SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PUBLIC TRANSPORT FOR TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN DESTINATIONS

Abstract

Economic and environmental consequences of transport connected to tourism are important topic in tourism transition. Public transport is in many countries strongly underated even though its potential for economic as well es environmental development is considered to be high. The aim of the contribution is to evaluate how the stakeholders involved in the development and management of tourism destinations perceive the importance of public transport and other transport services. A partial goal is to find out how this importance differs between countries and between different types of destinations and what effect public transport has on the development of a given tourism area. International comparison as well as comparison among types of destination in tourism centres for the Czech Republic, Germany, Austria, Italy, the Netherlands, and Mexico was done. Factorial repeated measures ANOVAs was used to test potential differences among those six countries and three types of destinations based on 121 questionnaires. The research was based on the data of expert estimates of stakeholders, i.e. on what the managers who make decisions and formulate policies think. It was therefore not a real state, because it is not about exact measured values. We have found that the contribution of individual means of transport to local development is perceived by stakeholders significantly different. Regardless of the country, public transport is considered the most important development element. Furthermore, it was found that public transport is generally considered to be the most environmentally friendly. It can also be stated that tourism experts expect further development of transport in their destination, but they are not completely satisfied with the state of development preparations. The level of public transport is the worst rated in Mexico, but the experts there are most aware of its influence on the development of tourism and the benefit to the local population. In the Netherlands and Italy, the public administration motivates the use of public transport the most, while in Mexico and the Czech Republic, this support is perceived to be comparatively less. In the Netherlands, Italy and Mexico, they are open to the integration of shared means of transport (e.g., shared bicycles, scooters or Uber) into the public transport system, on the contrary, the Czech Republic is more sceptical of these alternative means of transport. Further development of public transport is planned in all studied countries, and local public administration participates in its operation.