“Everyone Wants to Drive There”: Challenges to Transport Sustainability in Rural Tourism Destinations

Abstract

Understanding transport challenges is inevitable for transitioning to a low-carbon rural tourism future. Using social representation theory, this study examines how tourism and transport practitioners perceive transport challenges in rural destinations and how they overcome these problems. The multi-method qualitative approach adopted involves semi-structured interviews with practitioners, participant observation, and document analysis in the Swedish destinations of Åre and Sälen. Findings reveal social representations of transport challenges at both destinations, namely, “a car-dependent society”, a “non-desirable transport future” and “wicked transport problems”. Practitioners in these places address these challenges in several ways. Surprisingly, one solution is to promote flying to the destinations. This particular solution, not to mention the destinations' overreliance on private automobile use illustrates that they have not yet begun transitioning to a low carbon transport future. This situation highlights the urgency to encourage sustainable mobility development to and within these destinations.