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The purpose of this paper is to showcase how Public Participation Geographic Information Systems (PPGIS) can be used to assist in collecting data of relevance for planning at a tourism destination in general and, specifically how PPGIS data can assist in the early stages of transportation planning. In this paper, we report on a PPGIS study in Sälenfjällen, the largest ski tourism destination in Sweden. Our analysis uses data from 162 visitors sampled on-site using online and paper-based questionnaires containing survey questions and mapping tasks. We use the survey and mapped results from Sälenfjällen to discuss the opportunities and challenges of using PGGIS for this planning purpose. We conclude that, despite of various challenges like low response rates and sampling issues, PPGIS provides the possibility to collect rich information in terms of survey results and mapped values. This is important in understanding a transportation challenge at the early stages of planning, namely the initiation stage. Our study adds to a growing literature exploring the use of PPGIS in the field of tourism and recreation. To the best of our knowledge, ours is the first to use this approach in a tourism-transport context in a Nordic destination.

This chapter discusses mixed methods Public Participation Geographic Information Systems (PPGIS) in tourism. It provides the rationale for using mixed methods PPGIS in tourism and discusses the context where it was used. The context was a study exploring the opportunities and challenges of PPGIS (henceforth the PPGIS study) for transport planning at a tourism destination. PPGIS is a participatory research method that uses the mapping and technological capabilities of GIS to leverage community knowledge, enhance local decision-making processes, and improve the community members’ lives. PPGIS is very similar to mental mapping; both methods use maps to capture people's cognitive representations of a given space. However, in mental mapping, participation is aimed at fulfilling research objectives, but in PPGIS, participation should ideally empower communities. The PPGIS study for this chapter employed a concurrent triangulation mixed method approach. The study used qualitative and quantitative techniques to overcome the inherent challenges of using a single method and to corroborate the findings. Equal weighting was given in the design of quantitative (survey) and qualitative (open-ended, mapping) questions and the eventual data collection, analysis, and interpretation. This chapter discusses how the aim of the PPGIS study was formulated, the sampling and data collection processes, and how the data was analysed. It also discusses the opportunities and challenges of conducting tourism research using mixed methods PPGIS.

Understanding transport challenges is inevitable for transitioning to a low-carbon rural tourism future. Using social representation theory, this study examines how tourism and transport practitioners perceive transport challenges in rural destinations and how they overcome these problems. The multi-method qualitative approach adopted involves semi-structured interviews with practitioners, participant observation, and document analysis in the Swedish destinations of Åre and Sälen. Findings reveal social representations of transport challenges at both destinations, namely, “a car-dependent society”, a “non-desirable transport future” and “wicked transport problems”. Practitioners in these places address these challenges in several ways. Surprisingly, one solution is to promote flying to the destinations. This particular solution, not to mention the destinations' overreliance on private automobile use illustrates that they have not yet begun transitioning to a low carbon transport future. This situation highlights the urgency to encourage sustainable mobility development to and within these destinations.

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.