Intentions to use bike-sharing for holiday cycling: An application of the Theory of Planned Behavior

• First study to explore tourist intentions to use bike-sharing.
• First study to apply the Theory of Planned Behavior to holiday cycling.
• Comparison of the preferences for regular and electric bicycles.
• Tourists are very interested in using bike-sharing frequently and for multiple purposes.
• Holiday cycling involves group decisions, not individual ones.

This study explored the behavioral factors underlying tourist intentions to use urban bike-sharing for cycling while on holiday. The analytical framework relied on the Theory of Planned Behavior relating tourist intentions to favorable attitudes toward cycling, interest in bicycle technology, favorable subjective norms toward cycling, and perceived cycling ease. The case-study focused on the new bike-sharing system in Copenhagen (Denmark) and questioned 655 potential tourists about a hypothetical holiday scenario. Structural equation models revealed: (i) a great interest in using bike-sharing, frequently and for multiple purposes; (ii) a relation between holiday cycling and living in a cycling-friendly country, past cycling experience, and habitual transport mode choice during daily life; (iii) an appeal of electric bicycles to tourists with high interest in bicycle technology, low perceived cycling ease, and weak favorable norms toward cycling; (iv) a relation between frequent and multi-purpose cycling intentions and favorable to stronger attitudes and norms toward cycling, and greater perceived likelihood that the holiday partners would cycle.