Tourism and climate in Lisbon. An assessment based on weather types

Abstract

-although climate is perceived as an essential part of tourism, influencing touristic regional and seasonal distribution patterns, ideal climate conditions for tourism are often assumed, rather than demonstrated. after reviewing the distinct tools that have been applied in order to evaluate climate potential for tourism, as well as tourists' preferences, Besancenots' weather-types method was chosen. this model was adapted and applied to Lisbon, evaluating the suitability of the summer season for tourism activities. the resulting weather type pattern was then crossed with the seasonal tourist demands (visitation statistics), allowing to conclude that even when the weather is categorized as extremely hot (type 7) or unfavourable for tourism (type 8) it does not reflect in the room occupation rates of the city of Lisbon, reinforcing recent advances in tourism climatology, that defy expert based thresholds of thermal preferences and comfort. a reformulation of the weather type model with our findings can be a useful tool for future assessments of tourist potential under projected climate changes.Keywords: tourism and climate, weather-types, climate change, Lisbon, Portugal. têm vindo a ser aplicados para calcular o potencial do clima para o turismo, bem como para avaliar as preferências dos turistas. este método foi adaptado e aplicado a Lisboa, de modo a analisar a aptidão turística da estação estival. O padrão de tipos de tempo resultante desta análise foi, em seguida, cruzado com indicadores de procura turística (estatísticas de ocupação hoteleira), permitindo-nos concluir que, mesmo quando o estado do tempo é categorizado como extremamente quente (tipo de tempo 7) ou desfavorável para o turismo (tipo de tempo 8), não se reflecte de forma negativa nas taxas de ocupação hote leira da cidade de Lisboa. Deste modo, o estudo vem reforçar conclusões recentes de estudos climáticos aplicados ao turismo que têm vindo a contestar os limiares de preferências e conforto térmico anteriormente definidos por peritos. reformulado com as conclusões deste estudo, o modelo de tipos de tempo pode ser uma ferramenta útil para a análise futura do potencial turís tico atendendo às alterações climáticas projectadas.Palavras-chave: turismo e clima, tipos de tempo, alterações climáticas, Lisboa, Portugal.résumé -touriSMe et cliMat à liSBonne. analySe de typeS de teMpS. Bien que le climat soit considéré comme un élément essentiel, à tenir en compte pour les pratiques touristiques et qu'il influence la répartition régionale et saisonnière des touristes, les climats dits favorables sont plus souvent estimés que décrits. On étudie ici la saison d'été à Lisbonne, en lui appliquant le modèle des types de temps distingués par Besancenot, adapt é à Lisbonne. Or, même lors des types de temps 7 (extrêmement chaud) ou 8 (défavorable au tourisme), on n'y constate aucune diminution du taux d'occupation des chambres. Cela donne raison à certains auteurs qui mettent en doute les limites climatiques utilisées pour déterminer la préférence therm...

Assessing Present and Future Climate Conditions for Beach Tourism in Jardines del Rey (Cuba)

“…Many of the research papers that have assessed the potential of climates for sun and beach tourism have tried to measure or quantify it using climate tourism indexes such as the Tourism Climate Index [25][26][27][28][29], the Climate Index for Tourism [30], the Climate Tourism Information Scheme [31][32][33][34], the Beach Climate Index [35], the Beach Utility Index [36] and the Holiday Climate Index [37], among others. However, relatively few assessments have been made of the tourism potential of a particular climate using the weather types method, in spite of the fact that it is based on the true state of weather and more accurately reflects the nature of the atmospheric medium by rejecting both the exclusive use of one single climate element and the use of potentially misleading average values (instead using the daily figure, which is real and tangible for people) [23,[38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47]. It is important to point out that the results obtained from the application of the different assessment proposals have also depended on the procedures used to calculate the suitability thresholds for the different atmospheric variables.…”

Rating Tourists' Interest in Tourism-Tailored Climate and Environmental Products

“…Tourists' preferences for the climate and environmental features of certain types of destinations have been investigated in the framework of several studies, highlighting weather and climate features of interest for the tourist. For example, studies focusing on urban areas (e.g., Chen et al, 2017;McKercher et al, 2015;Falk, 2015;Machete et al, 2014;Falk, 2011) suggest that weather characteristics are of less importance for tourists, although more pronounced weather events like hot days (Kim et al, 2017) or heavy or prolonged rain (Dubois et al, 2016) may affect the tourist satisfaction. Also, for urban areas, poor air quality may decrease tourism demand (Ma et al, 2022;Robaina et al, 2020).…”

It’s so hot: predicting climate change effects on urban tourists’ time–space experience

“…The Lisbon region has a Mediterranean-type climate (Pereira & Morais, 2007) characterised by a long, hot, dry summer, with most precipitation occurring in the period between October and April (Machete et al, 2014). Specifically, and according to the K€ oppen Climate Classification System, Lisbon's climate is classified as temperate with dry or hot summer, the type of climate which covers most of the Iberian Peninsula and the Mediterranean coastal regions (Institute of Meteorology of Portugal, 2011).…”

“…Tourists tend to prefer destinations with sunny weather (G omez Mart ın, 2005) and mild temperatures (Day et al, 2013). Although establishing an ideal temperature range is debatable, since it depends on the individual, the setting, and the activities practiced, research by Machete, Lopes, G omez-Mart ın, and Fraga (2014) in Lisbon, for instance, found the temperature range of 22-28 C to be most commonly preferred by visitors to the city. In turn, unpleasant meteorological conditions may lead tourists to substitute their outdoor activities for other less weather-dependent activities (McKercher et al, 2015), such as indoor cultural visits or socializing.…”