For years, thousands of trekkers have flocked to Nepal to enjoy the country's combination of spectacular mountain terrain and unique cultural practices. Unfortunately this influx of tourists has caused severe repercussions for the economic, environmental, social, and cultural integrity of the country. Sixty percent of tourism earnings are leaking out of the Nepalese economy. Deforestation, soil erosion, and inadequate sanitary practices are creating permanent changes to the physical environment and ecosystems in the area. Foreigners, who bring with them material wealth and apparent freedom, are influencing the younger members of Nepalese families. Tourism development and pressures are resulting in the erosion of cultural values and long-term damage to cultural traditions. The purpose of this study is to provide a sustainable model for trekking operations in Nepal. The proposed model includes a specific guideline of action for destination decision-makers. This guideline includes the planning process, determination of overall goals and objectives, funding, and logistics. This study gives a macro-overview of the current trekking situation in Nepal and offers and a better alternative for the future.

The Economist (2017) estimated that the last five decades witnessed a substantial increase in the number of crises occurring around the world each year. This increase makes effective crisis communication strategies critical for destination management and marketing, which is hinged on a sound understanding of how audience members interpret the meaning of and respond to media content in the news. Destination risk perception has been well documented in tourism literature; however, there is little research regarding the contingent effects of media. Therefore, the purpose of this dissertation is to identify how the media influences the direct and indirect relationships between destination risk perception, information-seeking and avoiding behaviors, and destination loyalty (the likelihood to recommend and likelihood to visit) with the conditional effect of optimism bias. This dissertation employed a 2 x 3 between-subjects factorial posttest-only quasi-experimental design with a randomized online sample, with six distinct conditions and a control group. A conceptual framework was developed to help explain the effect of the modeled relationships. Data were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). Findings showed that destination risk perception had a negative effect on destination loyalty, and information avoiding was found to partially mediate the effect of destination risk perception on destination loyalty. Also, the contingency effects of the risk type and crisis communication media effects each played a role in explaining the outcomes of destination risk perception. The present study offers important theoretical and practical implications. Theoretically, the current research adds to the limited knowledge of media effects on a tourist's destination risk perception and subsequent tourist behaviors, while also filling the gap for crisis communication media effects of news framing theory. Practically, DMOs must understand how tourists interpret and react to media; therefore, best practices and solutions to implement an adequate crisis communication plan are suggested.

More than 95% of fuel used for personal transportation is petroleum-based (Environment and Development Division (EDD), 2005). The peak and decline of world oil production is producing price and uncertainty pressures that may cause significant travel behaviour change in the future. Current travel behaviour has developed during conditions of low cost fuel and government investment in private vehicle mobility. Current urban forms and land use have also been developed during a period of growth in vehicle travel demand. Research that explores the long term (permanent oil supply reduction period) implications of reduced fuel demand on private travel behaviour is needed. Local and national government investments in transport infrastructure and urban development will be used and require maintenance for decades. Research is needed to assess long-term mode choice and car travel demand as a function of urban form and demographic indicators. This type of travel behaviour adaptive potential should be relevant to transport planning decision making. Literature review shows that there are a few available long-term planning methods, models, or tools in transportation engineering for future oil depletion. Transportation engineers need information of how current travel demand patterns may change over the lifetime of infrastructure investments in response to oil supply depletion. Behaviour change data for long term future situations would be difficult to obtain using traditional survey methods because most people have never experienced oil depletion situations. This research proposes that immersing people into the situation of oil depletion through sharp price rise would be necessary to generate relevant behaviour change decisions. The thesis is that the long term behaviour change can be assessed by characterising current adaptive capacity. Adaptive capacity is defined in this thesis as the travel demand pattern with maximum fuel reduction without reducing participation in activities. The reasons why people might change travel demand to reduce fuel use is not part of the definition. This research also proposed that an immersive sim game environment could be used to prompt behaviour change decisions relating to fuel price shocks. Research into sim game surveys and travel behaviour surveys was used to inform the design of a Transport Adaptive Capacity Assessment (TACA) Sim survey tool. The TACA Sim survey was designed to assess capacity to adapt travel behaviour to reduce fuel use, and to characterise the potential for mode change. Participants experience the TACA Sim survey as a self assessment or transport energy audit. The survey provides a personal feel, focuses on the usual weekly activities, and provides feedback to participants about their fuel use and car dependence. Participants supply their normal travel activities over a week, and three weeks of sim play includes a steep fuel price rise while people are allowed to change their travel behaviour in response. The TACA Sim survey was evaluated through a case study of surveys of staff and students at the University of Canterbury. A second version of the TACA survey was developed that surveyed the one week of normal travel, but then probed adaptive capacity by asking a simple question after each travel activity was entered “Could you get to the activity another way?” The sim game travel adaptive capacity is compared with the available alternative adaptive behaviour for participants in a case study at the University of Canterbury. The results of the case study show that the participants responded well with the simulated situation. This reflects that the TACA Sim is successful in helping participants to perceive the situation of fuel price rise and think about their alternatives to car travel. Asking people “Could you get to the activity another way?” was found to effectively probe their adaptive capacity which agreed well with the virtual reality survey. The virtual reality survey yields more details of what people can do such as moving house, chaining trips, combining trips and buying a more efficient vehicle. The web-based TACA survey has been developed and deployed in two further research projects.

The purpose of this thesis was to investigate how children experience their everyday travel. More specifically how do certain travel characteristics influence children’s current mood, experiences of their everyday travel, and their cognitive performance. The thesis consists of two papers (Papers I and II). In Paper I, 206 children (101 girls) in grade 4 (aged 10), in the city of Staffanstorp in Sweden, recorded all their journeys in a diary during one school week, along with reports of their travel mode, their current mood while travelling (ranging from very sad to very happy and from very tired to very alert), their activities on arrival, and their experiences regarding those activities. In Paper II, a sample of 344 children (165 girls) between the ages of 10 and 15 was taken at five public schools in Värmland County, Sweden. The children rated their current mood, filled out the Satisfaction with Travel Scale (capturing the travel experience), reported details about their journeys, and took a word-fluency test. The findings show that children’s immediate affective experiences (current mood) vary with how they travel and where they go, and that there is a difference between boys’ and girls’ experiences. Children who travel by car experience the lowest degree of quality and activation, something which is also maintained throughout the school day (as the case with activation). Social activities during travel add to higher degree of quality and excitement, while solitary activities bring more stress. The findings further show that using a smartphone or doing a combination of activities during the journey results in better cognitive performance, as do longer traveling times. It is concluded that where and how children travel, what they do when traveling, and for how long they travel all affect children’s travel experiences, mood, and/or cognitive performance. This thesis sheds light on a neglected research area – which is the experiences of travel – through the lens of a child. / The purpose of this licentiate thesis is to examine how children experience their everyday travel. More specifically, do travel mode, travel time, and travel activities influence children’s experiences of their everyday travel, how they feel, and how they perform at school. In Paper 1 we investigate whether children’s moods, while travelling, vary with travel mode and destination. In Paper 2 we investigate whether children’s experiences of travel and current mood vary with travel mode, traveling time, and activities during travel. We also investigate whether the travel experience affects cognitive performance. The overall findings of the two studies suggest that where and how children travel, what they do when traveling, and for how long they travel all affect children’s travel experiences, moods, and cognitive performance. These novel findings bring important knowledge of the impact of a journey. Children are the next generation of traveler; how they experience their day-to-day travel may contribute toward their future travel behavior and influence how societies travel in the future.

This thesis documents a personal journey that asks the reader to consider the volatility of genres and their use value as a hierarchy and/or in the Academy. It places itself in the limitary disciplines of cultural studies, gender studies and fiction, and offers a map of a journey across disciplines. The thesis (w)rites against the grain of the patriarchal Order, and the author articulates gender as a variable in knowledge making and takes an experimental approach to the collection and analysis of data through reading and writing strategies. The use of the bracket is to make a ritual of (w)riting and a contingency of (k)now-ing. The thesis comes in three parts, all of which are interrelated. Parts one and two contain collections of the author's short stories and poetry and Part three is comprised of her correspondence. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Thesis (M. Eng. Sc.)--University of Melbourne, 1994. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 123-126).

This thesis examines several nuanced issues, including equitable access, regarding long-distance intercity travel. In the United States, studies of transportation equity focus on affordable access to local destinations and basic services. The limited studies of long-distance intercity travel focus on observed demand, ignoring latent or unmet demand. Both quantitative and qualitative data are used to explore the differences between those who participate in long-distance travel and those with unmet need for it. This thesis found that the ability to participate in long-distance travel plays a role in one’s overall well-being. Undertaking long-distance trips facilitates access to opportunity for cultural and educational experiences, as well as the maintenance and creation of social capital, factors which were indicated by study participants. The first part of the thesis examines equity in access to long-distance travel between individuals by using data from a state-wide survey completed by 2,232 Vermonters for the Vermont Agency of Transportation in 2016. Five ordinal logistic regression models that approximate different levels of realized and unmet travel are used to understand how access to intercity travel differs by socioeconomic, geographic location, and household characteristics. A total of 22 percent of respondents indicated they had unmet demand at least once per year. Furthermore, there was a significant correlation between those who had unmet demand within Vermont and outside of Vermont, proxies for local and intercity travel, respectively. Income level, Internet access, and education level were found to be significant predictors of realized long-distance travel. Household size and composition, household vehicles, age, income, and self-reported urban residence were predictors of both unmet local and long-distance travel need. In addition, full-time employment was significant for local unmet need, while miles to the nearest metropolitan area was a significant predictor for longer travel needs. Models of actual travel were stronger than for unmet demand, indicating that other unmeasured predictor variables may be important, thus requiring qualitative exploration. The second part of the thesis consists of an in-depth examination using semi-structured interviews regarding intercity travel with 24 women living in Chittenden County, Vermont. In addition to the qualitative survey methods, data from a social network geography survey designed specifically for the study and an overall well-being survey were used. Interviews were coded by theme relating to travel type, barriers to travel, and impact on quality of life. A majority of participants felt long-distance travel was very important or essential to their well-being and they wished to increase the amount they did. Additionally, participants felt the need to meet with friends and family in-person, therefore necessitating long-distance travel to those who lived further away. There was also a discrepancy between the desire to meet with friends and family and how often the participants actually were able to do so. Those with higher incomes had less unmet long-distance travel need.

Quantitative data analysis revealed that out of the two proposed hypotheses, consumers’ travel preferences have a positive effect on online travel purchases, while Instagram influencers’ travel recommendations did not have a positive effect on consumers’ online travel purchases. Despite that, male respondents experienced travel recommendations to be more influential than their own travel preferences when purchasing travel. However, the results indicate that there is a need for further research.

Several researchers have attempted to understand the tourism expenditure patterns from the traveler's perspective (Cai, Hong, and Morrision, 1995; Dardis, et al., 1981; Prais and Houthakker,1971; Sheldon and Mak , 1987; Jang, et al.,2003). However, an examination of the previous studies indicates that only limited understanding of the traveler's expenditure patterns has been provided either because of only anecdotal evidence in the studies, or because of their failure to examine the impacts of the factors affecting expenditure patterns. This study examined the effects of socio-demographic, travel-related, and psychographic variables on travel expenditures. The expenditure patterns included lodging, meals and restaurants, attractions and festivals, entertainment, shopping, transportation, and total expenditures. From a theoretical perspective, this study contributes to the body of literature in relation to travel expenditure by examining the variables under each of the three constructs identified in predicting travel expenditures. The results of the study provide a more comprehensive and holistic picture in the search of travel expenditures based on multiple independent variables. This study found that travel-related variables (i.e. number of adult(s) and length of stay) were the most influential variables affecting tourism expenditures per person per day. From a practical standpoint, this study sheds light by providing information about how the traveler's characteristic effects travel expenditure patterns and destination marketers may use this information to better segment their target market, allocate their marketing dollars more effectively, and tailor their products to compete for tourist's dollars. Since consumer dollars and tourism organizations' marketing budgets are limited, this study may provide information which will help tourism marketers to develop better strategic marketing tools to satisfy and fulfill those tourists' needs and understand certain reasons behind their spending patterns.

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