The influence of international tourists' travel patterns on rental car fleet management in New Zealand

Abstract

Road transport is important to tourism, but little research has been undertaken into this mode of transport. This oversight is even more pertinent when one considers the popularity of cars, buses and coaches in many developed countries (Palhares 2002; Ward 1987). In the US, nearly 90 per cent of trips of more than 150 km are made by car, truck or recreational vehicle (RV) (Loverseed 1996). In the case of private vehicles, one explanation for the lack of research in road transport can be attributed to the absence of a formal, globally established industry that can facilitate systematic and coherent data collection. Another reason is that road transport accessibility can disperse travellers over a wide geographic area, making access to them expensive and difficult (Hensher et al. 1991). Tourism road transport research tends to analyse particular forms of travel or vehicles, such as taxis (Waryszak and King 2000), RVs such as camper vans and caravans (Fidgeon 1983; Gnoth 1999; Janiskee 1990; Jobes 1984), or coaches (Dean 1993). Research has also been conducted into self-drive tourism in a given country, such as Australia (Carson et al. 2002; Prideaux et al. 2001) or Bermuda (Teye 1992).