Road trip
The road trip (or motor vehicle trip ) is a vague generic term for two closely related terms . On the one hand, road trip is understood in the sense of a car journey and means arrival and departure to a specified destination . The purpose of the trip can be of a tourist or business nature ( business trip ). On the other hand, car travel is often equated with car vacation in general usage and then means a touristic-motivated trip as a whole, including arrival, departure and stay on site.
Significance and historical development
The passenger car is the most important means of transport for vacationers. According to the research community vacation and travel , the share of car trips in all vacation trips in Germany in 2005 was 45%. Ten years earlier the share was 52%. The second most important means of transport is the plane .
The development of the road trip as the preferred form of travel for Germans is primarily linked to the increasing degree of motorization . While around 0.5 million vehicles were registered in Germany in 1950, the number rose to 3.7 million by 1960. At the beginning of the 1960s, the car replaced the railroad as the most important means of vacation.
The increase in car travelers in Germany is inextricably linked with the German economic miracle . In times of full employment and rising wages, more and more people were able to afford a car and a vacation trip. In the 1960s, the Germans discovered Italy as a car travel destination alongside Austria. A car-friendly transport policy and the consistent expansion of the motorways further promoted this trend. In the decades that followed, rising gasoline prices and ecological debates had little impact on intensive car use.
Tour operator
Tour operators usually have a divisional organization made up of the departments of air travel , cruise travel , road trips and holiday homes (such as fincas in Spain). In their travel catalogs they offer a car trip with a rental car on suggested routes as part of a package tour.
Problem areas
The advantages of individual transport , such as a high degree of flexibility in terms of time and route, are opposed by a number of social challenges. This is how car exhaust fumes affect the small and large-scale climate. Their effects are noticeable locally ( smog ) and also contribute globally to the greenhouse effect . Along the arrival routes and in the destinations there are also considerable noise emissions and an increased safety risk due to the additional holiday traffic .
The stresses are distributed very differently geographically. During the main travel times, so-called transit countries such as Austria and Switzerland in particular have a significant volume of traffic. Despite a nationally and internationally staggered start of holidays, it seems impossible to completely equalize the flow of arrivals and departures. In Germany, the north-south autobahns are particularly prone to congestion. The cross-border freedom of movement for travel, guaranteed by the Schengen Agreement , among other things , entails an increased risk of cross-border crime, such as smuggling .
Web links / literature
- Literature on road trips in the catalog of the German National Library
- General German Automobile Club
- Information portal for car, travel and travel planning