Influence of Weather on the Behaviour of Tourists in a Beach Destination

Abstract

In sun-and-beach destinations, weather has a decisive influence on the variability of the daily flow of tourists. Uncertainty in demand flows directly affects businesses and employment. This work aims to improve understanding of the behaviour of tourists in response to changes in weather conditions. The analysis is carried out in the Rías Baixas, a sun-and-beach destination in north-west Spain. The paper analyses the relationship of weather conditions with daily flows during the high season at the main tourist beaches in the area, also considering two beach typologies. The density of beach use is measured three times a day through the analysis of webcam images in combination with real-time weather, and an online survey is conducted among tourists who have visited these beaches. The results show that the hours of sunshine are the most influential weather factor. Weather forecast greatly or totally influenced the decision to go to the beach for almost 70% of respondents and about 80% of the respondents checked on the weather before visiting a beach.

An Inter-Comparison of the Holiday Climate Index (HCI:Beach) and the Tourism Climate Index (TCI) to Explain Canadian Tourism Arrivals to the Caribbean

“…Another key difference is that when daily rain is greater than 25 mm, a penalty function is triggered (assigning a rating of −1) to signal the overriding effect rain has on tourism demand, as shown in revealed preference studies of beach tourists [41][42][43][44][45]. In terms of the HCI:Beach versus HCI:Urban, both are similar, with the exception of the ratings for moderate precipitation amounts (6-11 mm), with beach tourists more resilient to rain versus tourists on an urban holiday.…”

Using an Internet of Behaviours to Study How Air Pollution Can Affect People’s Activities of Daily Living: A Case Study of Beijing, China

“…Jiang et al [ 18 ] used a social media survey and regression and variance analysis to find that particulate pollution negatively impacts the maximum number of park visits. R-Toubes et al [ 19 ] analysed the relationship between weather conditions and people flow, daily, at tourist beaches highlighting that sunshine is important. Zhao et al [ 20 ] found via a survey that in hazy weather, higher-income cyclists in Beijing tended to switch to use private vehicles rather than to use public transit, while lower-income cyclists were more likely to continue cycling.…”

Impact of Climate Variability on Climate Beach-Based Tourism Aptitude: A Case Study in the Atlantic Coast of SW Europe

“…Flexibility to adapt plans and opportunism to take advantage of weather conditions for bathing are key concepts for those visitors. The Atlantic seaboard of southwestern Europe can be included well into the category of "weather-sensitive" beach destinations because beach attendance is linked to clear skies and the lack of rainfall [6][7][8][9][10]. The region includes several resorts (e.g., La Toja, Santander and San Sebastian in Spain; Biarritz, Ille of Ré in France; and Brighton in the UK) whose long touristic traditions, linked to the "sea bathing" therapies among wealthiest, goes back to the middle of the 19th century.…”

“…The HCI: Beach integrates the thermal, physical, and aesthetic facets of the climatic variables relevant for this kind of tourism segment [28], its calculation is simple, and it has been tested empirically. It also recognizes the non-linear impact of certain variables on beach attendance, since both declared and stated preference studies emphasize clear skies and the lack of rain as the best weather conditions for beach attendance [8][9][10][29][30][31]. Therefore, the HCI: Beach also includes a penalizing function to account the overriding role of variables such as rain and wind speed.…”