Transport Infrastructure, Tourist Behaviour and Spatial Structure in Landscapes and Habitats of the Alps

Transport Infrastructure, Tourist Behaviour and Spatial Structure in Landscapes and Habitats of the Alps

IVT Staff

Prof. Kay W. Axhausen
Peter Keller
Philipp Fröhlich
Martin Tschopp
Robert Schlich

Duration

04.2002-03.2005

Client

Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung (SNF): Nationales Forschungsprogramm 48 (NFP 48): Leben und Lebensräume der Alpen

Abstract

This research-project deals with the relationships between the infrastructure and tourist be-haviour and their impacts on the usage of the landscape. This interdisciplinary research ques-tion is typical for the current research practice in the regional and transport sciences. The in-vestigations comprise desk work as well as field studies. The following points are addressed and should be answered by this project:

• The relationship between the transport system (all modes of transport) and the acces-sibility of different alpine tourist regions (at a national scale)
• The relationship between the local accessibility of the landscape (supply of lifts, roads, railroads etc.) and its usage by the tourists
• The relationship between the accessibility and the spatial structure of the communi-ties (leisure infrastructure)
• The influence of the interaction between large-scale and local scale accessibility on the number and type of visits to the tourist regions
• The feedback mechanisms between usage and the improvements in local and large-scale accessibility

The present situation as well as the developments and the changes since 1950 will be investi-gated. While we will study the large scale issues using national data, the local questions will be addressed using a small sample of typical tourism locations (case studies).