Tourism & Transport

Current traffic policy questions, in particular in the areas of the liberalisation of the transport mar-kets in the EU and within the framework of the General Agreement on Trade and Services (GATS), means or infrastructure cost relief as well as the area of traffic and the environment. In this research field, the liberalisation of the German intercity bus market is also examined together with colleagues from other scientific organisations. The results of this project were introduced as a conference contribution "The case for deregulating intercity bus services in Germany" at the International Conference Series on Competition and Ownership in Land Passenger Transport 2011 in Durban.

The area of air traffic is one of the focal points of this research field. In addition to the analysis and quantitative evaluation of the overall economic effects of the regulation and deregulation of the air traffic markets, the changing business models for airlines and airports are examined within the course of changes to the regulative environment. Thus, a project dealt with yield model optimisation at airlines by generating ancillary revenues. Against the backdrop of the considered more marked privatisation of airports, it is questioned how an effective regulation of airports can be shaped. Here, the development of the theoretical foundations of competitive and regulatory policy in agreement with the characteristics of the airport development must be taken into consideration.

One focal point of this research field is in the area of destination management. The items examined here are the business, political and social aspects of destination management. In this research field a common project with the Tourismusverband Nordrheinwestfalen [North Rhine-Westphalian Tourism Association] which has to do with increasing perception and recognition of destinations via adequate illustrative address was also carried out. Moreover, publication of the project results is planned for autumn 2012. In a further research project, an empirical study dealt with the intercultural interaction of tourists and the local population at a destination, taking Andalusia as an example. The project was conducted jointly with a Chair at the University of Cádiz. A publication with the title "Cross-cultural interaction between tourists and a destination’s local residents in Andalusia, Spain" has already been accepted and the results will be presented as a conference contribution at the second Advances in Hospitality and Tourism Marketing and Management (AHTMM) Conference at the beginning of June 2012 in Corfu / Greece. Further studies are planned - on the one hand on development perspectives for peripheral destinations under aspects of sustainability and on the other hand an assignment on the relevance of sustainability aspects for destination branding.

A further focus of the research field examines the interconnection between transport and tourism markets. Basically it has to do with the interfaces between air traffic and the tourism sector, in par-ticular in the direction of destination development and travel event. Currently, a study is being worked on with the objective of finding out the effects of the air traffic surcharge introduced in 2011 on the destination in the vicinity of the Frankfurt/Hahn airport. The core of this, the economic significance and dependency of dislocated destinations on low-cost airports, is presented.

The items researched are sociological-theoretical basics as well as practical implementation and further development of sustainable, responsible higher education for the tourism sector which meets the requirements of all stakeholders from the economy and society as far as possible. This takes place against the backdrop of increasing complexity of touristic value-added chains with regard to changed values in consumer behaviour derived from increased demands placed on graduates and their employability. The focus is on strategic orientation and curricular development of German and international universities with tourism programmes as well as the illustration and co-determination of the megatrends corporate social responsibility (CSR) of tourism companies and sustainability of touristic products in degree courses.

Furthermore, projects with corporate partners and with colleagues from other scientific organisations are planned.

Socio-cultural, economic and environmentally compatible sustainability in tourism form the focus of this research field. Within this scope, it is examined how cultural change, in particular the public understanding of travel, influences the travel sector. The touristic relationship to the animal world, visiting patterns as well as visitor expectations in zoos and wildlife parks is one item which is exam-ined. It is researched together with Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary in Brighton, Tasmania.

The influence of tourism policy and tourism planning on sustainable tourism belong to the further research areas. For example, a project on this subject is being conducted together with the Curtin Business School in Australia as to whether tourism planning and policy is expedient on small islands such as Niue in the South Pacific. The influence of CSR certifications is closely correlated to the prof-itability and sustainability of companies. Within this context, a student project with the travel pro-vider "Neue Wege" was started as to how to use a CSR certification for marketing purposes.