Visitor preferences toward scheduled bus use in natural and protected areas

This chapter presents a study aimed at investigating how 'carrot and stick' approaches may affect mode choice and subsequently patterns of visitor access to a hiking area served by multiple alternative transportation modes. The study is based on a stated preference survey conducted in a popular area of the Dolomites UNESCO World Heritage Site that allowed the estimation of visitors' sensitivity to a set of management and contingent factors. The findings of this study can help administrators in the Dolomites shape this approach that favour shift from automobiles to alternative transportation systems (ATS) while ensuring that visitor flows are balanced across an area. The chapter presents the case of multiple ATS offering different ways of access into an area, therefore having the potential to deeply alter visitation patterns. The results of the study confirm the importance of combining incentives to ATS and disincentives on car use to achieve an adequate modal shift towards sustainable forms of mobility in natural areas.