Tourists’ preference on the combination of travel modes under Mobility-as-a-Service environment

This study explores a tourists’ preference for tour mode bundle, defined as a set of preferable travel modes for multiple trips in a tour, under Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS). In the context of tourism, MaaS could improve transportation sustainability by providing integrated information about sustainable transportation modes. To develop a systematic understanding of tourists’ preference for tour mode bundle, we design a tour-based stated preference (SP) choice experiment based on bundle configuration of travel modes in MaaS including a shared van as a paratransit mode in combination with the existing bus and taxi services. A web-based SP survey is conducted for 331 individuals who visited Jeju Island in Korea. Two mixed logit models are estimated to reveal differences between the trip- and tour-based mode choice situations. The estimation results reveal that the trip sequence significantly influences the preference for travel mode in a tour mode bundle, which has significant cross effects with individual and travel context attributes. A shared van is the most preferred in both a trip and a tour. Persistence to using the same mode and synergy of using different modes are captured through significant cross effects of sequence-specific travel modes in a tour mode bundle. Based on these findings that can only be identified through tour-based choice situations, MaaS can be more effectively designed in tourism.