Preferred climates for tourism: case studies from Canada, New Zealand and Sweden

Abstract

Climate has an important influence on the travel decisions of tourists. This paper reviews the distinct lines of inquiry that have been used to examine the influence of climate on tourist decision making, and attempts to define optimal climatic conditions for tourism. The study examined tourist perceptions of optimal climatic conditions (for temperature, sunshine, wind) and the relative importance of 4 climatic parameters (temperature, precipitation, sunshine, wind) in 3 major tourism environments (beach-coastal, urban, mountains). A survey instrument was administered to university students (n = 831) representing the young-adult travel segment, in 3 countries (Canada, New Zealand, Sweden). Three salient findings include: significant variation in the perceived optimum climatic conditions for the 3 major tourism environments, differences in the relative importance of the 4 climatic parameters in the 3 tourism environments, and similarities as well as differences in the climatic preferences of respondents from the 3 nations. These findings have several implications for the literature on climate and tourism, including the development of climate indices for tourism, destination choice and travel pattern modelling, and climate change impact assessments. When applied to a broader cross-cultural sample of tourist segments, the present approach could potentially reveal the complexities of tourist preferences for climate.

Can sustainable tourism survive climate change?

“…an earlier model by Lise & Tol, 2002), it remains questionable whether future travel flows over more than half a century can be modelled, given persisting uncertainties regarding the role of different weather parameters and their perception by various population groups (e.g. Scott, Gössling, & de Freitas, 2008), the importance of weather parameters in comparison to other destination attributes, the complexity of behavioural change, the unknown role or genesis of extreme events and the uncertainty regarding future income and prices (Gössling & Hall, 2006). Scott (2008) Scott (2008) states further that "we should not assume that climate change adaptation will be simple or even successful (p. 358)", a sentiment which perhaps helps to explain the current dearth of refereed papers focused on mitigation and adaptation strategies.…”

Future climate resources for tourism in Europe based on the daily Tourism Climatic Index

“…At the same time it is based on climate variables commonly available from weather stations and also climate models, making data provision and calculations fairly simple. However, the TCI also has a number of serious limitations that are currently being addressed by different research groups Scott et al 2004Scott et al , 2008. The most serious limitation of the TCI is its subjectivity and lack of verification.…”

Impact of Climate Change on the Preferred Season for Outdoor Water Activities

“…The calculation formula for the Z-score is below. Meanwhile, in terms of weather data, in previous studies, precipitation and wind speed (physical factors), temperature and humidity (physiological factors), and cloudiness and duration of sunshine (psychological factors) were used [1,14,15,21,22]. However, wind speed, cloudiness and sunshine duration influence satisfaction at the on-site stage, rather than when making the decision to visit in the planning stage [23].…”