Mindsets Set in Concrete? Exploring the Perspectives of Domestic Travellers on New Zealand’s (Auto-)Mobility Culture

Maria Juschten, Shannon Page and Helen Fitt
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Maria Juschten: Institute for Transport Studies, University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences Vienna (BOKU), Peter Jordan Straße 82, 1190 Vienna, Austria
Shannon Page: Department of Environmental Management, Faculty of Environment, Society and Design, Lincoln University, Ellesmere Junction Road/Springs Road, Lincoln 7647, New Zealand
Helen Fitt: Centre of Excellence: Sustainable Tourism for Regions, Landscapes and Communities, Lincoln University, Ellesmere Junction Road/Springs Road, Lincoln 7647, New Zealand

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 18, 1-21

Abstract: Tourism trips in New Zealand are strongly car-dominated. Research suggests that such car use practices do not only emerge from purely rational economic considerations but also result from symbolic and affective motives, institutionalized mobility cultures, and habitualized mobility practices that have developed and materialized in spatial structures over decades. This paper explores the notion of automobility and its influence on the domestic tourism mobilities of Christchurch residents. It does so by applying Q methodology, an inherently mixed method that involves participants structuring statements by their level of agreement, followed by a range of qualitative post-sorting questions. The statements draw on insights from the study of tourism mobilities, mobility cultures and classical mode choice research, allowing this study to provide novel insights into the under-researched field of urban–rural tourism mobility. The juxtaposition of quantitative Q and the qualitative interview results reveals influential factors at the personal, interpersonal, societal/political and infrastructural level. The results then feed into a conceptualisation of influential factors of tourism mobility choices using an embedded, interlinked structure that captures the dynamics of social interactions (i.e., feedback-loops). Policy implications are discussed with regards to possible sustainability pathways in line with New Zealand’s decarbonisation strategy.

Keywords: mobility culture; rural leisure trips; New Zealand; sustainable tourism mobility; exploratory analysis; Q methodology (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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