Climate in tourism’s research agenda: future directions based on literature review

One of the major challenges’ tourism faces today is climate change, which inevitably involves adjusting many destinations and tourists to new scenarios. For that, a literature review about the link between tourism and climate is mandatory. Therefore, the present paper aims to establish the evolution of the relationship between tourism and climate, since relevant studies were published from 1940 to 2020. A bibliometric analysis using qualitative and quantitative methods were used for measuring the coverage ratio of tourism and climate (change) in spatial-temporal studies. Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus databases were used to carry out an in-depth analysis based on 889 publications related to tourism climatology. These were synthesized in attributes and codes (e.g. location, journal name, geographic level, methods of analysis, results, implications, and trends). It is true that in the context of tourism research, themes and assumptions give or take a few exceptions, remain constant. Most of the 889 studies analyzed focused on climatological hotspots, such as impacts of climate change on tourism (28.4%) and urban and bioclimatic comfort of tourists in affected destinations (13.2%), with a lower coverage of tourism-related topics such as policies of climate change in tourism (6.1%) or strategies and concrete options to re-enable tourist destinations for climate change (0.2%). The research methods, procedures and results can contribute to advance tourism climatology to a new phase of theoretical and practical application for tourism planning.

Progress and Prospects of Tourism Climate Research in China

Tourism climate research is of great significance to the tourism industry because tourism is closely linked to climate. Based on an analysis of related core papers, this paper reviews the research progress on tourism climate in China in terms of research method, research process, and research topic. Research on tourism climate in China started later than similar research in some Western countries and the topics mainly focused on tourism climate resources, climate comfort for tourism, the impact of climate on tourists’ behavior and emotion, climate and tourism seasonality, climate change and tourism development, etc. To provide scientific support for the sustainable development of China’s tourism industry, we propose the following for future research, based on our review of the literature: (1) strengthening the theoretical study of tourism climatology, (2) constructing and improving the research content system, and (3) enriching relevant research in climate-sensitive areas.

Climate Preferences for Tourism: Perceptions Regarding Ideal and Unfavourable Conditions for Hiking in Spain

Physical activity is an increasingly frequent part of our leisure time. Within this context, hiking is a popular form of tourism which has a positive impact on the quality of life. In spite of the importance of climate conditions for this recreational activity, relatively little research has been done on hiking from the perspective of climate and tourism. With this in mind in this paper we make the first detailed extensive assessment of climate preferences for the practice of hiking tourism in Spain. To this end a review of the theoretical/methodological body of literature on tourism climatology was conducted together with a survey aimed at evaluating the stated climate preferences of hiking tourists. The results are offered within the framework of international research on climate preferences for a range of tourism activities. The comparative analysis of these results with regard to those obtained in previous research highlights various similarities but also certain factors specific to hiking in Spain. Overall, the climate preferences of hiking tourists are similar to those of other segments of the tourism market in terms of the aesthetic and physical aspects of the climate, although they also have certain specific preferences as regards thermal aspects, especially regarding the optimal daily thermal conditions for hiking. The results obtained are useful for assessing the suitability of the climate for the practice of hiking tourism in Spain and for promoting proper management and planning of this leisure activity in tourist destinations, including the development of climate calendars detailing the most suitable times of the year for hiking at these destinations. These issues will be addressed in future research studies.

Analysis of the bioclimatical comfortable conditions of Artvin province and its importance in tourismArtvin ilinin biyoklimatik konfor şartlarının analizi ve turizm bakımından önemi

<p>Tourism climatology is a popular field of study that deals with the relationship between tourism and climate through approaches such as applied climatology and human biometeorology. One of the subjects studied most in this field is the evaluation of bioclimatic comfort conditions. In recent years, inferences of this sort have been able to be made easily by use of certain indices. This study aims at evaluating and analyzing the bioclimatic comfort conditions of Artvin province by use of GIS. Within the scope of the research aim, monthly values belonging to SET*, PET, PMV, TCI, THI and SSI indices were calculated by use of meteorological data. SET*, PET, and PMV indices were determined via RayMan 1.2 while TCI, THI, and SSI indices were ascertained through Microsoft Excel 2013 supported analyses of various formulas. The obtained values were analyzed through GIS techniques. Also, statistical methods were utilized to make the research findings more meaningful. All in all, the province was seen to have comfortable conditions. This is because; the comfortable (1) class (68.9%) covers a wider area than uncomfortable (0) class (31.1%) in the province. Bioclimatic comfort classes are shaped by geographical position, elevation, and topography in Artvin province. Valleys with an elevation of less than 2000 m and coastal area are comfortable while mountainous areas (Rize, Kaçkar, Karçal, and Yalnızçam mounts) with a higher elevation are uncomfortable. The results of one-way analysis of variance (one-sample t-test) show that bioclimatic conditions have not been taken into consideration much during the planning of tourism accommodation facilities set up in Artvin province. This study evidences that GIS techniques are efficient in research on tourism climatology or bioclimatology and thus they may be used widely.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Özet</strong></p><p>Turizm klimatolojisi, uygulamalı klimatoloji ile insan biyometeorolojisi gibi yaklaşımlarla turizm ve iklim arasındaki ilişkiyi inceleyen popüler bir çalışma sahasıdır. Bu sahada çalışılan öncelikli konulardan birisi de biyoklimatik konfor şartlarının değerlendirilmesidir. Son yıllarda bu tür çıkarımlar CBS (Coğrafi Bilgi Sistemleri) destekli olarak bazı indisler yardımıyla kolayca yapılabilmektedir. Bu çalışmada CBS kullanılarak Artvin ilinin biyoklimatik konfor şartlarının değerlendirilmesi ve analizinin yapılması amaçlanmıştır. Çalışma amacı kapsamında meteorolojik veriler kullanılarak SET*, PET, PMV, TCI, THI ve SSI indislerine ait aylık değerler hesaplanmıştır. SET*, PET ve PMV RayMan 1.2 yazılımı, TCI, THI ve SSI ise çeşitli formüllerin Microsoft Excel 2013 destekli çözümlenmesiyle saptanmıştır. Ulaşılan değerler CBS teknikleriyle analiz edilmiştir. Ayrıca çalışma bulgularını daha anlamlı kılmak amacıyla istatistiksel analiz yöntemlerinden de faydalanılmıştır. Sonuçta ilin konforlu şartlar taşıdığı saptanmıştır. Zira ilde konforlu (1) sınıf (% 68,9) konforsuz (0) sınıfa (% 31,1) oranla daha fazla alan kaplamaktadır. Diğer yandan ildeki biyoklimatik konfor sınıflarının coğrafi konum, yükseklik ve topoğrafik şartlara göre şekillendiği tespit edilmiştir. Bu bağlamda 2000 m yükselti basamağının altındaki vadiler ile kıyı sahası konforlu, üzerindeki dağlık kesimler (Rize, Kaçkar, Karçal ve Yalnızçam dağları) ise konforsuz özelliklere sahiptir. Ayrıca tek yönlü varyans analizi (tek örneklem t-testi) sonuçlarına göre Artvin ilinde yapılmış turizm konaklama tesislerinin planlamalarında biyoklimatik koşulların çok fazla dikkate alınmadığı da belirlenmiştir. Bu çalışma sayesinde turizm klimatolojisine veya biyoklimatolojiye yönelik araştırmalarda CBS tekniklerinin verimli olduğu ve yaygın bir şekilde kullanılabileceğini bir kez daha somut olarak anlaşılmıştır.</p>