Since the eighties, tourism has been one of the economic forces for most European countries. The big increase in tourist flows has been accompanied by quick changes in behaviour. The latter show a strong progression of short breaks that causes an important growth of tourist flows towards cities, the main destinations of this type of tourism. Urban tourism, a fully developing activity, has become a real prize economically and plays a more and more important part in local, regional and European development policies (city planning, environment, employment). However, its growth brings about functional and organisational difficulties. Among other things, the urban management of traffic flows differs at least at certain times of the year: important occasional traffic flows may have already reached saturation. This is amplified by the fact that tourists have different needs from those of the city's permanent residents. This management most certainly implements local strategies whose aim is to increase the quality and the radiance of the city but the strategies are not easy to launch. Managers and people who are in change of tourism and transport must bring new actions to these new needs; they have to know these new behaviours with the satisfactions as well as the profiles of corresponding populations. Nevertheless, there is practically no data on urban tourism. INRETS conducted one national survey in France about the behaviours pertaining to urban tourism. This survey was carried out face to face in people's homes for a sample of 3500 people representative of the French population over 18. The interviewees were questioned about their practices of urban tourism, what their needs are as tourists, how satisfied they were after a stay in a city they visited. The results of the survey allow one to focus on the global demand (existing or potential) and to understand the mobility of tourists in the urban area. For the covering abstract please see ITRD E135207.
Samenvatting