Sharing versus collaborative economy : how to align ICT developments and the SDGs in tourism?

Abstract: Great hopes have been placed in the sharing economy to provide a new business model based on peer-to-peer (P2P) exchanges of underutilized assets. As a model, the sharing economy has been expected to make significant contributions to sustainability, providing new opportunities for entrepreneurship, more sustainable use of resources, and consumer co-operation in tight economic networks. However, in recent years, digital platforms have turned into the most important actors in the global sharing economy, turning global corporations, such as AirBnB, Booking, or TripAdvisor into intermediaries controlling and profiting from most transactions. Focused on accommodation, this paper conceptualizes the sharing economy in comparison to the wider collaborative economy, and discusses its social, economic, environmental, and political impacts in comparison to the sustainable development goals. It concludes that the sharing economy has great potential to make very significant contributions to sustainability, though the model is increasingly being replaced by the collaborative economy, which performs as an extension and acceleration of neoliberal economic practices

Exploring length of stay: International tourism in south-western Norway

This article explored length of stay (LOS) in the context of tour planning, to assess as to whether LOS can be increased. LOS is an important parameter for tourism destination management, at the same time as evidence have suggested that LOS is declining on a global scale. The study was based on responses from 1592 foreign leisure travellers in south-western Norway, a region dominated by round-trips. The study uniquely explored aspects that influenced visitor planning of length of stay, finding that perceptions of time ‘needed’ for desired activities is the most important aspect of holiday duration planning, followed by limitations in the number of vacation days, holiday budgets and accommodation-related considerations. Visitors with a focus on the region, those with their own vehicles and those emphasising outdoor recreation and/or landscape sightseeing were likely to have longer stays. Findings suggested that destinations have potential to increase LOS. The paper additionally reflected on how identification of tourist segments with flexible time frames can contribute to destination management focused on LOS.publishedVersio

Inside the black box: EU policy officers' perspectives on transport and climate change mitigation

Abstract Transport is a significant and growing contributor to climate change. To stay within ‘safe’ global warming guardrails requires substantial cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. This represents a global political consensus, but there is evidence that current legislation in the transport sector is not significant enough to achieve medium- and longer-term reduction goals. In focusing on the European Union, this paper investigates the perspectives of twelve policy officers in three Directorates-General (MOVE, CLIMA, ENV) of the European Commission with regard to their understanding of mitigation goals and timelines, responsibilities for policy development and implementation, and perceived efficiencies of these policies to achieve climate objectives in the transport sector. Results indicate diverging and common views on climate policy goals and political responsibilities, as well as barriers to policy-making, including lack of political leadership on climate change mitigation, resistance from member states, the favoring of economic growth over cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, pressure from industry and lobby groups, preferential treatment of aero- and automobility over more sustainable transport modes, policy implementation delays, insufficient forecasting and monitoring tools, and an overreliance on technologies to contribute to emission reductions. In offering a view inside the ‘black box’ of transport policy-making, the paper reveals fundamental institutional (structural) and individual (agency-based) barriers that will have to be overcome if significant emission cuts in the transport sector are to be achieved

Time domain automatic focusing of an Applebaum array

Summary form only given, as follows. It has been shown that the performance of the automatic focusing technique (AFT) is maintained when the scanned frequencies are sent simultaneously in a wide-band signal. As a result, this procedure provides the AFT with additional capabilities while removing its drawback

Built Environment Interventions to Increase Active Travel: a Critical Review and Discussion

Purpose of Review: To review the literature on built environment interventions to increase active travel, focusing on work since 2000 and on methodological choices and challenges affecting studies. Recent Findings: Increasingly, there is evidence that built environment interventions can lead to more walking or cycling. Evidence is stronger for cycling than for walking interventions, and there is a relative lack of evidence around differential impacts of interventions. Some of the evidence remains methodologically weak, with much work in the ‘grey’ literature. Summary: While evidence in the area continues to grow, data gaps remain. Greater use of quasi-experimental techniques, improvements in routine monitoring of smaller schemes, and the use of new big data sources are promising. More qualitative research could help develop a more sophisticated understanding of behaviour change

Tourism as connectedness.

Late modernity in developed nations is characterized by changing social and psychological conditions, including individualization, processes of competition and loneliness. Remaining socially connected is becoming increasingly important. In this situation, travel provides meaning through physical encounters, inclusion in traveller Gemeinschaft based on shared norms, beliefs and interests, and social status in societies increasingly defined by mobilities. As relationships are forged and found in mobility, travel is no longer an option, rather a necessity for sociality, identity construction, affirmation or alteration. Social contexts and the underlying motivations for tourism have changed fundamentally in late modernity: non-tourism has become a threat to self-conceptions. By integrating social and psychological perspectives, this paper expands and deepens existing travel and mobilities discussions to advance the understanding of tourism as a mechanism of social connectedness, and points to implications for future tourism research