This article outlines an approach for examining tourist-destination travel mode choices and forecasting the resulting environmental impact of those selections. Using the tourism destination of Whistler, British Columbia, as a case study, the article initially describes a discrete-choice experiment (DCE) used to estimate tourist mode-choice behavior under different transportation-planning scenarios. It then incorporates the DCE findings into a technical, bottom-up energy-use model to create behaviorally shaped estimates of energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. The findings suggest that innovative transportation-management strategies can encourage tourists to use public-transit modes rather than private or rental vehicles to access tourism destinations. The modal shifts caused by these initiatives can significantly affect the energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions associated with land-based visitor travel. The findings contribute to the growing theoretical and applied strategies needed to inform the creation of more sustainable forms of tourism-destination development.
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