Sustainable Travel Products for Millennials

Abstract

This thesis’ core purpose was to analyze sustainable transportation in Denmark and how one can influence the Millennial segment to travel more sustainably. The barriers to traveling abroad via train have been discussed and a comparison between traveling by train and traveling by plane has been made to access why the target group primarily chooses to travel abroad by train, even though they are positive about traveling more sustainably by train to European destinations.
This thesis has presented some suggestions for the Danish Railway company DSB to utilize behavioral change principles in their communication to effectively influence the target group in traveling by train instead of by plane. Furthermore, the results from the primary data revealed that the core barriers to more sustainable travel abroad concerns price, travel-time and a fragmented industry, which inhibits the industry as a whole compared to the plane industry. It has been suggested that the communication from DSB should be very focused on providing the target group with plenty of information, as they utilize and demand for the information for taking this type of decision, as the “Elaboration likelihood” is high.
The results from the analysis also led to a segmentation of the target group that is relevant for DSB to market to, as the group was considered very environmentally conscious and very positive in the development of sustainable transportation abroad. The primary target is Millennials living in metropolitan areas, where DSB and other public transport companies are easily available. This target group is aged between 18-40 years old, well educated, and well informed. The Minerva lifestyle analysis defines the target group, based on their lifestyle, as “The Green segment”. Millennials are considered as Green Consumers and are therefore open to traveling by train instead of flying when traveling abroad. It has been proposed to market traveling abroad by train to the target group, specifically with a focus on providing Orange tickets to destinations in Germany, as the key limitations for taking the train instead of the plane is price and time, and therefore to market shorter and cheaper travel opportunities can potentially expand the market, especially since the target group is very positive for this suggestion. Conclusively, DSB currently almost exclusively market traveling domestically, but this thesis highlights that there is an unexploited market, in which they potentially could expand successfully.