Dinu, Ana-Maria

Article
The importance of transportation to tourism
development

Academic journal of economic studies

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Dimitrie Cantemir Christian University, Bucharest

Reference: Dinu, Ana-Maria (2018). The importance of transportation to tourism development. In:
Academic journal of economic studies 4 (4), S. 183 - 187.

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 Academic Journal of Economic Studies
Vol. 4, No. 4, December 2018, pp. 183–187
ISSN 2393-4913, ISSN On-line 2457-5836

The Importance of Transportation to Tourism Development

Ana-Maria Dinu

The Faculty of International Business and Economics, "Dimitrie Cantemir" Christian University, Bucharest, Romania,
E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract In the recent decade, the event tourism has emerged as an important sector of tourism strategies and leisure behaviour globally.
The importance of transport consists not only in the function they have in the development of the national socio-economic complex,
but also in the important role exercised over the amplification of the relations between states. Transport through its role of
movement of goods and people, decisively influences the other branches of the world economy, including international tourism.
Without transportation there won’t be the travel and tourism industry, people won’t have means to reach another places that they
desire to see. Therefore, the development on transportation is linked to the development of tourism, if international tourism grows,
international transportation also grows. To reach their destinations tourists have to choose between four main types of
transportation, depending on many factors.
Key words Transportation, development, tourism
JEL Codes: O18, Z3
© 2018 Published by Dimitrie Cantemir Christian University/Universitara Publishing House.
(This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

1. Introduction
We can define transports as those activities consisting in the movement of persons or goods in space by means of
transport and by the use of an appropriate means of transport. Time has proved that transport can be very beneficial to an
economy for many reasons, such as employment, movement of goods and people. The World Tourism Organization
(UNWTO) defines tourism as "activities undertaken by people or groups of people during their travels and their stay in
locations different from the usual living space. These activities can take place over a period of less than a year with the
purpose of rest, business and other reasons. "Therefore, tourism is a socio-cultural practice that is justified by the need to
cover the psychosocial needs of rest, recreation, travel, discovery of places, people and new habits, the relationship with
people around us and the acquisition of new knowledge.
Since ancient times, transport has been present in people's everyday activities, and as society evolved, their importance in
the complex system of human civilization has steadily increased. In antiquity, transport played a decisive role in the
development of society and the formation of states. The first cities originated in the intersection of natural communications
(intersections of commercial roads, confluences of rivers and ports). Egypt, China, Greece, and the Roman Empire grew by
developing river and sea transport routes, and then states with access to the oceans such as Great Britain, Spain, Japan,
followed by France, Germany and the US became the most economically developed. Over time transportation experienced
a sensible development, but due to the limited character of the production and movement of the goods, they were
predominantly in the commercial sphere. The transports were mainly based on animal traction for the mainland, and on
small craft crossing the seas, oceans, rivers and rivers.
An important leap was recorded by the society when the wheel was invented, and most believe that its invention is the
reason for the emergence of ancient and modern civilization, the wheel being considered vital to all societies. The wheel is
fundamental to the emergence and development of travel and commerce. Therefore, if in ancient times people moved from
one place to another in search of food and protection against the changes of nature, today's modern life provides a great
deal of motivation for the movement of people and goods. Transports ensure the movement of people and commodities has
the role of bringing the goods where they are needed, without transport we cannot talk about the existence of trade and
how trade is a factor that determines the existence of cities, the lack of transport facilities is a real obstacle to the
emergence or development of cities. Transport represents the cause and the effect of tourism growth. First of all, the
improved facilities have encouraged tourism, and its expansion has driven to the development of transport infrastructure.
Accessibility is the primary function behind the basics of tourism transport. To access the pursued destinations, travellers
have a range of transportation types that are often used in a sequence. Today, air transport is the main method for
international tourism, which usually involves travel over long distances. So, transport is a key element in the tourism
industry. The demand in international and even national transport infrastructures entails a large number of people to be
transported in an efficient, fast and reasonable manner.

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2. Literature review
Transport has direct implications in the social sphere influencing and ensuring travel. Travel time is an important element in
adopting the holiday decision in the option for a particular destination, especially in international tourism. It is mainly by the
reason of the improvement of transportation that tourism has expanded (Caraiani et al., 2017). Tourism is defined as "the
operation of, and interaction between, transport modes, ways and terminals that support tourism resorts in terms of
passenger and freight flows into and out of destinations, and the provision of connecting transport modes in the tourism
generating region" (Prideaux, 2000).
If national transport means transportation between localities or within the localities of a country, international transport
represents those transports that cross at least one state border, the points of dispatch and the destination of the goods
being located in different countries (Caraiani and Georgescu, 2012). Transport is the first manifestation of tourism
consumption and therefore its psychological impact on the tourist, in an attempt to create the best image of the tourist
product, is decisive. In other words, the tourist has the first contact with the product he has purchased through the travel
service (Stănciulescu G., 2002). The importance of transport as an essential component of the tourism system has been a
topic of discussion in the literature for a long time. Many authors tried to determinate the importance of transport in tourist
flows and its role in the economy of states.
Transport is one of the main branches of any national economy. This is precisely why special attention is paid to developing
and modernizing transport and increasing the economic efficiency of activity in this important branch of the economy (Ilieș,
2000). Transport is acknowledged as one of the most significant factors to have contributed to the international
development of tourism (Page, 2005). It provides the essential link between tourism origin and destination area and
facilitates the movements of holidaymakers, business travellers, people that are visiting relatives in other countries. Culpan
(1987) identified transportation modes and management as the “important ingredients of the international tourism system,”
recognizing that connection by air, sea and land means is important for the operations as well as the availability of support
services such as fuel stations, auto repair, motels and rest facilities for land travel.
3. Importance of transportation in international tourism
The development of tourist transport is conditioned by the existence of appropriate means of transport for the means of
transport: roads, motorways, railway lines, stations, bus stations, river and sea ports, airports, etc. Today, tourism has
developed much due to the modernization and diversification of modes and means of transport. The progress made in this
area has facilitated the inclusion in the tourism sphere of resources at appreciable distances from the tourist-emitting
centers or the overcoming of some natural obstacles.
Developing tourism and transport are two interdependent issues: tourists need the transport services, for which they pay
from their own budget, to be safe, fast and comfortable. The choice of a particular type of transport, as well as their use in
various combinations, is determined by their particularities and the motivations of the passengers. They have to choose
between four main types of transportation to arrive at the desired destination.
The choice of the form of tourist transport by the tourist or is made taking into account the following parameters:
• the distance to be travelled from the tourist residence to the holiday destination,
• the time factor - it is important that the voyage can be carried out at the desired time and that the travel time does not
exceed certain acceptable limits for the tourist in the context of the total vacation time,
• the availability and accessibility of the service - from the very beginning must have the means to carry passengers on
the route or destination,
• safety and regularity - the standards related to these objectives are becoming more and more demanding for all forms of
transport,
• the comfort of the voyage - with reference to all the psychological and physiological sensations felt by tourists inside the
vehicle during the voyage.
In the actual development of tourist traffic, a wide range of means of transport are used. The usage of one, or their
combined use, are determined by factors related to the specificity of the journey and the particularities of the means of
transport, as well as by elements related to the psychology of the tourists. Of these, the travel distance and travel duration,
the itineraries characteristics, the state of the communication routes and the traffic intensity, the regularity and security of
the trips, the reason for the voyage and the group membership, the comfort of the trip, the level of the tariffs.

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Figure 1. The main reasons why tourism is important

Source: http://media.unwto.org/content/infographics
Rail transportation
The railway transport ensures the movement of space and time of goods and persons by means of locomotives and
wagons, which circulate after a predetermined schedule, on fixed routes (railways). For tourism, trains, through their
superior transport capacity, have convincingly responded to the desires of mass tourism. Some railway lines have even
entered the history of international tourism, as they are: Paris - Cote d'Azur with the Blue Train, the Transiberian, the Orient
Express, some Swiss railway tracks specializing in alpine tourism.
Water transportation
Water based transportation is one of the earliest known forms of transport. Today it represents an important industry and
water-based tourism and activities are amongst the most popular. Water tourism transportation is currently more in the form
of cruises, actually turning from a way of traveling into a recreational one. The cruise travel has a special place in tourism.
The cruise is, in fact, a tourist product consisting of spending aboard a specially designed ship, offering travellers not only
an ordinary maritime voyage, but also some special treats and recreational conditions, as well as visiting ports and localities
in outside the country's borders, in accordance with the previously established route. The two major markets of world
cruises are: the Caribbean Basin, which accounts for about 28% of the world market offer and the Mediterranean Basin,
with 15% of the offer.
Road transportation
Road transport holds the first place in tourism, has the longest age and the widest spread. Motor vehicles are
characterized by special mobility, not being connected to special fixed installations such as rail transport, for example.
Because of this, they can penetrate places where other means of transport have no accessibility, building an indispensable
component of multimodal transports. The bus and coach are a more and more used means of transport, especially for
group tourism.

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Car transport is the main type in world tourism (77% of all journeys), especially because of many advantages like flexibility,
price, and independence. Tourists often rent cars to drive to their destinations, which triggered an active grouping of
companies which rent cars. It is generally cheaper than any types of transportation. It is the only transportation method that
does not require transfers, in the sense that the entire journey, from one location to other can be achieved.
Air transportation
Air transport services are among the most dynamic forms of touristic transport, being used mainly over long and very long
distances. The main cause of the expansion of air transport is the superiority of flight performance compared to other
means of transport.. Most tourists choose air transport because they offer them some advantages such as speed, comfort,
flexibility, safety (it still remains the most secure type of transportation).
Air transportation is crushingly leading in transcontinental and intercontinental travel and is becoming more competitive for
shorter voyages in several regional markets. In developing nations low cost transporters are flourishing as well, bringing air
tariffs lower and are attracting more and more passengers, mostly because of the poor quality of land transportation and at
times because of security issues. Therefore, apparently over time the world’s busiest air directions are not long two trips,
but short range trips between cities not more than 1,000 km apart.

Figure 2. International inbound tourism by mode of transport in 2017

Source: www.statista.com
The figure below shows international inbound tourism by mode of transport in 2017: air travel comprised the largest share
of inbound tourism in 2017 with 57 percent. Travel by rail had the smallest share at just two percent. To recap, with the
purpose of developing and increasing the role of transportation in tourism the nations need to take note to some facts such
as:
• must be developed transportation modes specific to the regions,
• transportation costs must be kept competitive continuously,
• the personnel must be well trained,
• the governments need to assign financial support for the development of transportation.
4. Conclusions
Transport plays a very important role in the tourism industry. It is actually the link between the home, destination,
accommodation, attractions, considered the main elements of a journey. Transportation is very important to the success of
both domestic and international tourism. Mass tourism, as it is known internationally could not have existed without
inexpensive and easily accessible transportation. Transport forms an important part of the tourism and the tourist
experience at the destination. In many tourism studies, the main relationship between transport and the tourism was
emphasized and defined in term of "accessibility" which means that transport is considered having an essential connection
between tourist generating regions and tourism destination regions.

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Transport services have a number of distinctive features in relation to other services, namely: they exhibit a high receptivity
to technical progress, are intensive in the capital, require very large investments, offer opportunities for economics of scale,
have a vulnerability to the extreme at international, economic and political crises.

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