Abstract

International audience; Marketing decisions and strategic planning of tourism provisions require knowledge of factors affecting this choice and type of trips and forecast of tourism flows in the short and long term. It is interesting to know how holidaymakers select their holiday destinations and investigate which factors are determining their choices. Indeed the objective of this paper is to analyze the role of High Speed Rail systems in this choice. A survey was carried out in Paris in October 2012, tourists were interviewed close to the Eiffel Tower, Paris Lyon Central Train Station and Notre-Dame Cathedral. The results will be compared with a previous survey employed in Rome in April 2012. The scope here is providing an answer to the questions: are tourists influenced by the presence of High Speed Rail in choosing Paris or Rome for their holidays? Does High Speed Rail influence the probability of visiting other served cities and returning to Paris or to Rome? The research suggests that several factors (the presence of architectural sites, the quality of promotion of the destination itself, the presence of events) influence the choice of a tourist. It also shows that the HSR system has affected the choice of Paris and Rome differently.

Abstract

International audience; The objective of this paper is to analyse the factors influencing tourists’ choice of a destination and the role of High Speed Rail (HSR) systems in this choice. The methodology proposed consists in analysing two capitals in Europe, i.e. Paris and Madrid where HSR services are important, to investigate the factors influencing holidaymakers in choosing these cities, and the role of HSR in this choice. The main outcome of this paper is to show that several factors influence the choice of a tourist, like the presence of architectural sites, the quality of promotion of the destination itself, the presence of events, and also HSR services. However we found that the HSR system has affected the choice of Paris and Madrid in a different way. Concerning the French case study, HSR is considered a real transport mode alternative among tourists, therefore HSR is chosen to reach Paris as well as for revisiting it. On the other hand, Madrid is chosen by tourists irrespective on the presence of HSR, while HSR is chosen for reaching cities close to Madrid. Data collected from the two surveys have been used for a further quantitative analysis. Models have been specified and calibrated to identify the factors influencing holidaymakers to revisit Paris and Madrid and the role of HSR in this choice has been highlighted. Document type: Conference object