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The importance of the social environment in leisure destination choice
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Date
2024Type
- Conference Paper
ETH Bibliography
yes
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Abstract
Scientific literature has started to consider social networks’ impact on travel behavior and other travel-related decisions; the focus has been predominantly on ego-centric social networks. In this paper, we propose another type of social influence that can affect travel behavior: the social environment. To understand this phenomenon, we have estimated a Mixed Multinomial Logit model to see how the homophilic preferences of individuals can impact the decision of choosing a venue to engage in leisure activities. The model considers age, income, and interests as the variables to study the social environment of the venues chosen. We have used data collected from a survey in the Zurich Metropolitan Area that focused on regular leisure activities. The results show a positive impact of the three homophily variables studied; age and shared interests are the most relevant, with median estimated distance-elasticity of -0.58 and -0.72, respectively, while income homophily has an estimated distance-elasticities of -0.20. The study of the conditional posteriors shows a high heterogeneity in the preferences for age homophily and interest homophily, with an important part of the population having low preferences. These results are a first attempt to understand how the socioeconomic characteristics of the social environment of the venues visited for leisure impact the decision to go to those places. These findings can contribute to formulate policies to creating more socially cohesive and diverse urban leisure. Show more
Publication status
acceptedEvent
Subject
Destination choice; Social networks; Travel behavior; Social environmentOrganisational unit
03521 - Axhausen, Kay W. (emeritus) / Axhausen, Kay W. (emeritus)
02655 - Netzwerk Stadt u. Landschaft ARCH u BAUG / Network City and Landscape ARCH and BAUG
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ETH Bibliography
yes
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