Digital journey planner as a facilitator of last mile transportation services in a peripheral tourism destination

Research output: ThesisMaster's thesis

Abstract

Transport accessibility is a major concern for peripheral tourism destinations. Transport accessibility can be divided into three categories based on the travelled distance: Air transportation capacity, ground transportation from central hubs, and the last mile connectivity to the destination. Peripheral destinations often have rural characteristics, which adds another challenge of organising in-destination transportation system to enable travellers to reach all experiences and services in the destination. The increasing demand for sustainability also drives destinations to decrease the carbon dioxide emissions per passenger kilometre, which, in turn, drives transportation planning towards public transportation type of solutions instead of small capacity solutions.

Once the last mile and in-destination transportation services have been organised in a peripheral destination, there is a marketing dilemma ahead; how to be able to efficiently and effectively inform travellers via digital channels before and during their travel about the transportation services available. It is vital to manage to invite travellers to use these services for several reasons: a) high capacity utilisation secure the profitability and continuity of transportation services, b) high capacity utilisation decreases the carbon dioxide emissions per passenger kilometre and supports achieving the sustainability targets, c) it increases perceived destination satisfaction of destination customers, and d) it makes distant in-destination services reachable for destination customers.

Intelligent transport systems were developed to inform travellers real-time on transportation services available. Currently operated systems cover several major cities globally but rarely exist or provide accurate and comprehensive information in peripheral destinations. Utilising action design research methodology, this research reports the opportunities and challenges of a digital journey planner deployment in a peripheral destination, Levi, in Finnish Lapland. As a research finding, a major opportunity of increasing customer awareness on transportation services available is reported. Similarly, an interesting opportunity to increase perceived transport accessibility is found. However, by analysing the transportrelated destination ecosystem, it is shown, that coordination and management of a complex cooperation network is required to able to provide sophisticated intelligent transport system in a peripheral destination with rural characteristics. Major challenges include building the required cooperation network, and finding an optimal partner for the digitalisation. The research findings increase understanding on the digitalisation efforts in the context of last mile transportation services in a peripheral destination. The results are transferable to another peripheral or rural destination with similar characteristics.
Translated title of the contributionDigitaalinen reittiopas viimeisen kilometrin kuljetuspalveluiden edistäjänä syrjäisessä matkakohteessa
Original languageEnglish
QualificationMaster of Science
Awarding Institution
  • University of Eastern Finland
Award date8 Jun 2022
Publication statusPublished - 8 Jun 2022
MoEC publication typeG2 Master's thesis, polytechnic Master's thesis

Keywords

  • Tourism digitalisation
  • Intelligent transport systems
  • Journey planner
  • Last mile transportation
  • Destination management

Field of science

  • Business and management
  • Tourism research
  • Economics
  • Electronic, automation and communications engineering, electronics
  • Other engineering and technologies

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