PATHWAYS - towards reduced climate footprints in everyday and long-distance leisure mobilities

Prosjektet 'PATHWAYS towards reduced climate footprints in everyday and long-distance leisure mobilities' undersøker folks realistiske respons til en fremtid med mindre klimaavtrykk fra korte og lange fritidsreiser. Studien svarer på manglende kunnskaper om potensialer for redusert klimaavtrykk fra lokale/regionale fritidsreiser (oftest bilbaserte) og langdistansereiser (hovedsakelig flyreiser). Prosjektet vil foreslå virkemidler for atferdspåvirkning, begrensninger og samfunnsmessige innovasjoner som kan redusere klimaavtrykket fra fritidsreiser. Videre vil prosjektet bidra til å styrke samfunnsmessige, næringsmessige og politiske drivkrefter for tilpassing til fremtidige fritidsreiser med redusert klimapåvirkning. Sammen med partnere i offentlig sektor og frivillige organisasjoner vil man også søke å avdekke og prøve ut muligheter gjennom attraktive og mer bærekraftige reisemuligheter. Videre vil prosjektet bidra med forslag til nye politiske rettesnorer og realisering av tidsmessige private og/eller offentlige initiativer for mer bærekraftige fritidsreiser. Covid-19-pandemien medførte flere endringer i prosjektet, når det tidvis ble betydelige begrensinger for nordmenns ferie- og fritidsreiser. Samtidig ga pandemien unike muligheter til å studere mer og mindre tvungne reiseendringer samt potensialer for permanent endrede reisevaner på basis av nye erfaringer under og etter pandemien. Prosjektet har i 2020 og 2021 gjennomført fire nettbaserte spørreundersøkelser blant personer i Osloområdet; en survey om tvungen hjemmeferie i påsken 2020 og tre undersøkelser om sommerferie preget av en del reiserestriksjoner. I tillegg er det utført nettbaserte dybdeintervjuer om husholdningers reisevaner, ferieopplevelser under pandemien og holdninger og tanker om fremtidige feriereiser. I samarbeid med partnerne er det i perioden 2021-2023 gjennomført en nettbasert survey av brukere/reisende, og en rekke nettbaserte dybdeintervjuer av brukere av fritidsreise-pilotprosjektene Grønt kort (DNT) og Bestillingstransport/fjellruter (Innlandstrafikk) de to samarbeidspartnerne gjennomfører. Høsten 2022 ble det også utført en panel-basert spørreundersøkelse om nordmenns fritidreiser med fly til utlandet. De akademiske prosjektpartnerne er Transportøkonomisk institutt - Norsk senter for samferdselsforskning (prosjektledelse), Universitet i Oxford, Universitet i Otago, og Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige universitet. I tillegg er Den Norske Turistforening og Innlandstrafikk samarbeidspartnere i prosjektet. I tillegg har også busselskapet NORWAY bussekspress deltatt i prosjektet.

The project will provide concrete and policy relevant knowledge to establish a roadmap towards more sustainable leisure mobilities. Results will aid businesses, public authorities and organisations involved in developing and promoting greener and more attractive travel options that are realistically competitive. Outcomes will also help to avoid inadequate product designs and investments. Public authorities, NGOs and private enterprises will benefit from travel pilot projects assessments in terms of service mix, market adoption, user experiences and behaviour change potentials. The pilot schemes will serve as learning platforms that participants and other interests may use to explore and further develop novel services and expand marketplaces. Empirically-grounded and enhanced understanding of leisure travel-related choices and practices will help spur green growth and increase green value creation. Moreover, the project will support attainment of UN's sustainable development goals. The PATHWAYS project has completed field research studies of two cooperating pilot projects administered by the collaborating partners Norwegian Trekking Association (DNT), Innlandstrafikk, and with Norway Bussekpress as an additional pilot company participant. The pilot studies have provided value information to the service providers about travelers experiences and attitudes toward the piloted sustainable bus and cabin-based travel options. In addition, the five online panel surveys and accompanying personal interviews have provided new knowledge about Norwegian’s' leisure travel, the potential for Norwegians to choose more sustainable travel options, and attitudes towards different policy measures. Results have been disseminated in academic publications and popular media and conferences. There are five peer-reviewed article manuscripts submitted to scientific international journals, which are in different stages of the review process, and are expected to be published in 2024. In adition one book chapter produced is accepted for publication, and expected to be published in July 2024.

Passenger transport in Norway and elsewhere is a huge and rapidly growing source of global GHG emissions and has been depicted as a major roadblock to climate change mitigation. Still, there is a dearth of research on realistic potentials to reduce emissions from leisure travel such as local/regional journeying (mostly car-based) and long-distance tours (mainly aviation), as transition towards a low-emission society will require considerable travel alterations. Simultaneously, there is great uncertainty about how leisure mobilities may evolve, since demand-side travel adaptation to climate change mitigation has received limited research attention. In collaboration with NGOs and private and public sector partners, the present project will challenge mobility provision systems. The project will create new knowledge about general public comprehension and acceptance of climate mitigation and adaptation measures within local/regional and long-distance leisure mobilities. It will also support development of more sustainable leisure travel services in the private and the public sector and assess experimental pilot projects aimed at reducing climate footprints of leisure mobilities. Additionally, outcomes will elucidate opportunities and barriers related to society's strategies and capacities to design and implement reduced leisure travel-related climate footprints and advance mitigation roadmaps to support travel and tourism associations, enterprises and public authorities to engage with and adapt to more climate-friendly and sustainable leisure mobilities. New aspects of support and engagements that speed up societal transformations towards lower leisure travel GHC emissions will be illuminated. The project will also consider how governance structures can be set up to design and support policies for leisure travel options with smaller climate footprints.