship calls were made at Canadian cruise ports generating slightly more than 2 million passenger arrivals throughout the six-month cruise season (BREA, 2013). The study found three key cruise itineraries in Canada:

  • Canada/New England
  • Quebec (between Montreal and Quebec City and US ports)
  • Alaska (either departing from, or using, Vancouver or another BC city as a port of call)

These generated $1.16 billion in direct spending. Cruising also generated almost 10,000 full- and part-time jobs paying $397 million in wages and salaries. The international cruise industry also generated an estimated $269 million in indirect business and income taxes in Canada, and the majority of this spending was in British Columbia (BREA, 2013).

Cruising BC

BC’s rail history and cruise history are intertwined. As early as 1887, Canadian Pacific Railway began offering steamship passage to destinations such as Hawaii, Shanghai, Alaska, and Seattle. Ninety-nine years later, Vancouver’s Canada Place was built, with its cruise ship terminals, allowing the province to attract large ships and capture its share of the growing international cruise industry (Cruise BC, 2014).

Spotlight On: Cruise BC

Cruise BC is a partnership between BC port destinations designed to provide a vehicle for cooperative marketing and development of BC’s cruise sector. Their vision is that the West Coast and British Columbia’s coastal communities are recognized and sought out globally by cruise lines and passengers as a destination of choice. For more information, visit the Cruise BC website : http://www.cruisebc.ca

This potential continues to grow as Nanaimo, Prince Rupert, Victoria, and Vancouver accounted for 57% of the Canadian cruise passenger traffic with 1.18 million passengers in 2012 (BREA, 2013).

Cruising isn’t the only way for visitors to experience the waters of BC. In fact, the vast majority of our water travel is done by ferry. Let’s take a closer look at this vital component of BC’s transportation infrastructure.

Ferry service in British Columbia dates back to the mid-1800s when the Hudson’s Bay Company ran ships between Vancouver Island and the Mainland. Later, CP Rail and Black Ball ferries ran a private service, until 1958 when Premier W.A.C. Bennett announced the BC Ferry Authority would consolidate the ferries under a provincial mandate.

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The MV Tsawwassen and the MV Sidney began regular service on June 15, 1960, and BC Ferries was officially launched with two terminals and around 200 employees. Today, there are 35 vessels, 47 destinations, and up to 4,700 employees in the summer peak season (BC Ferries, 2014).

BC isn’t the only destination where ferries make up part of the transportation experience. In 2011, Travel + Leisure Magazine profiled several notable ferry journeys in the article, “World’s Most Beautiful Ferry Rides” including:

  • An 800-mile ferry voyage through Chile’s Patagonian fjords
  • A three-mile trip from the Egyptian Spice Market to Istanbul, Turkey
  • Urban ferry rides including Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour, Australia’s Sydney Harbour, and New York City’s Staten Island Ferry

The article also featured the 15-hour trip from Port Hardy to Prince Rupert on British Columbia’s coast (Orcutt, 2011).

While cruising is often a pleasant and relaxing experience, there are a number of safety concerns for vessels of all types.

Cruise and Ferry Safety

One of the major concerns on cruise lines is disease outbreak, specifically the norovirus (a stomach flu), which can spread quickly on cruise ships as passengers are so close together. The US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) vessel sanitation program (http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/vsp/default.htm) is designed to help the industry prevent and control the outset, and spreading, of these types of illnesses (Briggs, 2008).

Accidents are also a concern. In 2006, the BC Ferries vessel MV Queen of the North crashed and sank in the Inside Passage, leaving two passengers missing and presumed dead. The ship’s navigating officer was charged with criminal negligence causing their deaths (Keller, 2013). More recently, a “hard landing” at Duke Point terminal on Vancouver Island caused over $4 million in damage. BC Ferries launched a suit against a German engineering firm in late 2013, alleging a piece of equipment failed, making a smooth docking impossible. The Transportation Safety Board found that staff aboard the ship didn’t follow proper docking procedures, however, which contributed to the crash (Canadian Press, 2013).

Spotlight On: The Transportation Safety Board  

The Transportation Safety Board (TSB) investigates marine, pipeline, rail, and air incidents. It is an independent agency that reviews an average of 3,200 events every year. It does not determine liability; however, coroners and medical examiners may use TSB findings in their investigations. The head office in Quebec manages 220 staff across the country. For more information, visit the Transportation Safety Board website : http://www.bst-tsb.gc.ca/eng/index.asp

We’ve covered the skies, the rails, and the seas. Now let’s round out our investigation of transportation in tourism by delving into travel on land.

While much of this text has placed significance on the emergence of the railways as critical to the development of our industry, BC’s roadways have also played an integral role. Our roads have evolved from First Nations trails, to Fur Trade and Gold Rush routes, to Wagon Roads and Trunk Roads — finally becoming the highway system we know today ( British Columbia Ministry of Transportation and Highways , n.d.).

Take a Closer Look: Frontier to Freeway: A Short Illustrated History of the Roads in British Columbia

This short book, available as a PDF, provides an overview of the integral importance of BC’s evolving roadways in our transportation sector. Read this book: Frontier to Freeway: A Short Illustrated History of the Roads in British Columbia [PDF] : http://www.th.gov.bc.ca/publications/frontiertofreeway/frontiertofreeway.pdf

Today, land-based travel is achieved through a complex web of local transit, taxis, rentals, walking, and short-term sightseeing. This section briefly explores these options.

Scenic and Sightseeing Travel

It’s common for visitors to want to explore a community and appreciate the sights. We’ve already learned a little about the rail-based sightseeing company, Rocky Mountaineer. Many destinations also offer short-term, hop-on-hop-off bus and trolley tours. Others feature trams and trolleys. Outside of impromptu excursions, sightseeing tours are often put together by inbound tour operators. You can learn more about tour operators, and the sightseeing sector, in Chapter 7.

Transit and Destination Infrastructure

Vancouver’s Tourism Master Plan acknowledges the importance of transportation infrastructure to the tourism industry. Priorities for future development by the city include (Tourism Vancouver, 2013):

  • Improving accessibility for people with disabilities
  • Creating a transit loop between downtown attractions
  • Supporting ferries in False Creek
  • Providing late-night transit
  • Investigating and implementing a public bike share
  • Developing more transit options along the Broadway corridor
  • Working with taxi companies to explore a strategic plan for taxi operations
  • Enhancing walkability by implementing recommendations from the Pedestrian Safety Study and Action Plan

These action items were developed in consultation with industry stakeholders as well as residents, and reflect the interrelated elements that make up a destination’s transportation infrastructure.

Rentals and Taxis

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Today, when travellers aren’t using their own cars, automobile travel is traditionally split between rental vehicles and taxis (including limousines).

In North America, there are three main brands that represent approximately 85% of the rental car business: Enterprise (includes National and Alamo), Hertz (includes Dollar and Thrifty), and Avis. One of the reasons that brands have consolidated over time is the high fixed cost of operation as vehicles are purchased, maintained, and disposed of. Fierce competition means prices are checked and updated thousands of times a day. The business is also highly seasonal, with high traffic in summer and spring, and so fleet management is critical for profitability. Rental companies tend to use enplanements (the numbers of passengers travelling by air), as a measurement of market trends that influence rental usage (DBRS, 2010).

In BC, taxi licences are issued by the BC Passenger Transportation Board. In Vancouver, the right to operate a taxi is based on a permit system, and each permit costs the original holder $100. But because of the limited number of permits available, those who hold one are able to auction it off for over $800,000 and keep the profit. As a result, passengers in Vancouver paid an average of 73% more for the equivalent trip in Washington, D.C. Drivers from  areas outside the city depositing passengers in Vancouver are also not permitted to pick up fares on the return trip, having to drive across their boundaries (Proctor, 2014).

Ridesharing apps  like Uber, which allow people to find a ride using their mobile phone, have emerged to exert influence on car travel in key destinations. In San Francisco, these apps have rapidly undercut the taxi industry: according to the city’s transit authority, per month, trips by taxi have plummeted from 1,424 in 2012 to 504 in 2014, even though taxi operators maintain a monopoly over rides from the airport (Kuittinen, 2014). In New York City, however, the price of medallions (similar to Vancouver’s taxi permits) continues to hover above $950,000. In large markets like Manhattan, passengers continue to hail cabs on the street in the moment, with e-hails (electronic taxi hails) at 0.17% of the market (Brustein & Winter, 2014). The City of Vancouver opted to force Uber to roll back after its initial release, and in 2014 placed the app on a six-month moratorium after pressure from taxi operators who cited threats to the values of their licences as well as safety and monitoring concerns (CTV News, 2014b).

As this and other examples illustrate, the transportation sector is vulnerable to regulatory, technological, operational, and business trends. Let’s look at these in more detail.

Trends and Issues

This section explores issues directly relating to transportation today including fuel cost, labour, and environmental impacts. For more information on one of the biggest trends in tourism, online travel agencies (OTAs), and how online bookings impact the transportation sector, please see Chapter 7.

When it comes to moving people, fuel cost is critical. The cost of jet fuel is one of the single highest factors in airline profitability. In 2013, the average cost was around $125 per barrel, which was $5 less than the previous year (IATA, 2014a). Cruise ships consume a lower grade of diesel than do land vehicles, but they consume a lot of it. The QE2 , for example, consumes roughly 380 tonnes of fuel every day if travelling at 28.5 knots (Briggs, 2008).

As in all tourism-related sectors, cyclical labour shortages can significantly impact the transportation industry. In the aviation sector, a forecast found that by 2032 the world’s airlines will need 460,000 additional pilots and 650,000 new maintenance technicians to service current and future aircraft. The drive to find employees also extends to the maritime sector, where the International Maritime Organization (IMO) launched a “Go to sea!” campaign to attract more workers to the field (PWC, 2012).

Environmental Impacts

In addition to fuel and labour costs, and regulations we’ve covered already, the transportation sector has a significant impact on the natural environment.

Air Impacts

According to the David Suzuki Foundation (2014), the aviation industry is responsible for 4% to 9% of climate change impacts, and greenhouse gas emissions from flights have risen 83% since 1990. Airline travel has a greater emissions impact than driving or taking the train per passenger kilometre, which caused a bishop in the UK to famously declare that “Making selfish choices such as flying on holiday [is] a symptom of sin” (Barrow, 2006).

Rail Impacts

Rail travel is widely regarded as one of the most environmentally friendly modes of transportation due to its low carbon dioxide emissions. Railways come under fire outside of the tourism realm, however, as freight shipping can produce hazards to resident health including an increased risk of developing cancer and noise pollution (The Impact Project, 2012).

Cruise Impacts

Cruise ships can generate significant pollution from black water (containing human waste), grey water (runoff from showers, dishwashers, sinks), bilge water (from the lowest compartment of the ship), solid waste (trash), and chemical waste (cleaners, solvents, oil). One ship can create almost a million litres of grey water, over 113,000 litres of black water, and over 140,000 litres of bilge water every day. Depending on the regulations in the operating areas, ships can simply dump this waste directly into the ocean. Ballast tanks, filled to keep the ship afloat, can be contaminated with species which are then transported to other areas, disrupting sensitive ecosystems (Briggs, 2008).

Land Impacts

A recent study found that the impact of travel on land is highly dependent on the number of passengers. Whereas travelling alone in a large SUV can have high emissions per person (as high as flying), increasing the number of passengers, and using a smaller vehicle, can bring the impact down to that of train travel ( Science Daily , 2013).

For more information on the environmental impacts of the transportation sector, and how to mitigate these, read Chapter 10.

As you’ve learned, the transportation sector can have an effect on climate change, and changes in weather have a strong effect on transportation. According to Natural Resources Canada (2013), some of these include:

  • More drastic freeze-thaw cycles, destroying pavement and causing ruts in asphalt
  • Increased precipitation causing landslides, washing out roads, and derailing trains
  • Effects and costs of additional de-icing chemicals deployed on aircraft and runways (over 50 million litres were used worldwide in 2013)
  • Delayed flights and sailings due to increased storm activity
  • Millions of dollars of infrastructure upgrades required as sea levels increase and flood structures (replacing or relocating bridges, tunnels, ports, docks, dykes, helipads and airports)

The threat of climate change could significantly impact sea-level airports such as YVR, and some 50 additional registered airports across Canada that sit at five metres or less above sea level (Natural Resources Canada, 2013).

For this reason, it’s important that the sector continue to press for innovations and greener transportation choices, if only to ensure future financial costs are kept at bay.

An air plane on a wet runway with lightning in the background.

Tourism, freight, and resource industries such as forestry and mining sometimes compete for highways, waterways, and airways.  It’s important for governments to engage with various stakeholders and attempt to juggle various economic priorities — and for tourism to be at the table during these discussions.

That’s why in 2015 the BC Ministry of Transportation released its 10-year plan, BC on the Move . Groups like the Tourism Industry Association of BC actively polled their members in order to have their concerns incorporated into the plan. These included highway signage and wayfaring, the future of BC Ferries, and urban infrastructure improvements.

You can view the plan by visiting  http://engage.gov.bc.ca/transportationplan/

This chapter has taken a brief look at one of the most complex, and vital, components of our industry. Chapter 3 covers accommodations and is just as essential.

  • Ancillary revenues: money earned on non-essential components of the transportation experience including headsets, blankets, and meals
  • Blue Sky Policy: Canada’s approach to open skies agreements that govern which countries’ airlines are allowed to fly to, and from, Canadian destinations
  • Cruise BC: a multi-stakeholder organization responsible for the development and marketing of British Columbia as a cruise destination
  • Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA): the world’s largest cruise industry trade association with representation in North and South America, Europe, Asia, and Australasia
  • International Air Transport Association (IATA) : the trade association for the world’s airlines
  • Low-cost carrier (LCC): an airline that competes on price, cutting amenities and striving for volume to achieve a profit
  • National Airports Policy (NAP): the 1994 policy that saw transfer of 150 airports from federal control to communities and other local agencies, essentially deregulating the industry
  • Open skies: a set of policies that enable commercial airlines to fly in and out of other countries
  • Passenger load factor: a way of measuring how efficiently a transportation company uses its vehicles on any given day, calculated for a single flight by dividing the number of passengers by the number of seats
  • Railway Safety Act: a 1985 Act to ensure the safe operation of railways in Canada
  • Ridesharing apps: applications for mobile devices that allow users to share rides with strangers, undercutting the taxi industry
  • Transportation Safety Board (TSB): the national independent agency that investigates an average of 3,200 transportation safety incidents across the country every year
  • When did the first paid air passenger take flight? What would you say have been the three biggest milestones in commercial aviation since that date?
  • If a flight with 500 available seats carries 300 passengers, what is the passenger load factor?
  • Why is it difficult for new airlines to take off in Canada?
  • How did some of BC’s regional airports come into existence? What are some of the challenges they face today?
  • How much economic activity is generated by YVR every year?
  • What are the key differences between river cruises and ocean cruises? Who are the target markets for these cruises?
  • Which cities attract more than 50% of the cruise traffic in Canada?
  • What are the priorities for transportation infrastructure development as outlined in Vancouver’s Tourism Master Plan? What other transportation components would you include in your community’s tourism plan?
  • What are some of the environmental impacts of the transportation sector? Name three. How might these be lessened?

Case Study: Air North

Founded in 1977 by Joseph Sparling and Tom Wood, Air North is a regional airline providing passenger and cargo service between Yukon and destinations including BC, Alberta, and Alaska. In 2012, Air North surpassed one million passengers carried. Employing over 200 people, the airline is owned in significant part by the Vuntut Development Corporation, the economic arm of the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation (VGFN). In fact, one in 15 Yukoners owns a stake in the airline (Air North, 2015).

The ownership model has meant that economic returns are not always the priority for shareholders. As stated on its website, “ the maximization of profit is not the number one priority,” as air service is a “lifeline” to the VGFN community. For this reason, service and pricing of flights is extremely important, as are employment opportunities. 

Visit the corporate information portion of the Air North website and answer the following questions: http://www.flyairnorth.com/Experience/about-air-north.aspx

  • What is the number one priority of Air North? How is the company structured to ensure it can meet its goals in this area?
  • What does Air North consider to be its competitive advantage? How does this differ from other airlines?
  • Describe the investment portfolio of the Vuntut Development Corporation. What types of companies does it own? Why might they have selected these types of initiatives?
  • List at least three groups that have a stake in the airline. What are their interests? Where do their interests line up, and where do they compete?
  • In your opinion, would this regional airline model work in your community? Why or why not?

Air North. (2015). Corporate information . Retrieved from www.flyairnorth.com/Experience/Corporate.aspx

Airbus. (2014). A380: Boost your profitability. Retrieved from http://www.airbus.com/aircraftfamilies/passengeraircraft/a380family/

Aviation Safety Network. (2012, March 4). Canadian Airlines International . Retrieved from http://aviation-safety.net/database/operator/airline.php?var=7022

Barrow, Becky. (2006, July 23). Flying on holiday ‘a sin’, says bishop.   Daily Mail Online . Retrieved from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-397228/Flying-holiday-sin-says-bishop.html

BC Ferries. (2014, June 17). BC Ferries proudly celebrates 50 sears of Service . Retrieved from http://www.bcferries.com/about/history/history.html

BREA. (2013, March). The economic contribution of the international cruise industry in Canada 2012 .  Prepared for:  North West & Canada Cruise Association, St. Lawrence Cruise Association, Atlantic Canada Cruise Association, Cruise BC. Exton, PA: Business Research & Economic Advisors, p. 1-5.

Briggs, Josh.  (2008, May 1). How cruise ships work . Retrieved from http://adventure.howstuffworks.com/cruise-ship.htm

British Columbia Ministry of Transportation and Highways. (n.d.). Frontier to freeway: A short illustrated history of the roads in British Columbia. [PDF] Retrieved from http://www.th.gov.bc.ca/publications/frontiertofreeway/frontiertofreeway.pdf

British Columbia Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure. (2012). Connecting with the world: An aviation strategy for British Columbia [PDF] . Retrieved from http://www.th.gov.bc.ca/airports/documents/2012_AviationStrategy.pdf

Brustein, Joshua and Caroline Winter. (2014, February 28). If Uber is killing taxis, what explains the million-dollar medallions.   Business Week . Retrieved from http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-02-28/if-uber-is-killing-taxis-what-explains-new-yorks-million-dollar-medallions

Canadian Geographic . (September/October 2000). Canadian aviation history.  Retrieved from http://www.canadiangeographic.ca/magazine/so00/aviation_history.asp

Canadian Museum of Flight. (2014). The history of flight in BC . Retrieved from http://www.canadianflight.org/content/history-flight-bc-0

Canadian Press. (2013, December 12). BC Ferries crash lawsuit targets electronics firm.   Huffpost British Columbia . Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/12/22/bc-ferries-crash-lawsuit_n_4490818.html

CBC News. (2014, May 12.) MM&A Railway faces charges in Lac-Megantic disaster – Montreal – CBC News . Retrieved from http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/mm-a-railway-faces-charges-in-lac-mégantic-disaster-1.2640654

CLIA. (2014, January 16). The state of the cruise industry in 2014: Global growth in passenger numbers and product offerings . Retrieved from http://www.cruising.org/regulatory/news/press_releases/2014/01/state-cruise-industry-2014-global-growth-passenger-numbers-and-product-o

Conference Board of Canada. (2012, September 13). Canada’s airlines hoping to return to the black in 2013. Retrieved from http://www.conferenceboard.ca/press/newsrelease/12-09-14/canada_s_airlines_hoping_to_return_to_the_black_in_2013.aspx

Cruise BC. (2014). Cruise BC, Canada – Cruise executives . Retrieved from http://www.cruisebc.ca/index.php?page=5

CTV News. (2014a).  Feds order Via Rail to address ‘safety’ issues at 6 Ottawa railway crossings . Retrieved from http://www.ctvnews.ca/business/feds-order-via-rail-to-address-safety-issues-at-6-ottawa-railway-crossings-1.1771156

CTV News. (2014b, October 1). Vancouver delays Uber, new cabs for six months. Retrieved from http://bc.ctvnews.ca/vancouver-delays-uber-new-cabs-for-six-months-1.2034892

Cubbon, Paul. (2010, October 22). Rocky economy can’t derail train company. The Globe and Mail. Retrieved from http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/small-business/rocky-economy-cant-derail-train-company/article1241050/

David Suzuki Foundation. (2014). Air travel and climate change. Retrieved from http://www.davidsuzuki.org/issues/climate-change/science/climate-change-basics/air-travel-and-climate-change/

DBRS. (2010, May). Rating Canadian rental car securitizations . Retrieved from http://www.dbrs.com/research/232631

Dupuis, Jean. (2011, November 16). VIA Rail Canada Inc. and the future of passenger rail in Canada . Ottawa, ON: Library of Parliament. Retrieved from http://www.parl.gc.ca/Content/LOP/ResearchPublications/2011-93-e.htm#a8

Economist, The . (2011, December 22). Business quotations: Our favourite air lines . Retrieved from http://www.economist.com/blogs/gulliver/2011/12/business-quotations

Gill, Vijay and  R. Neil Raynor. (2013, September).  Growing Canada’s economy: A new national air transportation policy . Ottawa, ON: Conference Board of Canada, p. i -4. 

Government of Canada. (2014a, June 5). The Blue Sky Policy: Made in Canada, for Canada – Transport Canada . Retrieved from http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/policy/air-bluesky-menu-2989.htm

Government of Canada. (2014b, September 3). Railway Safety Act (1985, c. 32 (4th Supp.)) – Transport Canada . Retrieved from https://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/acts-regulations/acts-1985s4-32.htm

Hermiston, Sandra and Lynda Steele (2014, August 5). Why it costs so much more to fly in Canada. CTV Vancouver News . Retrieved from http://bc.ctvnews.ca/why-it-costs-so-much-more-to-fly-in-canada-1.1733387

Hill, Catey. (2013, February 1). W hat’s behind the river-cruise boom.   Marketwatch . Retrieved from http://www.marketwatch.com/story/whats-behind-the-river-cruise-boom-2013-02-01

IATA. (2014a, June). IATA annual review 2014. Retrieved from http://www.iata.org/2014-review/reader.html?r=29/569#

IATA. (2014b). IATA-About us. Retrieved from http://www.iata.org/about/pages/index.aspx

Impact Project. (2012, January 20). Tracking harm: Health and environmental impacts of rail yards.  The Impact Project Policy Brief Series. [PDF] Retrieved from http://hydra.usc.edu/scehsc/pdfs/Rail%20issue%20brief.%20January%202012.pdf

InterVISTAS. (2005, April). BC regional airports: A policy guide to viability . [PDF] Prepared for AIM/Council of Tourism Associations, Vancouver, BC. Retrieved from http://www.intervistas.com/downloads/BC_Regional_Airports.pdf

Keller, James. (2013, April 22). Karl Lilgert, Queen of the North officer, explains how ferry crashed.   Huffpost British Columbia . Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/04/22/karl-lilgert-queen-of-the-north_n_3134177.html

Kuittinen, Tero. (2014, September 19). Mobile apps are absolutely murdering San Francisco’s taxi industry. BGR . Retrieved from http://bgr.com/2014/09/19/uber-vs-lyft-vs-taxis/

Magrath, A. (2014, October 15). Longer than the shard and wider than a Boeing 747 wingspan: The world’s largest cruise ship sails into the UK for the first time.   Mail Online . Retrieved from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-2793859/oasis-seas-world-s-largest-cruise-ship-sails-uk-time.html

Natural Resources Canada. (2013, May 15). Impacts on transportation infrastructure . Retrieved from http://www.nrcan.gc.ca/environment/resources/publications/impacts-adaptation/reports/assessments/2004/ch8/10217

Northern Rockies Regional Airport. (2014). History . Retrieved from http://www.flynorthernrockies.ca/history

Operation Lifesaver Canada. (2014). Train safety FAQ. Retrieved from http://www.operationlifesaver.ca/facts-and-stats/train-safety-faq/

Orcutt, April. (2011, November). World’s most beautiful rerry Rides.”   Travel + Leisure . Retrieved from http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/worlds-most-beautiful-ferry-rides

Owram, Kristine. (2014, July 5). Unfriendly skies await proposed low-cost airlines Canada jetlines, jet naked.   The Financial Post . Retrieved from http://business.financialpost.com/2014/07/05/unfriendly-skies-await-proposed-low-cost-airlines-canada-jetlines-jet-naked/#__federated=1

Proctor, Benn. (2014, June 3). Opinion: Time to reform Vancouver’s antiquated taxi industry . The Vancouver Sun. Retrieved from http://www.vancouversun.com/Opinion+Time+reform+Vancouver+antiquated+taxi+industry/9900418/story.html

PWC. (2012). Transportation & Logistics 2030, volume 5: Winning the talent race. [PDF] Retrieved from http://www.pwc.com/en_GX/gx/transportation-logistics/pdf/pwc-tl-2030-volume-5.pdf

Rocky Mountaineer. (2014). Canadian train travel, trips, rail journeys, vacations, holidays. Rocky Mountaineer . Retrieved from http://www.rockymountaineer.com/en_CA_BC/

Science Daily. (2013, June 17). Planes, trains, or automobiles: Travel choices for a smaller carbon footprint. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/06/130617111345.htm

Tourism Vancouver. (2013, June). Vancouver Tourism master plan. [PDF]  Retrieved from http://www.ticketstonight.ca/includes/content/images/media/docs/TMP-Final-doc1.pdf

WestJet. (2014). About WestJet . Retrieved from https://www.westjet.com/guest/en/about/

YCharts. (2014, September). Apple Profit Margin (Quarterly). Retrieved from http://ycharts.com/companies/AAPL/profit_margin

Attributions

Figure 2.1  Sky Jet   by Jez  is used under a  CC-BY-NC-ND 2.0  license.

Figure 2.2  Airbus 380-800  by Ponte112  is used under a  CC-BY-NC-SA 2.0  license.

Figure 2.3  airplane 036   by MamaMia05  is used under a  CC-BY 2.0  license.

Figure 2.4  C.P.R. Mount Stephen House, Field, BC, 1909   by Musee McCord Museum has  No known copyright restrictions .

Figure 2.5  Sunset Cruise   by Evan Leeson  is used under a  CC-BY-NC-SA 2.0  license.

Figure 2.6  Uniworld River Cruises River Beatrice in Passau Germany   by Gary Bembridge  is used under a  CC-BY 2.0  license.

Figure 2.7   BC Ferry   by David Lewis  is used under a  CC-BY-NC-ND 2.0  license.

Figure 2.8 Lincoln Town Car   by Nathan  is used under a  CC-BY-NC-ND 2.0  license.

Figure 2.9  Baltimore Airport   by Lee Ruk  is used under a  CC-BY-SA 2.0  license.

Introduction to Tourism and Hospitality in BC Copyright © 2015 by Morgan Westcott is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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transport travel and tourism essay

The Geography of Transport Systems

The spatial organization of transportation and mobility

B.7 – Tourism and Transport

Author: dr. jean-paul rodrigue.

Tourism, as an economic activity, relies on transportation to bring tourists to destinations, and transportation can be part of the touristic experience.

1. The Emergence of the Tourism Industry

Since the 1970s where tourism became increasingly affordable, the number of international tourists has more than doubled . The expansion of international tourism has a large impact on the discipline of transport geography since it links traffic generation, interactions at different scales (from the local to the global), and the related transportation modes and terminals. As of 2016, 1.2 billion international tourist receipts were accounted for, representing more than 10% of the global population. The industry is also a large employer accounting for 10% of all the global employment; 30 tourist visits are usually associated with one job. 30% of the global trade of services is accounted for by tourism. Tourism dominantly takes place in Europe and North America , but geographical diversification is taking place.

Traveling has always been an important feature, but its function has substantially evolved. Historically, travelers were explorers and merchants looking to learn about regions, potential markets and to find goods and resources. The risks and exoticism associated also attracted the elite that could afford the large expenses and the time required to travel to other remote destinations. Many wrote realistic and even imaginary travel accounts. As time moved on and as transportation became more reliable, traveling became a more mundane activity taking place in an organized environment; tourism. In the modern world, traveling is more centered around annual holidays and can be reasonably well predicted.

As an economic activity, tourism is characterized by a high demand level of elasticity. As transport costs are significant for international transportation, cost fluctuations strongly influence demand. Therefore, transport is a key element in the tourism industry. The demand in international and even national transport infrastructures implies a large number of people to be transported in an efficient, fast, and inexpensive manner. It requires heavy investments and complex organization. Well-organized terminals and planned schedules are essential in promoting adequate transportation facilities for tourists, notably since the industry is growing at a fast rate.

Transport is the cause and the effect of the growth of tourism. First, the improved facilities have incited tourism , and the expansion of tourism has prompted the development of transport infrastructure. Accessibility is the main function behind the basics of tourism transport. In order to access sought-after destinations, tourists have a range of transportation modes that are often used in a sequence. Air transport is the primary mode for international tourism, which usually entails travel over long distances. Growth rates of international air traffic are pegged to growth rates of international tourism.

Transport policies and national regulations can influence destinations available to tourists. One dimension concerns the openness to tourism through travel visa restrictions , which vary substantially depending on the countries of origin of tourists. Unsurprisingly, travelers from developed countries, particularly Europe, face the least restrictions, while travelers from developing countries face a much more stringent array of restrictions. Another dimension concerns the provision of infrastructure. If the public sector does not cope with the demand in terms of transport infrastructures, the tourist industry might be impaired in its development. However, land transport networks in various countries are designed to meet the needs of commercial movements that tourism requires.

transport travel and tourism essay

Tourism usually contributes enough to the local economy that governments are more than willing to improve road networks or airport facilities, especially in locations with limited economic opportunities other than tourism. There are, however, significant differences in the amount of spending per type of mode, namely between cruise and air transport tourism. Cruise shipping tourism provides much less revenue than a tourist brought by air travel. A significant reason is that cruise lines are capturing as much tourism expenses within their ships as possible (food, beverages, entertainment, shopping) and have short port calls, often less than a day. Tourists arriving by air transport usually stay several days at the same location and use local amenities.

2. Means and Modes

Tourism uses all the standard transportation modes since travelers rely on existing passenger transport systems, from local transit systems to global air transportation.

  • Car traveling is usually an independent transport conveyance where the traveler decides the route and the length of the trip. It is usually cheaper since road fees are not directly paid and provided as a public. It is the only transportation mode that does not require transfers, in the sense that the whole journey, from door to door can be achieved. Along major highway corridors, service activities such as restaurants, gas stations, and hotels have agglomerated to service the traffic, many of which touristic. Car transport is the dominant mode in world tourism (77% of all journeys), notably because of advantages such as flexibility, price, and independence. Tourists will often rent cars to journey within their destinations, which has triggered an active clustering of car rental companies adjacent to main transport terminals (airports, train stations) and touristic venues.
  • Coach traveling uses the same road network as cars. Coaches are well suited for local mass tourism but can be perceived as a nuisance if in too large numbers since they require a large amount of parking space. They can be used for short duration local tours (hours) but also can be set for multi-days journeys where the coach is the conveyance moving tourists from one resort to another.
  • Rail travel was the dominant form of passenger transport before the age of the automobile. The railway network usually reflects more the commercial needs of the national economy then holiday tourist flows which can make it a less preferred choice as a traveling mode. The railway systems of several countries, notably in Europe, have seen massive investments for long-distance routes and high-speed services. Due to the scenery or the amenities provided, rail transportation can also be a tourist destination in itself. Several short rail lines that no longer had commercial potential have been converted for tourism.
  • Air transport is by far the most effective transport mode. Notably because of prices, only 12.5% of the tourists travel by plane, but for international travel, this share is around 40%. Air transport has revolutionized the geographical aspect of distances; the most remote areas can now be reached any journey around the world can be measured in terms of hours of traveling. Business travelers are among the biggest users of airline facilities, but low-cost air carriers have attracted a significant market segment mainly used for tourism.
  • Cruises are mainly providing short sea journeys of about a week. Cruising has become a significant tourist industry. Cruise ships act as floating resorts where guests can enjoy amenities and entertainment while being transported along a chain of port calls. The international market for cruising was about 22.2 million tourists in 2015, which involves an annual growth rate above 7% since 1990. The main cruise markets are the Caribbean and the Mediterranean, with Alaska and Northern Europe fjords also popular during the summer season. This industry is characterized by a high level of market concentration with a few companies, such as Carnival Corporation and Royal Caribbean Cruises who account for about 70% of the market. The impacts of cruising on the local economy are mitigated as the strategy of cruising companies is to retain as much income as possible. This implies that tourists spend most of their money on the cruise ship itself (gift shops, entertainment, casinos, bars, etc.) or on-island facilities owned by cruise shipping companies.

Boarding Ryanair Flight

3. Mass Tourism and Mass Transportation

Tourism transport can be divided into two categories:

  • Independent means of travel ; controlled by individual tourists who book them on their own. This mainly involves the private automobile, but also mass conveyances that are booked to travel on an individual basis such as regularly scheduled flights, rail connections, ferries, and even cruises.
  • Mass travel ; where tourists travel in organized groups. The most common form involves chartered buses and flights used for this single purpose.

When tourism was mainly for the elite, independent means of travel prevailed. However, the emergence of mass tourism and the significant revenue it provides for local economies required the setting of mass transportation systems and specialized firms such as travel agencies organizing travel on behalf of their customers. These firms were able to take advantage of their pricing power being able to negotiate large volumes of passengers for carriers and hotels. Some were even able to become air carriers, such as Thomas Cook Airlines and Air Transat, which are major charterers in their respective markets. Paradoxically, the growth of online travel booking services has favored the re-emergence of independent means of travel since an individual is able to book complex travel services, including transport and hotel accommodations. Thus, the segmentation of the travel industry is linked with the segmentation of the supporting transport systems.

transport travel and tourism essay

The seasonality of tourism has an important impact on the use and allocation of transportation assets.

  • Air transport has a notable seasonality where tourism results in variations in demand, summer being the peak season. Because of this seasonality and the high cost of acquiring additional assets to accommodate peak demand, the airline industry has pricing power during peak touristic demand. This also leads the seasonal charter services to pick up the potential unmet demand. During the winter, charterers focus on subtropical destinations (e.g. Caribbean, Mexico), while during the summer there is more a focus on the European market.
  • Cruises also have a seasonality where many cruise lines are repositionning their assets according to variations in the destination preferences. During winter months, the Caribbean is an important destination market, while during the summer, destinations like the Mediterranean, Alaska, and Norway are more prevalent.

4. Covid-19 and its Impacts

Related topics.

  • Air Transport
  • Airport Terminals
  • Transportation and Economic Development
  • The Cruise Industry

Bibliography

  • Graham, A. and F. Dobruszkes (eds) (2019) Air Transport – A Tourism Perspective, Amsterdam: Elsevier.
  • World Economic Forum (2017) The travel & tourism competitiveness report 2017, World Economic Forum.

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Transportation, Travel, and Tourism Evolution

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Part of the book series: Blockchain Technologies ((BT))

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The transportation, travel, and tourism sector—abbreviated in this chapter to 3T—is making a subtle but dramatic shift. The industry led the way into the digital age with e-tourism , the use of digital media to assist with every transaction in the 3T value chain. E-tourism allows travelers to seek, find, and procure experiences with a few keystrokes or clicks. Now, the industry is undergoing another transformation with smart tourism , offering not only an array of options via digital media but also making personalized suggestions and even guiding the consumer’s choices.

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Reagan, J.R., Singh, M. (2020). Transportation, Travel, and Tourism Evolution. In: Management 4.0. Blockchain Technologies. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-6751-3_11

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This chapter discusses the crucial links between technology and travel behaviours, looking both at traditional transport technologies and the impacts of other technologies. The development of transport technology has enabled us to travel more cheaply, more comfortably, faster and for longer distances – hence the massive growth of travel with all its attendant and varied effects. The chapter argues that the impacts of substitutionary technology (e.g. telecommunications) or non-transport technology (e.g. better storage of food) are more complex and difficult to predict, especially since people do not always behave rationally, but these technologies play an important role in shaping our travel behaviours. The chapter briefly examines possible future technological developments before concluding that we need to develop resilient technologies to allow for uncertainty whilst tackling the need for sustainability in future travel.

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Destinations: Intermodal Transportation, Essay Example

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Introduction

Intermodal transportation involves the development of diagrammatic approaches to moving freight across different channels, including air and water. Each of these constructs is important because it provides different alternatives in the transport of goods as necessary to achieve the desired objectives. The differences between transport systems have been minimized to some degree through the creation of approaches that improve efficiency across channels and support the development of new directives and exchanges in the transfer of products (Rodrigue and Slack). Therefore, the transport of products requires an effective integration of modes of transport in order to ensure that products are delivered in a timely manner (Rodrigue and Slack).

From a logistical point of view, it is important to develop a greater understanding of the different challenges that companies face in using intermodal forms of transport (Rodrigue and Slack). In some cases, it is necessary to consider the constructs associated with freight transport and whether or not it may be moved without delays or disruptions (Rodrigue and Slack). In addition, there is a necessary to explore the different types of modes that are available to companies to transport their products in a cost effective manner (Rodrigue and Slack). These efforts require organizations to recognize their strengths and limitations in moving products from one location to another, either by air or water (Rodrigue and Slack). Within this framework, it is necessary to establish an electronic means of conducting transport so that there are sufficient low-cost alternatives in place to move freight as required (Rodrigue and Slack). The exploration of new modes of intermodal transport have become increasingly relevant in recent years so that companies are able to remain competitive in their efforts to achieve desirable transport outcomes (Rodrigue and Slack).

The supply chain process for each form of intermodal transportation is instrumental in supporting the natural direction of freight movement across different channels (DeWitt and Clinger 2). In ocean transport, it is important to identify the issues related to freight movement across different bodies of water, including the ability to remain efficient in transport at all times (DeWitt and Clinger 2). Furthermore, it is important to identify the different directives that are relevant in the support of efficient and thorough logistics at every level (DeWitt and Clinger 3). For example, the ability to move freight via either land or water is largely dependent on the capabilities of these forms of transport and whether or not there are any delays that must be addressed (DeWitt and Clinger 3). The diagrams referenced below demonstrate the importance of both primary forms of intermodal transportation and their impact on organizational success (DeWitt and Clinger 3).

Different forms of intermodal transportation, such as air and water, require organizations to properly assess these areas and to take the steps that are necessary to ensure that their freight and other types of goods are fully protected from additional risks or harm during the transport process. Therefore, sufficient time and resources must be available to ensure that transportation is conducted in the appropriate manner without significant delays, along with the creation of transport environments that minimize time constraints and that also support the development of new directives to promote consistency and growth in these practices. From a logistical point of view, the time that is required to move products from point A to point B, whether by water or air, must be explored to minimize errors and to reduce delays in these modes of transportation as necessary to promote cost effectiveness and efficiency at all times.

Diagram A: Ocean Transport

Kitchener, Ontario — Carrier 1 —- Route 1 — Moscow, Russian (Delays possible)

— Carrier 2 — Route 2 — Moscow, Russia (No delays possible)

— Carrier 3 — Route 3 —- Moscow, Russia (Delays are likely)

*From port to port, there is a greater likelihood of delays or disruptions, particularly when weather is less than desirable Diagram B: Air Transport

Kitchener, Ontario Air Route 1 -? Moscow, Russia (No connections necessary)

  • Air Route 2 -> Moscow, Russia (Connections required)
  • Air Route 3 -> Moscow, Russia (Direct without planned delays)

*From the initial to the final destination, there are numerous risks and delays possible, depending on such factors as weather, air traffic control, and other limitations

Works Cited

DeWitt, William, and Clinger, Jennifer. “Intermodal flight transportation.” A1B05: Committee on Intermodal Freight Transport, 27 July 2013: http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/millennium/00061.pdf

Rodrigue, Jean-Paul, and Slack, Brian. “Intermodal transportation and containerization.” 27 July 2013: http://people.hofstra.edu/geotrans/eng/ch3en/conc3en/ch3c6en.html

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Travel Guide to Moscow, Russia

Travel guide to moscow, russia > features.

transport travel and tourism essay

Map of Moscow center

This map of Moscow has all the best places marked on it. Just click on an icon to learn more about each place...

transport travel and tourism essay

How to Find Apartments for Rent in Moscow, Russia

Finding a private apartment for rent in Moscow is a great way to experience the city life.

transport travel and tourism essay

Contemporary Art in Moscow

Moscow had an amazing contemporary art scene in the 90s, but it's only recently that it started to become interesting again.

transport travel and tourism essay

Arrival and Departure: Moscow Airports, Train Stations, Buses

The first impression is usually the strongest one, so here's all the information you'll need to make your arrival to Moscow go as smooth as possible.

transport travel and tourism essay

Guide to Clubs, Bars and Nightlife in Moscow

If there is one thing that Moscow knows it's how to club well.

transport travel and tourism essay

The Best Restaurants and Cafes in Moscow

You might be surprised, but Moscow has some of the best restaurants in the world.

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Hotels in Moscow, Russia

Moscow is a super complicated place when it comes to finding good quality affordable accommodation.

transport travel and tourism essay

What is Moscow: Introduction, General Facts, and Brief History in Dates.

Moscow is a huge sprawling city that has a little bit of everything that Russia has to offer.

transport travel and tourism essay

Moscow City Walks and Areas

The best way to explore Moscow is to go for a walk in one of the central neighborhoods or parks.

Travel Guide to Moscow, Russia > Most Popular

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The Best Budget Hotels in Moscow, Russia

There are no really budget hotels in Moscow: some cost less than €100 per night, but are located far from the center.

transport travel and tourism essay

Best 5 Star and 4 Star Hotels in Moscow, Russia

Desperately trying to be the capital of chic, Moscow has perhaps the highest ratio of 5-star hotels per square meter.

transport travel and tourism essay

Internet and Cable TV in Moscow

Moscow nowadays is one of the most connected capitals in the world.

transport travel and tourism essay

Brief History of Moscow

1147 - The first mention in the Historical Chronicles is made about the city of Moscow, which was founded by Russian prince Yury Dolgoruky.

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UAE ranks 1st globally in Air Transport Infrastructure Quality and Air Transport Quality

A BU DHABI, 6th June, 2024 (WAM) -- The UAE emerged as a leader in various global competitiveness indicators within the civil aviation sector. According to the recently launched World Economic Forum’s Travel & Tourism Development Index (TTDI) 2024, the country ranked 1st worldwide in the "Quality of Air Transport Infrastructure" indicator, and the 3rd globally in both the "Efficiency of Air Transport Services" and "Available Airline Seat Kilometres - millions/week" indicators.

UAE ranks 1st globally for Air Transport Infrastructure Quality in WEF's Travel & Tourism Development Index 2024

In the Middle East and North Africa region, the UAE leads in both the "Number of Operating Airlines" and "Air Transport Agreements" indicators.

Moreover, the UAE achieved the global top ranking in the "Quality of Air Transport" category in the "Global Competitiveness Report 2023" released by the International Institute for Management Development.

Abdullah bin Touq Al Marri, Minister of Economy and Chairman of the General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), stated, "The outstanding performance of the civil aviation sector in global competitiveness indicators showcases the forward-thinking vision and strategic directives of our wise leadership. This progress underlines our commitment to fostering growth and enhancing the competitiveness of this crucial sector both regionally and globally. As a fundamental pillar of our national economy, the civil aviation sector's success affirms the quality and effectiveness of our government plans, which focus on continuous investment and reinforcing our leadership across various key development areas."

He noted that every stakeholder in the UAE's civil aviation community played a part in this achievement.

It inspires us to push boundaries and embrace emerging technologies to further develop air transport infrastructure and services, setting new benchmarks for the industry worldwide, Bin Touq explained, noting that it aligns with national goals to build a future where the UAE continues to lead, innovate, and connect the world through a comprehensive, integrated, and sustainable aviation system, leveraging its vital strategic location.

Saif Mohammed Al Suwaidi, Director-General of GCAA, expressed his pride in this achievement, which highlights the strength and competitiveness of the UAE's civil aviation sector. It reflects the ongoing efforts made by the GCAA in collaboration with its strategic partners in the relevant federal and local government entities, as well as the national carriers and all companies and institutions operating in the sector. Their combined efforts align with the plans and strategies aimed at developing air transport infrastructure, improving services, expanding international partnerships, and connecting with new international markets to enhance the air transport network. This has contributed to strengthening the country's position as a major hub for travel and tourism both regionally and internationally.

Al Suwaidi emphasised the GCAA's commitment to continuously improving and developing the aviation sector in the country, keeping pace with technological advancements and strategic developmental goals, to ensure the maintenance and enhancement of this distinguished position in the future.

UAE ranks 1st globally in Air Transport Infrastructure Quality and Air Transport Quality

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Canadian passports and other travel documents: Applying in Canada

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Air Travel Consumer Report: March 2024 Numbers

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) today released its Air Travel Consumer Report (ATCR) on airline operational data compiled for the month of March 2024 for on-time performance, mishandled baggage, mishandled wheelchairs and scooters, and 1st quarter oversales. The ATCR is designed to assist consumers with information on the quality of services provided by airlines. 

For March 2024, 0.9% of flights were cancelled, lower than the 1.3% cancellation rate for March 2023 and the 2.0% cancellation rate for pre-pandemic March 2019.  

DOT expects that airlines will operate flights as scheduled and that when they do not, airlines will provide consumers the services promised when a flight is cancelled or delayed because of an airline issue. After a two-year DOT push to improve the passenger experience, the 10 largest airlines now guarantee meals and free rebooking on the same airline and nine guarantee hotel accommodations. Consumer-friendly information regarding airline commitments to their customers is available on the Department’s Airline Customer Service Dashboard at FlightRights.Gov . DOT also pushed airlines to provide fee-free family seating and rolled out a new family seating dashboard that highlights the airlines that guarantee fee-free family seating, and those of the 10 largest that do not, making it easier for parents to avoid paying junk fees to sit with their children when they fly.

DOT recently announced two final rules that require airlines to provide automatic cash refunds to passengers when owed and protect consumers from costly surprise airline fees . These rules will significantly expand consumer protections in air travel, provide passengers an easier pathway to refunds when owed, and save consumers more than half a billion dollars every year in hidden and surprise junk fees. Provisions of the final rule on airline refunds were fortified through the FAA reauthorization bill that President Biden signed into law on May 16, 2024.

In addition, DOT is improving transportation for individuals with disabilities. In July 2023, DOT finalized a rule which requires airlines to make lavatories on new, single-aisle aircraft more accessible. Then, in February 2024, DOT issued a proposal to address other barriers that Americans who use a wheelchair encounter when it comes to air travel by, among other things, proposing to mandate enhanced training for airline employees and contractors who physically assist passenger with disabilities and handle passengers’ wheelchairs.

Further, when necessary, DOT takes enforcement action against airlines and ticket agents that fail to comply with the Department’s aviation consumer protection requirements. In 2023, DOT issued the largest fines in the history of the consumer protection office. This includes a $140 million penalty against Southwest Airlines for failing passengers during the 2022 holiday meltdown. That penalty, which was in addition to over $600 million DOT already ensured was refunded by Southwest to passengers, requires Southwest to establish a $90 million compensation system for passengers affected by significant delays and cancellations beginning April 30, 2024.  Additionally, DOT has helped return nearly $4 billion in refunds to travelers since the pandemic began.

In April, DOT announced the launch of the bipartisan Airline Passenger Protection Partnership with 18 state attorneys general to investigate airlines and ticket agents and hold them accountable when they violate aviation consumer protection laws. The partnership significantly expands the Department’s oversight capacity by establishing a new fast-track system prioritizing misconduct cases from state attorneys general who uncover unfair or deceptive airline practices. Through the partnership, DOT will provide state attorneys general with access to the federal complaint database and help ensure that airlines cooperate with state investigations.

Flight Operations

The 623,409 flights operated in March 2024 were 102.47% of the 608,387 flights operated in March 2023. Operated flights in March 2024 were up 2.47% year-over-year from the 608,387 flights operated in March 2023 and up 13.46% month-over-month from 549,439 flights operated in February 2024. 

"U.S. Airlines Operated Domestic Flights: March 2022-MArch 2024. Operated=Scheduled - Canceled"

In March 2024, the 10 marketing network carriers reported 628,786 scheduled domestic flights, 5,377 (0.9%) of which were cancelled. In February 2024, airlines scheduled 552,691 domestic flights, 3,252 (0.6%) of which were cancelled. In March 2023, airlines scheduled 616,234 domestic flights, 7,847 (1.3%) of which were cancelled.

March 2024 On-Time Arrival

In March 2024, reporting marketing carriers posted an on-time arrival rate of 78.7%, down from 83.7% in February 2024 and up from 75.4% in March 2023. The year-to-date on-time arrival rate for 2024 is 78.3%.

Highest Marketing Carrier On-Time Arrival Rates March 2024 (ATCR Table 1)

  • Hawaiian Airlines – 87.2%
  • Delta Air Lines Network – 84.8%
  • United Airlines Network – 81.8% 

Lowest Marketing Carrier On-Time Arrival Rates March 2024 (ATCR Table 1)

  • Frontier Airlines – 66.4%
  • JetBlue Airways – 68.4%
  • Spirit Airlines – 69.6%

For the first three months of 2024, the reporting marketing carriers posted an on-time arrival rate of 78.31% up from 76.89% for the same period in 2023.

March 2024 Flight Cancellations

In March 2024, reporting marketing carriers cancelled 0.9% of their scheduled domestic flights, higher than the rate of 0.6% in February 2024 and lower than the rate of 1.3% in March 2023. The year-to-date cancellation rate for 2024 is 1.7%.

Lowest Marketing Carrier Rates of Cancelled Flights March 2024 (ATCR Table 6)

  • Delta Air Lines Network – 0.2%  
  • Hawaiian Airlines – 0.6%   
  • Allegiant Air – 0.6%    

  Highest Marketing Carrier Rates of Cancelled Flights March 2024 (ATCR Table 6)

  • Frontier Airlines – 2.7%    
  • Spirit Airlines – 1.7%    
  • JetBlue Airways – 1.4%    

For the first three months of 2024, the reporting marketing carriers posted a cancellation rate of 1.7%, equal to 1.7% for the same period in 2023.

Complaints About Airline Service

The release of air travel service complaint data in the Air Travel Consumer Report (ATCR) has been delayed primarily because of the continued high volume of complaints against airlines and ticket agents received by the Office of Aviation Consumer Protection (OACP) and the time needed to review and process these consumer complaints. The Department is investing in modernizing its system for handling consumer complaints with the support of a Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) investment to improve the customer experience for the tens of thousands of consumers who use the system each year and enable OACP to more effectively engage in oversight of the airline industry. 

As DOT modernizes its system, given the continued high volume of air travel service complaints concerning airlines and ticket agents, DOT has revised how it processes consumer complaints received after June 1, 2023. From June 2023 until the date its system is modernized, DOT intends to revise the ATCR to display consumer submissions (complaints, inquiries, and opinions) as opposed to complaints for this period. The Department will continue to display civil rights complaints in the ATCR in a similar manner as before and anticipates publishing submission and civil rights complaint numbers for June 1, 2023 to December 31, 2023 in June 2024.

Tarmac Delays

In March 2024, airlines reported six tarmac delays of more than three hours on domestic flights, compared to 10 tarmac delays of more than three hours on domestic flights reported in February 2024. In March 2024, airlines reported one tarmac delay of more than four hours on an international flight, compared to two tarmac delays of more than four hours on international flights reported in February 2024. 

Airlines are required to have and adhere to assurances that they will not allow aircraft to remain on the tarmac for more than three hours for domestic flights and four hours for international flights without providing passengers the option to deplane, subject to exceptions related to safety, security, and Air Traffic Control related reasons. An exception also exists for departure delays if the airline begins to return the aircraft to a suitable disembarkation point to deplane passengers by those times.

The Department investigates extended tarmac delays.

Mishandled Baggage

In March 2024, reporting marketing carriers handled 43.1 million bags and posted a mishandled baggage rate of 0.52%, higher than the rate of 0.48% in February 2024, but lower than the rate of 0.58% in March 2023.

For the first quarter of 2024, the carriers posted a mishandled baggage rate of 0.58%, lower than the first quarter 2023 rate of 0.64%.

The Department began displaying the mishandled baggage data as a percentage (i.e., per 100 bags enplaned) in January 2022. This is consistent with the manner that the mishandled wheelchairs and scooters rate is calculated and displayed.     In the prior three calendar year reports (2019 to 2021), the Department calculated the mishandled baggage rate based on the number of mishandled bags per 1,000 checked bags. 

Mishandled Wheelchairs and Scooters

In March 2024, reporting marketing carriers reported checking 65,793 wheelchairs and scooters and mishandling 859 for a rate of 1.31% mishandled wheelchairs and scooters, higher than the rate of 1.30% mishandled in February 2024 and lower than the rate of 1.33% mishandled in March 2023.

For the first quarter of 2024, the carriers posted a mishandled wheelchair and scooter rate of 1.36%, lower than the rate of 1.40% in the first quarter of 2023.

To address many of the significant barriers and challenges experienced by passengers who use wheelchairs, the Department has proposed a rulemaking that, if adopted as proposed would make it an automatic violation of the Department’s Air Carrier Access Act regulations for airlines to mishandle a passenger’s wheelchair. This Notice of Proposed Rulemaking would also enhance training requirements for airline personnel who provide hands-on transfer assistance to passengers and handle wheelchairs. The proposal is available at https://www.regulations.gov , docket number DOT-OST-2022-0144.

Bumping/Oversales

Bumping/oversales data, unlike other air carrier data, are reported quarterly rather than monthly. For the first quarter of 2024, the 10 U.S. reporting marketing carriers posted an involuntary denied boarding, or bumping, rate of 0.27 per 10,000 passengers, lower than both the rate of 0.29 in the first quarter of 2023 and higher than the rate of 0.20 in the fourth quarter of 2023.

Incidents Involving Animals

As part of its IT modernization, DOT’s Office of Aviation Consumer Protection (OACP) is improving the options for covered carriers to submit their monthly and annual Reports on Incidents Involving Animals During Air Transport. While the new system is being developed, OACP is permitting covered carriers to delay submission of reports on incidents involving animals during air transport. Annual data on such incidents will be published when DOT receives carriers’ complete submissions of the 2023 data. 

In March 2024, carriers reported zero incidents involving the death, injury, or loss of an animal while traveling by air, down from the two reports filed in February 2024, and equal to the zero reports filed in March 2023.

Consumers may file air travel consumer or civil rights complaints online at   https://secure.dot.gov/air-travel-complaint , or they may mail a complaint to the Office of Aviation Consumer Protection, U.S. Department of Transportation, C-70, W96-432, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE, Washington, DC 20590.

The ATCR and other aviation consumer matters of interest to the public can be found at https://www.transportation.gov/airconsumer .

New Times, New Thinking.

  • The Weekend Essay

What Orwell got right

The more the world in which Nineteen Eighty-Four was written has changed, the more it has stayed the same.

By Robert Colls

transport travel and tourism essay

“If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face – forever” — O’Brien, “ Nineteen Eighty-Four ”

George Orwell didn’t get everything right. Contrary to popular myth, he often got things wrong. In “Old George’s Almanac” ( Tribune , December 1945) for instance, he predicted that the US and Soviet Russia would do a postwar deal at Britain’s expense, that the Americans would suffer a postwar depression, that Germany would fall into banditry, and that Asia would turn xenophobic. He started the war thinking the British people wouldn’t fight and ended it expecting a collapse in the birth rate. He once argued that you could show your solidarity with people by killing them.

He didn’t get everything right in his novel Nineteen Eighty-Four , either. There wasn’t a nuclear war or revolution, and whatever system we live under now, it is not a paranoid left-fascist dictatorship. We’ve never had anyone or anything remotely resembling Big Brother. There is no “terror”. We have not been looted of our law or language. Our institutions haven’t been wiped out – they creak on. Some of this happened in other places – Nagasaki and Hiroshima took the bomb, and foul tyrannies took over in eastern Europe and elsewhere – but not all at once and not all in the same way. The Marshall Plan stabilised western Europe and Nato defended it. If you see a Big Brother in the sky above London, it’s more likely to be a rap star.

Then there are those things that have happened but not in the way Orwell imagined. It’s possible to see the novel’s three great global formations in the post-1945 settlement – Oceania in the West, Eurasia in Russia, and Eastasia in China. But the world we live in now is a messier, more volatile place than Orwell’s power blocs, and although proxy wars across continents have never stopped, no wars have been fought directly between the three great civilisations (call them what you will). Decolonisation of the old European empires complicated the world order even more, and the rise of a fourth geopolitical formation, the European Union , has yet to register.

We all have TV, but not like Winston’s TV, which receives as well as transmits information and instruction. We have mobile phones instead, billions of them, one in every back pocket, but what they receive and transmit goes first and foremost to capitalist corporations in God knows where, not a vast central state apparatus in London. Pens have become scarce in our world as well as in Winston’s, but not because everyone now uses dictaphones; and no one makes a phone call in Nineteen Eighty-Four . We have a national lottery like the world of the novel has a national lottery, but ours is not a fraud because people do occasionally win. Nothing works properly in their world, and little seems to work properly in ours, but the reasons are different. In Oceania, the problem is state centralisation and for us the problem is market diffusion.

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I could make a long list of all our travails compared with all their travails but whatever they are, they are not comparable. Vape lounges are everywhere, but they are not where you go to get vapourised. Pornography is easily available but how much is self-generated? Horrible histories are what middle-class people buy for their children at Waterstones, not what kids are forced to read at school (“In the old days, before the glorious Revolution, London was not the beautiful city we know today”). Gay love, if that is what Winston shares with O’Brien, is no longer hidden. Capitalism, if that is what we have, has been transformed, not abolished. Communism has fallen but, according to the BBC’s Steve Rosenberg , Russian security services still appear to be spooked by a shabby little building in Ivanovo calling itself the George Orwell Library. No one talks any more of the Laws of Motion of Capital, and those who do don’t believe it. We are so much richer now (UK GDP is six times more than it was in 1948) but not, as Orwell argued, by holding on to the empire.

All these features of a world Orwell did not imagine have brought their own quandaries that he would have recognised. With a camera computer in every pocket, we have become our own watchers of the watched. Orwell’s newspeak had teams of people employed to reduce language beneath the threshold of everything that makes us human, but this isn’t Twitter, and it can’t be squared with the imminent quantum leap that world media is about to take with AI. Nobody is in control. Since 1949, far from seeing the submergence of the individual by the state, we have seen the rise of mass narcissism regardless of the state. The US saw an attack on its seat of government on 6 January 2020 by a rabble holding mobile phones to their faces. Everything is there to be selfied; and everything selfied is all there is. Orwell feared “fellow travellers” who kept their influence secret. Now we have “influencers” who do it in the daylight.

In Nineteen Eighty-Four , the Party seeks to control all speech and therefore all thought. Our elites also prefer their own ways of speaking and thinking, but they monitor our language by their control of public and business institutions, not party edict. We live in a society increasingly policed by graduates. Come, comrade, show me your language and I will show you how to free your mind. FREEDOM IS SLAVERY.

Orwell never set out to predict. He merely set out the problem and the problem was not the accuracy of his warnings but the hell he unleashed in a book.

Winston and Julia live in a sealed space that has no beginning or end. I say “space” but what I mean is “mind”. As in a nightmare, everything in Nineteen Eighty-Four is about not knowing who or where you are. There is no God . There are no morals. There is no politics. There is no culture. There is no trust. There can be no friends. Soon there will be no thought, only conformity. In the name of redeeming everyone, the state is devoted to destroying everyone. If you transgress, you will surely die. If you don’t transgress, you have lost your mind. Losing your mind, after all, is the point. O’Brien the chief inquisitor is a lunatic, a liar and a psychopath but he knows everything because he has the power to contain everyone. “Nothing exists except through human consciousness,” he says. The Party has abolished objective truth. It has almost abolished the family; the orgasm is next. O’Brien says he could identify as a soap bubble if he wanted to, and float in the air, and as his mind “contained Winston’s mind”, we can see how it works. Gravity only matters when the Party is forced to deal with the real world. “Doublethink”, a sort of dialectical method of thinking treacherously in opposites, allows all this to be true and untrue at the same time. IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH.

Winston is insane as well, remember. Not as mad as his interlocutor, still holding on to an idea of the world as it is, but sick enough in ordinary circumstances to imagine raping and murdering Julia only minutes after meeting her. It is Julia, the anti-intellectual in a system of mindless hate run by intellectuals, who is the true hero of Nineteen Eighty-Four . Not Winston, and not O’Brien, even though he gets all the best lines.

In such circumstances we assume that self-surveillance is normal and self-censorship rife. Julia had been self-censoring for years. Winston is learning how, and for a time we think O’Brien and the Brotherhood were (must have been) masters of it. In other words, we feel there must be widespread self-censorship in their world just as we feel there must be in ours. But it’s hard to tell. I’m doing it now. Either way, nobody wants the Two-Minute Hate – “an abstract, undirected emotion which could be switched from one object to another like the flame of a blowtorch”. WAR IS PEACE.

There are two refrains. One is, “We are the dead” – to which Julia dryly responds, “We’re not dead yet.” And the other is, “If there is hope, it lies in the proles” – a statement Orwell notes as a “mystical truth” and a “palpable absurdity”.

Yet he believed it. In so far as he had a politics, Orwell believed in the common decency and good sense of the English people. He spent the first half of the Second World War working for the BBC’s Eastern Service, broadcasting to the Indian subcontinent. He spent the second half writing about how ordinary people in England saw themselves and their country – not in books and theories, not in newspaper editorials, not in political parties or great leaders, but in each other, out there on the street, in the garden, in the four-ale bar, at work and at home and in the armed forces. What Gramsci rather abstractly called the “national popular”, Orwell cleverly called “My Country Right or Left” ( Folios of New Writing , 1940).

If there was hope it could only be with the proles, and yet right from the start in his notes for Nineteen Eighty-Four Orwell recognised their “equivocal” position in the resistance movement (if there is a resistance movement). Big Brother fell but we don’t know who to (although Sandra Newman’s 2023 novel Julia makes a good stab at it). At first his publisher saw Nineteen Eighty-Four as Orwell’s “final breach” with socialism, worth a “cool million votes to the Conservatives”. Orwell was quick to reject this, but he was never slow to identify that mixture of condescension and distaste in left intellectual circles towards working-class people. As for now, our elites still prefer their own hierarchy of virtue to the democracy of other people, and no one pretends that Labour is a working-class party. For the people, maybe. By the people, not. As the American writer Thomas Meaney has remarked in these pages , the globalisation that was wished upon them now feels like a putsch.

Nineteen Eighty-Four was written in the Hebrides between 1946 and 1948 and published by Secker & Warburg on 8 June 1949. Orwell died seven months later in University College Hospital off Euston Road in London. Since then we have all learned to live with “Big Brother”, and “Orwellian” has joined “Shakespearian” and “Dickensian” in an elite company of adjectives. Even the Staggers’ best writers do it. Bruno Maçães’s recent Orwellism – “The globalisation of conflict ultimately means that the only universal principle is conflict itself” – is so good it could be a fake.

We are not talking here about ways of getting things wrong. We are not talking either of “Old George’s Almanac”. Nineteen Eighty-Four is a literary work before it is a political work, taking its cue from a wide range of fiction including, for example, novels as different as Katharine Burdekin’s Swastika Night (1937) and CS Lewis’s That Hideous Strength (1945). It was never meant to be a prophecy. Orwell caught what he saw as a last moment in our history and bound it to what was certainly the last moment in his own, to create a hell on Earth that, once born, could never be unborn.

Tortured and beaten and looking in the mirror on legs that look like sticks, Winston is horrified to see that it is him and we are horrified to see that it is Belsen. Orwell once called the work of Salvador Dalí a “direct, unmistakable assault on sanity and decency; and even… life itself”. Reading Nineteen Eighty-Four is not being raped and murdered. It is what being raped and murdered might feel like. It is a work of art stamping on the human imagination forever.

Robert Colls is the author of “George Orwell: English Rebel” (OUP)

[See also: Salman Rushdie’s warning bell ]

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Is New York’s Economy Too Fragile for Congestion Pricing? Many Say No.

Gov. Kathy Hochul said she halted the tolling plan because of New York City’s unstable economic recovery. Experts say the alternatives are worse.

An intersection in downtown Manhattan.

By Stefanos Chen

In her abrupt decision on Wednesday to halt New York City’s congestion pricing plan , Gov. Kathy Hochul made a familiar argument: The city’s economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic was still too “delicate.”

It’s true that by several measures, the recovery is far from complete. But experts who study the city’s economy are adamant that congestion pricing — which would have tolled drivers entering Manhattan south of 60th Street in order to reduce traffic and pollution and raise much-needed funds for public transit — could have only helped it bounce back.

Governor Hochul said she didn’t want to pile on another cost for New Yorkers struggling to make ends meet or discourage commuters from visiting Manhattan, where their absence during the pandemic emptied out office buildings and hurt businesses.

But many economists, business owners and civic leaders say the city’s fiscal health is a more complicated matter than the governor’s reasoning would indicate.

“She’s citing a problem, but it’s not one made worse by congestion pricing,” said James Parrott, the director of economic and fiscal policy at the Center for New York City Affairs at the New School.

The plan was expected to collect about $1 billion a year to help pay for crucial improvements to the city’s aging subway, bus and commuter rail systems. Without those funds, a failing transit system could be the worst economic blight of all, critics said.

Governor Hochul’s office did not immediately respond to questions on Friday about the decision to halt the program.

Her reversal was applauded by an eclectic mix of opponents who had accused the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which oversees congestion pricing, of unfairly targeting them, among other complaints.

A recent Siena College survey of about 800 registered voters in New York found that nearly two-thirds of respondents opposed the tolling plan.

Some of the plan’s critics, including New Jersey’s governor, a teachers’ union and a trucking association, had filed federal lawsuits seeking to halt it.

But even as those critics celebrate, it remains unclear how the state will fulfill a $15 billion funding requirement for the M.T.A., as the legislative session in Albany nears its end.

With a growing chorus of politicians and congestion pricing advocates calling for the plan to be put back on track, here is an overview of the city’s economic health, and why those who hope to see the program survive believe the alternatives are worse.

Workers are back on the job, but with worse pay.

The city announced in October that it had recovered the more than 946,000 private-sector jobs that were lost in the pandemic, more than a year ahead of some predictions.

But many of the jobs that returned have been in lower-paying industries like home health care and social services, Dr. Parrott said. Job growth in both of those fields is driven largely by government spending, not by the expansion of private industries.

At the same time, jobs in key sectors like retail, construction and hospitality, which were a source of middle-income employment, especially for Black and Latino New Yorkers, still lag behind prepandemic totals, he said.

“There are segments of the population that have borne the brunt of a lack of recovery,” Dr. Parrott said, pointing to the nearly 8 percent unemployment rate for Black New Yorkers in April, compared with 3.3 percent for white residents.

From rising rents to higher costs at the grocery store, New Yorkers are justified in feeling financially burdened. Incomes retreated between 2019 and 2022, with the median household income falling nearly 7 percent over that period when adjusted for inflation, according to the Center for New York City Affairs.

Critics of congestion pricing pointed to New Yorkers’ shrinking buying power as a reason to reject the tolling plan.

“With inflation, with costs of goods and services overall increasing, everyday New Yorkers just can’t afford this,” said Susan Lee, the president of New Yorkers Against Congestion Pricing Tax, a group of plaintiffs that sued to halt the program.

The poorest New Yorkers would have rarely paid the tolls.

In her announcement on Wednesday, Governor Hochul said she “cannot add another burden to working and middle-class New Yorkers,” who would have been hard-pressed to pay $15 when they drove into the tolling zone during peak hours.

But fewer than 5 percent of poor New Yorkers living outside Manhattan drive into the borough for work, while more than half take public transit, according to a 2022 analysis by the Community Service Society of New York, a nonprofit antipoverty group. Poverty is defined as a family of four making less than $31,200 annually. The plan included off-peak toll discounts and exemptions for some low-income workers.

Out of 1.5 million people who work in the planned congestion pricing zone, only about 1 percent — about 16,000 workers — both earn less than $50,000 and drive to work, according to the M.T.A.’s Traffic Mobility Review Board, which was created to oversee the tolling program.

Average daily ridership on the subway, buses and commuter rails was 4.9 million in May, according to the Community Service Society of New York.

That is why improving the city’s mass transit system is vital to the economy, said Rachel Weinberger, the director of research at the Regional Plan Association, which supports congestion pricing.

“If the transit system is unreliable, unsafe, then people don’t want to use it — so people aren’t going to go to Broadway, or to the office or the museums,” she said.

Tourism and business is still lagging.

Critics of congestion pricing argued that the tolls would have slowed the return of the office workers and tourists whom many of the city’s businesses depend on — concerns the governor echoed.

The tolling zone included the vast majority of Manhattan’s biggest office towers and most of the city’s top tourist destinations, including the theater district and Madison Square Garden. Thinner crowds have already hurt local businesses, and some worried that the tolls could have further depressed sales.

In Times Square, a proxy for the city’s tourism industry that is in the heart of the congestion pricing zone, foot traffic was at less than 70 percent of prepandemic levels in April, according to the New York City Economic Development Corporation.

At the same time, the return-to-office push has stalled.

From mid-April to early May, only 56 percent of Manhattan workers were at their workplace on an average weekday, amounting to about 72 percent of prepandemic attendance, according to the Partnership for New York City, an influential business group that represents some of the largest employers in the city.

Reduced foot traffic has contributed to store closures. In 2019, the city had an average net gain of 400 new businesses every three months, according to the E.D.C. In the third quarter of 2023, the latest period available, there was a net loss of about as many.

But proponents of congestion pricing point to its underappreciated benefits to businesses.

The plan was expected to reduce traffic in Manhattan by 17 percent, which could have been the difference between gridlock and steady movement, said Kathryn Wylde, the president and chief executive of the Partnership for New York City.

A 2018 study by the business group found that the annual cost of delays in commuting time and work-related travel in the metro area was $9.2 billion.

“Nobody is thinking of the positives,” she said. “You will be able to accomplish your small-business activity so much faster, and more efficiently.”

A functioning M.T.A. is vital to the city’s economic recovery.

The biggest problem, in the absence of congestion pricing, is the need to raise the billions of dollars that the M.T.A. is counting on to fix the mass transit system and fund its projects.

For proponents of congestion pricing, the money the program would have raised is the economic stimulus that the city most needs.

“Low- and moderate-income people depend almost exclusively on public transportation,” said David R. Jones, the president and chief executive of the Community Service Society, and an M.T.A. board member.

The $15 billion to be raised from congestion pricing was to have paid for long-planned projects , including buying new trains and buses, improving accessibility for commuters with disabilities, and making crucial improvements to signal systems and switches that, in some cases, date back to the 1930s.

“You can’t strip this money away and not have a plan for making sure the system doesn’t implode,” Mr. Jones said.

As an alternative to the tolls, Governor Hochul proposed an increase in the payroll mobility tax, which has roughly doubled for the biggest companies in New York City since it was introduced in 2009.

On Friday, that plan appeared dead. A proposal that would pledge to find some revenue within the year also faced roadblocks, with no clear alternative to fund transit projects.

Lawmakers were said to be considering committing $1 billion to shore up the loss, but the congestion pricing law passed in 2019 mandated specific funding measures that might not be tenable without the tolling plan.

On Friday, Reinvent Albany, a good governance group, called the last-minute alternative “cockamamie,” and insufficient to fill the M.T.A.’s capital needs.

Andrew Rein, the president of the Citizens Budget Commission, a watchdog group, said he was hopeful there is still a way to restore the congestion pricing plan.

“We shouldn’t throw in the towel, because it’s such a good option, and the others would have much more damaging effects,” he said.

Ana Ley and Grace Ashford contributed reporting.

Stefanos Chen is a Times reporter covering New York City’s economy. He previously covered real estate in the city for over a decade. More about Stefanos Chen

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