Abstract:Weather and climate are important factors for travel decision-making and overall tourist satisfaction. As central motivators for destination choice, they directly and indirectly influence demand patterns and can be a resource and limitation for tourism at the same time. In this paper, results of an in-situ survey of mountain summer tourists (n = 733) in the Alps in Southern Germany are presented. Respondents rated 'rain' as the most important aspect of weather during their holiday. During a 7-day holiday, 2.1 days of continuous rain are accepted, and 3.1 days of days with thunderstorms. The ideal temperature range is between 21 and 25˝C, thus lying 4-7 degrees lower than for beach tourism. Temperatures below 15˝C and above 30˝C are perceived as unacceptable. Statistically significant differences were found for several tourist types: Older tourists are more sensitive to heat, tourists with sports activities are more tolerant to cool temperatures, first-time visitors are more sensitive to rain and families with children prefer higher temperatures. From the results, some implications for mountain destinations arise: mountain destinations could be promoted as a heat refuge, and attracting sports tourists might be a promising way to reduce weather sensitivity; however, some variety of well-promoted weather independent attractions seems to be mandatory.

ZusammenfassungAnhand von Befragungen in der Tiroler Gemeinde Alpbach wird untersucht, in wie weit sich das Bewusstsein für die Zusammenhänge zwischen Tourismus und Klimawandel bei Bewohnern, Beschäftigten und Gästen unterscheidet. Zudem wird eine Gesamtjahresbilanz der Mobilität von Gästen, Bewohnern und Beschäftigten und des damit verbundenen CO2-Ausstoßes dieser Gemeinde abgeschätzt. Zwar ist bei allen Gruppen ein grundsätzliches Problembewusstsein festzustellen und eine gewisse Bereitschaft für Maßnahmen zur Reduktion von Energieverbrauch und CO2-Emissionen auf Reisen, soweit diese keine wesentlichen Einschränkungen im Urlaubsverhalten betreffen. Im Detail zeigen sich jedoch signifikante Unterschiede. Da die Gesamtbilanz der Mobilität die hohe Bedeutung der An- und Abreise für die CO2-Jahresbilanz untermauert, sind mit dem Wissen über das vorhandene Bewusstsein Maßnahmen abzuleiten.

This chapter presents the results of a survey conducted in the alpine destination of Alpbach-Seenland (Province of Tyrol, Austria) which asked winter tourists (n=518) about the two-way relationship between climate change and tourism, measures to reduce tourism's energy consumption and carbon footprint, and factors that might support more eco-/climate-friendly modes of transport for holiday travel in the future.

This chapter focuses on the six most popular alternative winter sport activities in Tyrol (Austria): backcountry skiing, ski touring on slopes (i.e. skiing up the hill on the fringe of groomed ski slopes), winter hiking, tobogganing, cross-country skiing and snowshoeing. More precisely, it wants to explore the people's activity profiles and their satisfaction with the existing offer in Tyrol. Special attention is given to the motivation to practise alternative winter sport.