GETTING RESPONSIBLE TRAVELLERS ON BOARD
Author(s)
GIULIO PATTANARO
Abstract
In times of growing global concern over the effects of climate change, railways could potentially provide the market with viable and valuable options for more environmentally-friendly responsible tourism practices. Traditional train companies themselves appear to be increasingly aware of the immense tourism potential of their sector; this is evidenced by their offer of additional — and often complementary — tourist-oriented services such as car rental bargains or combined transport— accommodation packages on top of conventional train tickets. The present paper aims to examine the marketing tools and initiatives that train companies have conceived and developed to target and attract responsible travellers. It reviews the most relevant literature on rail tourism, with a focus on both the main characteristics of rail tourists and the link between rail tourism and sustainability. The literature review will be followed by the analysis of the tools and initiatives being implemented by three national train operating companies — Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer (SNCF), Swiss Federal Railways (SBB-CFF-FFS) and Trenitalia in France, Switzerland and Italy respectively. The case study analysis is based on the inputs collected from each of the three operator’s corporate sustainability strategy, business-to-consumer (B2C) website, and digital or printed promotional material provided to potential or actual passengers. The findings relative to each train operator will eventually be compared and some conclusions on the main components and outreach of the strategies and initiatives put in place by train operators to attract responsible tourists will be drawn. The paper will conclude by suggesting further research on the topic and the analysis of additional case studies.
Keywords
rail transport, rail tourism, responsible traveller, train companies, sustainable mobility
Related Book
Other papers in this volume
Warning (2)
: foreach() argument must be of type array|object, null given [in
/var/www/dce7ae55-385b-4ffa-8595-3ec5e61ff110/public_html/app/templates/Papers/view.php, line
364]
Code
$counter = '0';
foreach ($paper['book']['Paper'] as $otherPaper) {
if ((!empty($otherPaper['name'])) && ($counter < '7') && ($otherPaper['available'] == 1)) {
Cake\Error\ErrorTrap->handleError() /var/www/dce7ae55-385b-4ffa-8595-3ec5e61ff110/public_html/app/templates/Papers/view.php, line 364
/var/www/dce7ae55-385b-4ffa-8595-3ec5e61ff110/public_html/app/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/View/View.php /var/www/dce7ae55-385b-4ffa-8595-3ec5e61ff110/public_html/app/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/View/View.php, line 1188
Cake\View\View->_evaluate() /var/www/dce7ae55-385b-4ffa-8595-3ec5e61ff110/public_html/app/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/View/View.php, line 1145
Cake\View\View->_render() /var/www/dce7ae55-385b-4ffa-8595-3ec5e61ff110/public_html/app/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/View/View.php, line 785
Cake\View\View->render() /var/www/dce7ae55-385b-4ffa-8595-3ec5e61ff110/public_html/app/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Controller/Controller.php, line 712
Cake\Controller\Controller->render() /var/www/dce7ae55-385b-4ffa-8595-3ec5e61ff110/public_html/app/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Controller/Controller.php, line 516
Cake\Controller\Controller->invokeAction() /var/www/dce7ae55-385b-4ffa-8595-3ec5e61ff110/public_html/app/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Controller/ControllerFactory.php, line 166
Cake\Controller\ControllerFactory->handle() /var/www/dce7ae55-385b-4ffa-8595-3ec5e61ff110/public_html/app/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Controller/ControllerFactory.php, line 141
Cake\Controller\ControllerFactory->invoke() /var/www/dce7ae55-385b-4ffa-8595-3ec5e61ff110/public_html/app/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/BaseApplication.php, line 362
Cake\Http\BaseApplication->handle() /var/www/dce7ae55-385b-4ffa-8595-3ec5e61ff110/public_html/app/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Runner.php, line 86
Cake\Http\Runner->handle() /var/www/dce7ae55-385b-4ffa-8595-3ec5e61ff110/public_html/app/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Middleware/CsrfProtectionMiddleware.php, line 169
Cake\Http\Middleware\CsrfProtectionMiddleware->process() /var/www/dce7ae55-385b-4ffa-8595-3ec5e61ff110/public_html/app/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Runner.php, line 82
Cake\Http\Runner->handle() /var/www/dce7ae55-385b-4ffa-8595-3ec5e61ff110/public_html/app/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Middleware/BodyParserMiddleware.php, line 157
Cake\Http\Middleware\BodyParserMiddleware->process() /var/www/dce7ae55-385b-4ffa-8595-3ec5e61ff110/public_html/app/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Runner.php, line 82
Cake\Http\Runner->handle() /var/www/dce7ae55-385b-4ffa-8595-3ec5e61ff110/public_html/app/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Routing/Middleware/RoutingMiddleware.php, line 118
Cake\Routing\Middleware\RoutingMiddleware->process() /var/www/dce7ae55-385b-4ffa-8595-3ec5e61ff110/public_html/app/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Runner.php, line 82
Cake\Http\Runner->handle() /var/www/dce7ae55-385b-4ffa-8595-3ec5e61ff110/public_html/app/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Routing/Middleware/AssetMiddleware.php, line 69
Cake\Routing\Middleware\AssetMiddleware->process() /var/www/dce7ae55-385b-4ffa-8595-3ec5e61ff110/public_html/app/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Runner.php, line 82
Cake\Http\Runner->handle() /var/www/dce7ae55-385b-4ffa-8595-3ec5e61ff110/public_html/app/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Middleware/ErrorHandlerMiddleware.php, line 115
Cake\Error\Middleware\ErrorHandlerMiddleware->process() /var/www/dce7ae55-385b-4ffa-8595-3ec5e61ff110/public_html/app/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Runner.php, line 82
Cake\Http\Runner->handle() /var/www/dce7ae55-385b-4ffa-8595-3ec5e61ff110/public_html/app/vendor/cakephp/debug_kit/src/Middleware/DebugKitMiddleware.php, line 60
DebugKit\Middleware\DebugKitMiddleware->process() /var/www/dce7ae55-385b-4ffa-8595-3ec5e61ff110/public_html/app/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Runner.php, line 82
Cake\Http\Runner->handle() /var/www/dce7ae55-385b-4ffa-8595-3ec5e61ff110/public_html/app/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Runner.php, line 60
Cake\Http\Runner->run() /var/www/dce7ae55-385b-4ffa-8595-3ec5e61ff110/public_html/app/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Server.php, line 104
Cake\Http\Server->run() /var/www/dce7ae55-385b-4ffa-8595-3ec5e61ff110/public_html/app/webroot/index.php, line 37
[main]