Getting there & away; the role of travel information in recreational travel decisions, with a specific focus on mode and destination choice

More than half the travellers use travel information and can therefore be used as a policy instrument to affect travel behaviour of individuals. Developing a successful travel information services requires several prerequisites. For recreational travel, transport data on the regional and local roads is of utmost importance. This information is currently not available in the Netherlands. Consequently, additional effort should be directed to acquire the necessary transport data and to stimulate travel information services that support door-to-door trips. Furthermore, the effect of external factors on the use of travel information should be taken into account when developing new information services. As the experience with public transport can be transferred less easily to other trips relative to experience with car travel, public transport users use more travel information than car users. As a consequence additional attention should be given to increase the public transport information; not only on travel websites but also on the destination websites. Besides changing travel behaviour, travel information enhances the quality of the trip. Travellers may find this aspect more important than changing their travel behaviour. To increase the perception of trip quality, the government should increase its effort to stimulate the distribution of individual travel information, for all trip motives.