Bringing Vacationers Together, For The Good Of The Planet
What’s the Latest Development?
Two researchers at Bournemouth University’s School of Tourism are looking into ways to mitigate the effects of tourism — specifically, travel to and from typical vacation spots, such as campsites and the beach — on the environment. Janet Dickinson and Viachaslau Filimonau are participating in a larger collaboration, the Sixth Sense Transport Project, which seeks to “revolutionise the travel decision making process” by encouraging the use of social media and mobile technology. Dickinson says they want to “[find] out about people’s travel decision making and whether their behaviour can be changed if they realise 200 other people living alongside them are about to make the same journey.“
What’s the Big Idea?
Five percent of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions come from holiday travel, which, if “holiday travel” were a country, would put it in the top 10 on a list of emission-producing countries. That said, the project’s goal is not to restrict traveling, but to provide incentives that will help reduce unnecessary travel. The first step is to figure out how open people are to sharing, and from there the team hopes to learn about vacationers’ habits and eventually invite them to try certain apps while on vacation.
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