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Tourism and climate in Lisbon: an assessment based on weather types

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Detalhes bibliográficos
Resumo: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.
Autores principais:Machete, Raquel
Outros Autores:Lopes, António; Gómez-Martín, Mª Belén; Fraga, Helder
Assunto:Tourism and climate Weather-types Climate change Lisbon Portugal
Ano:2014
País:Portugal
Tipo de documento:artigo
Tipo de acesso:acesso aberto
Instituição associada:Universidade de Lisboa
Idioma:inglês
Origem:Repositório da Universidade de Lisboa
Descrição
Resumo: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.