Weather to travel to the beach

Weather conditions have a strong effect on certain leisure destinations choices causing extreme road and parking congestion. An important question is then to what extent travelers react to these forms of congestion by switching to other travel modes. Using information from a national travel survey from 1996 till 2005, we analyze trips from the home to beach destinations in the Netherlands and examine the influence of weather on the probability of making beach trips by car. We take into account that the distance to the beach affects the decision to travel to the beach as well as the decision to travel by car. Our findings suggest that modal choice of beach travelers is sensitive to weather-induced congestion on roads to the beach. Our results imply that, conditional on making a beach trip, car use decreases by about 15% during higher temperatures inducing a 50% increase in train use. Furthermore, the distance elasticity of demand for beach trips is clearly negative and about −0.40, suggesting that the monetary value of visiting a beach during the summer is in the order of €10-20. Appropriate pricing of parking near beaches is suggested as a solution to reduce congestion and cruising for parking externalities.