Examining sustainability of heritage on wheels: the case of autorickshaws in Delhi (India)

Abstract

This study examines autorickshaws (ARs), a traditional mode of transportation in a popular heritage tourism city from a sustainability standpoint. The overarching purpose is to suggest a modified ASI (Avoid-Shift-Improve) model that lends credibility to the auto rickshaw as a cultural and social/economically and environmentally viable form of personalized transport. This study argues that by meaningfully integrating the AR rides into a heritage travel package and as a cultural transport to heritage attractions, tourists’ local heritage experience can be enriched. The ride can facilitate deeper engaging experiences by offering a slow journey and the ‘last mile’ personalized connectivity to popular heritage sites. This study also offers a discourse on how heritage tourism and traditional transport modes of connectivity to heritage attractions can partner for a win-win solution, that is, to achieve mutually beneficial goals to address the health and economic risks emerging from the current COVID-19 pandemic.