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This thesis describes the relation between the tourism industry and crisis from a consumer perspective. The impacts on consumers have been receiving little attention in earlier tourism research. This study contains an empirical research with a focus on the attitudes of travellers during the refugee crisis of 2015. The attitudes are seen as interesting for this study since they can affect the traveller before, during and after the trip. In this work the attitudes further are divided into four different sub-categories, which were detected to be important in order to describe how the attitudes of travellers can be affected from a crisis. The performed study shows that the attitudes can be affected from a crisis in different ways. It also shows that the refugee crisis of 2015 had impacts on travellers, that might vary from person to person and that they might not be aware of themselves.

Today the regional railway system lacks the capacity at the central station in order to meet the demand for both the public and freight transportation. The West link is a railway infrastructure project that is expected to both increase train commuting and also increase the train capacity at the central station in Gothenburg. The purpose of this thesis work is to do an elastic demand analysis between car traffic and the West Link in modal shift to determine how many travelers will change mode. Also traffic simulations will be made to investigate the traffic conditions around the stations when the West link has been implemeted. The simulation results showed that nowadays there are congestions on the major highways and some of the smaller low capacity roads. In the future, congestions will become more significant if no countermeasures are implemented like the West link. In the elastic demand analysis the results were overall around 47% – 51% on a demand of between 350 000 – 400 000 trips. As a conclusion it cannot be said whether the West link will ease the pressure on car traffic or not. The reasons are that the population will increase about 100 000 inhabitants until 2030 and the West link is assumed by the region to have this amount of travelers each day. This would result in the same traffic pressure as today with congestions in certain parts. If the number of West link users will be around 200 000, as the results of this thesis shows, then the West link will ease the pressure on car traffic.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2015. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This research study has sought to gain a deeper understanding of the manner in which the ultra-luxury travel sector interprets the concept of customer value and how they go about designing an offering of potential value to the customer. In turn, the study explored the manner in which the traveller extracts value from the offering. There is a definite element of ambiguity to the precise meaning of the word ‘luxury’. Researchers have traced its meaning and developed frameworks to define the type of value it offers to the consumer. Ubiquitous to the delivery of the luxury good or service, is the significance that an individual will attach to it. The consumption of luxury will always be an experience – in one form or another. With the passing of time and globalisation of companies, the luxury good has become ‘democratised’. This massification of luxury has resulted in layers of offering, appealing to various categories of consumer; from the connoisseur and consumer of rare, niche products, to the bling young professional sporting a designer bag. This has created greater debate around the definition of luxury. Further frameworks have been developed to identify the types of value within the luxury offering that would appeal to the different categories of luxury consumer. The process of value creation has evolved from a firm-centred model to one where the customer is central. The focus is on identifying customer needs, and then delivering them via the use of firm competencies and capabilities. The lens of the value creation process has widened to include means of identifying potential for firm value creation pre and post consumption of the offering. The luxury travel sector generates a significant spend. As an industry that is intensely customer-centric, it provides the perfect vehicle to examine how the industry seeks to understand the guest, and in turn, deliver value. A qualitative, multiple case study methodology was employed to examine four luxury properties in South Africa. Employees and independent consultants within the industry were interviewed. The results yielded a coherent message of passionate engagement with the product and the guest. The surprising element was the employee’s fierce commitment to the luxury asset and their pride in the owner. The element of sustainability featured strongly as, whilst every effort was made to give the guest a magical experience, this was not done at the expense of the underlying asset. There will always be an element of experience attached to the immersion in a luxury product or service and the luxury travel industry is no exception. Experiential travel has been a driving force within the industry for many years. As this evolves, the pressure to plumb greater depths of meaning and create significant shifts in ‘being’ has developed. The industry is ripe for creative collaborations and new partnerships in order to deliver life-long memories to the luxury traveller. Technology has been a disrupter within the luxury value chain and tour operators and travel agents find themselves competing with online travel agents. Those who survive are those who deliver highly personalised, creative and bespoke offerings. Social media is another area of potential innovation. The Millennial traveller will soon command the lion’s share of luxury spending. They are highly connected and desire authentic, fun experiences. Luxury accommodation has also suffered the ambiguity attached to the definition of luxury brands in general. The 5-star hotel which once commanded pride of place as the highest level of accommodation has been usurped by private luxury properties, boutique and destination hotels. The potential exists to apply the lenses of luxury value frameworks in order to provide greater clarity to the type of offering they deliver to the luxury traveller.

Metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) have become increasingly interested in incorporating land use patterns and design ideas into transportation problems. Many design ideas under the umbrella of the New Urbanism; yet in practice they hardly get fully implemented in the standard transportation planning procedures. This research intends to contribute to the continuing debate on land use pattern-travel connection by adding further empirical evidence from the Austin, TX region. Also, it demonstrates ways to integrate land use patterns in transportation demand analysis. The study identifies 42 mixed use districts (MXD) in the Austin region and analyzes the following aspects of travel behavior in MXDs and non-MXDs: production trip rates, frequency of produced trips, network trip length, internal rate of capture, and person-miles of travel (PMT). The study contributes to transportation planning and policy making in Central Texas by providing local empirical evidence on urban form-travel connection. The study’s method and process can be of interest to a broad audience in academia and practice. / text

This study tested a model to predict the likelihood of spring break travel among university students. The data were obtained from a 1996 survey sample of 303 university students.

O teletrabalho é uma prática que pode ser utilizada como medida de gerenciamento da demanda por transporte urbano, uma vez que tem o potencial de reduzir a necessidade de realização de viagens através da substituição de atividades presenciais, que exigem deslocamentos, pelas virtuais, realizadas com auxílio de tecnologias da informação e comunicação. Esta pesquisa procura explorar e entender como está ocorrendo a adoção do teletrabalho por empresas em São Paulo e quais são os seus principais impactos nos padrões individuais de atividades e viagens. Para alcançar este objetivo, foi realizada uma revisão abrangente da literatura seguida por dois levantamentos de dados. O primeiro consistiu em entrevistas em profundidade com representantes do departamento de recursos humanos de dez empresas, que adotavam ou não teletrabalho. Já o segundo foi realizado com teletrabalhadores e utilizou ferramentas como questionário online, aplicativo de smartphone (para coletar dados de atividades e viagens por 7 dias) e entrevistas em profundidade. As entrevistas com representantes de empresas revelam que os potenciais benefícios para as empresas e para os funcionários são os aspectos que estão motivando a disseminação do teletrabalho, mesmo que de forma lenta. Porém, por não ser ainda uma prática comum, continuam a prevalecer algumas barreiras, principalmente relacionadas à cultura organizacional. O levantamento de dados com teletrabalhadores indica que a viagem casa-trabalho e o congestionamento em São Paulo têm sido os principais motivadores para adesão, e revela diferenças importantes no comportamento relativo a viagens dos indivíduos nos dias de teletrabalho e nos dias de trabalho convencional. Enquanto o número de atividades realizadas por outros motivos que não o trabalho e o tempo a elas dedicado são similares nos dias de teletrabalho e de trabalho convencional, o número de viagens, a distância viajada e o tempo gasto em transporte se reduzem. / Telecommuting can be considered a measure for travel demand management since it has the potential to reduce trips by replacing a face to face activity, which requires travel, by a virtual one, with the use of information and communication technologies. The objective of this research is twofold: first, to explore and understand the adoption of telecommuting by companies in São Paulo and, second, to identify and to measure the main impacts of telecommuting on individuals activity-travel patterns. To achieve this aim, a comprehensive literature review was conducted, followed by two types of data collection efforts. First, in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with individuals responsible for Human Resources policies in ten companies adopting telecommuting or not. Second, a sample of telecommuters was recruited to answer to an online questionnaire and to provide detailed diary data for 7 days using smartphones, after which an in-depth interview was conducted. Interviews with Human Resources personnel revealed that potential benefits for companies and employees are the drivers behind the dissemination of telecommuting, although slow. As a yet unconventional practice, barriers continue to exist, particularly related to organizational culture. Data collection and analysis of telecommuters behavior shows that the congestion faced in the home-to-work trip is the main reason for adoption of telecommuting in São Paulo. Important differences in activity and travel behavior were observed between telecommuting and non-telecommuting days. While the number of participations and the time spent in non-work activities are relatively similar for the two types of days, a reduction occurred in the number of trips, total distance and time traveled on telecommuting days.

New Zealand has a well-established network of accommodations, transportation, and visitor activities developed specifically for backpackers. These tourists account for almost ten percent of the country’s international visitor expenditure. To date, the majority of backpacker research has focussed on the traditional market segment of student and youth travellers, though a few quantitative studies have also researched the needs and preferences of older travellers using hostels and backpackers’ accommodations. Though more than 50 percent of New Zealand’s international visitors are over age 40, few currently stay at this type of accommodation. Using New Zealand as a case study, this thesis explores, qualitatively, the perspectives of older backpackers: their self-perceptions, their travel motivations, their needs and expectations in accommodation. In addition, it examines the points of view of the owners of small, independent backpackers’ accommodations to gain their perspectives on hosting a multi-generational clientele and on what the implications might be of expanding this market. Key findings show that older travellers who use backpackers’ accommodations technically meet all Pearce’s (1990) original definitions of “backpacker” – they prefer budget accommodations, they are socially interactive, they travel independently and flexibly, they travel for longer holidays than do most, and they choose informal and participatory activities. However, these travellers reject the self-definition of “backpacker”, an impasse that presents a lexical challenge to both scholars and tourism marketers. The final section addresses the impacts and implications of “backpacker” nomenclature on baby boomer travellers, academia, and the backpacker industry at large.