Regional multimodal accessibility: Policies and strategies for sustainable tourism destinations in coastal areas

Multimodal mobility is an important factor in improving the sustainable accessibility of destinations. This is especially true of tourist destinations. However, many of these lack an efficient and sustainable transportation system. This is a very real problem in places where demand is highly seasonal and concentrated at certain times of the year, such as coastal destinations during the peak season. In this paper, we look at all 67 coastal cities in the Apulia region (Italy) to understand destination accessibility and possible improvements in sustainable multimodal alternatives. For each destination, we map the supply of public transportation services and calculate average travel times by train, bus, private car and bicycle from specific regional gateways (airports, ports and rail stations). Using the methodology developed by the Ministry of Infrastructures and Transport (MIT, 2018), we compare the degree of accessibility of public transportation systems to the private car option, also analysing existing multimodal alternatives in terms of environmental impact and the time required to reach each desti- nation. We provide several transportation policy suggestions and operational strategies that reconcile the development of competitive tourism activities with sustainable urban accessibility.