Move fast, travel slow: the influence of high-speed rail on tourism in Taiwan

ABSTRACT

High-speed rail (HSR) and tourism are closely related economic activities because improved mobility is perceived to facilitate tourist behavioral changes. This study examines the influence of HSR on the travel patterns of individual tourists in Taiwan in relation to time, space and carbon emissions. A framework is first provided to discuss how changes in the speed of intercity transportation will affect visitors’ choice of the journey, behavior at destinations and trip quality. In addition, HSR is expected to influence five general aspects of travel decisions relating to mobility and trip emissions, including mode selection, travel distance, length of stay per trip, annual travel frequency and total travel days. In the example of Taiwan, information by onsite sampling of 400 domestic travelers found that HSR had a weak influence on travel distance and length of stay per trip, but was observed to facilitate extended time at each stop, a deeper engagement with the locality, and an approximate 10% reduction in transport carbon emissions through intermodal substitution. These phenomena are in line with the slow travel concept of sustainable tourism consumption.

KEYWORDS:

• Taiwan
• high-speed rail
• slow travel
• carbon emissions
• behavioral changes

Acknowledgments

We thank the anonymous reviewers and Dr. James Higham for their helpful comments to the previous version of this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. This perspective does not consider the energy consumption or environmental pollution associated with the construction of basic infrastructures, such as HSR stations or tracks, or the production of the trains. For studies that address the full environmental impact through a life-cycle analysis, please see Miyoshi and Givoni (2013), for an example.

2. The total number of passenger-km divided by the total number of seat-km operated by the actual train service.

3. One tonne is equal to 1000 kilograms.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Republic of China, [grant number MOST 103 - 2410 - H - 006 - 092 - MY2].

Notes on contributors

Ya-Yen Sun

The research interests of Ya-Yen Sun and Zhi-Wei Lin are on the economic and environmental impact evaluation of tourism development. Related research includes theoretical perspectives of the standard Input-Output model tailoring to the tourism industry characteristics, the tourism carbon emissions evaluation, and the interaction among travel behaviors and transport mode selection.

Zhi-Wei Lin

The research interests of Ya-Yen Sun and Zhi-Wei Lin are on the economic and environmental impact evaluation of tourism development. Related research includes theoretical perspectives of the standard Input-Output model tailoring to the tourism industry characteristics, the tourism carbon emissions evaluation, and the interaction among travel behaviors and transport mode selection.