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For a great number of European cities, particularly
in southern countries, tourism is one of the main sources of income.
But besides this positive effect that tourism has in their economies
acting as an economic driving force, tourism has some negative side
effects such as traffic congestion, air and noise pollution, and
degradation of the urban landscape which eventually undermines the
tourist attraction potential of these cities. In many cases, the
massive influx of tourists during peak periods results in an increase
in the population that is difficult to handle, particularly with
regard to mobility needs. MOST has supported five tourist cities
in the development of different pilot projects in the tourism sector.
These five pilot experiences have tested the validity of Mobility
Management to solve traffic problems generated by tourist transport
demand in very different scenarios and using a variety of approaches.
Here some highlights on results:
Visitors can be motivated into using modes of transport other than
the private car, when good advance information and coordination
of modes for the leisure trips is provided (e.g. in Zug (CH), where
only 14-23 % of the visitors came by car). Malaga (Spain) and even
the rather remote Sintra (Portugal) demonstrated that new public
transport services for tourists work well: dedicated tourist bus
lines (with improved facilities for easy intermodal change) attract
rising numbers of customers (6000 tourist bus passengers monthly
for a new bus line in Malaga, 10% increase in the usage of a shuttle
bus in Sintra). Approaching tourists before they arrive in a city
or town is extremely difficult, consequently tourists must be provided
with information by many different channels which requires the involvement
of tourist offices and hotels. Specific smart cards for public transport
hold a high potential (increase from 4.000 to 140.000 in usage within
a year in Malaga).
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