Rethinking car-dependent rural tourism mobility

Automobile dependence and its externalities pose significant sustainability issues in both urban and rural areas. However, the existing literature mainly focuses on cities, with limited evidence from cases in the countryside. Travelling in rural areas requires attention, as most tourists rely on private cars to travel to and within these places. Also, cars are still widely accepted as "the rural transport solution", which hinders the transition to more sustainable transport systems. In this paper I present empirical evidence on the extent to which domestic tourists depend on their cars for travel to and within Sälen, a rural destination in Sweden. According to a Public Participation GIS (PPGIS) survey conducted among tourists in Sälen, 89% of visitors travelled to the destination by car, while none of them used collective transport. Moreover, interviews conducted with stakeholders involved in transport planning and management in Sälen have revealed challenges in providing alternative mobility options, such as public transport, to the destination. Furthermore, even though the destination offers a ski bus transport system for trips within the destination, the survey results indicate that most tourists still prefer to travel by private car within Sälen. The use of private cars for tourist travel has resulted in externalities, particularly congestion during peak times. This view is shared by stakeholders and supported by the results of the tourist survey. These findings have implications for rural (tourism) policy, as they show that developing alternative mobility infrastructure is not enough to shift tourists' automobile dependency in rural areas.