WEATHER PREFERENCES OF SUMMER TOURISTS IN MOUNTAIN ENVIRONMENTS: A CASE STUDY IN THE BAVARIAN ALPS, GERMANY

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1 WEATHER PREFERENCES OF SUMMER TOURISTS IN MOUNTAIN ENVIRONMENTS: A CASE STUDY IN THE BAVARIAN ALPS, GERMANY L. Jänicke, B. Abegg & R. Steiger Weather and climate are important factors for travel decision-making and overall tourist satisfaction (de Freitas 2003). As central motivators for destination choice, they directly and indirectly influence demand patterns and can be a resource and limitation for tourism at the same time (Hamilton 2004, Eugenio-Martin & Campos-Soria 2010). Over the last few years, research on interactions between weather/climate and tourism has expanded rapidly, mainly concentrating on the changing attractiveness of tourism regions in the context of climate change (Scott et al. 2003, Moreno 2010). Furthermore, correlation between specific climate preferences and socio-demographic variables has been investigated for various tourism environments (Denstadli et al. 2011, Rutty & Scott 2013, Hewer et al. 2014). While several studies have explored the climatic preferences of beach tourists (Gomez-Martin 2006, Moreno & Amelung 2009, Rutty & Scott 2010) and urban tourists (Scott et al. 2008, Ceron et al. 2009, Rutty & Scott 2010), there is limited understanding of the climatic preferences of tourists in mountain regions. However, there are studies indicating that the preferred climate conditions of tourists differ between major tourism environments (beach, urban, mountains). In an ex-situ survey, Scott et al. (2008) found a significantly lower optimum temperature for mountain tourism (20.5 C) than for urban (22.5 C) or beach tourism (26.8 C). Physically demanding activities, for which lower temperatures are preferred, were discussed as a reason for these differences. For mountain environments the absence of rain was identified as the most important climate parameter followed by temperature, sunshine, and wind. In addition, results of Ceron et al. s (2009) ex-situ survey indicated a lower temperature threshold perceived as too hot for mountain tourism (30 C) compared to other tourism types (urban 32 C, beach 33 C). Regarding the threshold perceived as too cold, 9 C was reported for mountain and urban, whereas 17 C was reported as too cold for beach holidays. Moreover, Ceron et al. (2009) identified significant correlation between age and temperature-thresholds, as well as between activities and temperature thresholds. These two studies give a first impression of weather preferences of mountain summer tourists but are subjected to various limitations. Both studies were ex-situ surveys that rely on participants imaginations of the tourism environments. In addition, Scott et al. (2008) used a convenience sample (university students only), while Ceron et al. s (2009) sample was relatively small with regard to the number of people planning mountain holidays. Furthermore, Scott et al. (2008) looked at optimal temperature (but not at thresholds), whereas Ceron et al. (2009) looked at thresholds (but not at optimal temperature). Surveying specific temperatures can be difficult, because people often perceive a range of temperatures as optimal rather than a specific value (Rutty & Scott 2010). Due to tourism being of major importance in the European Alps, more in-depth data on specific climate preferences of tourists in this region is needed. Thus, with reference to the current state of knowledge, this study aimed to investigate the following questions regarding summer tourists in the Alps: 63

2 PROCEEDINGS OF THE 4 TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CLIMATE, TOURISM AND RECREATION CCTR2015 What is the relative importance of single weather parameters, and which one is the dominant factor? What are the ideal conditions (temperature, cloud cover) and temperature thresholds ( too hot, too cold ), as well as the acceptable number of days of rain?»» Do these preferences differ between age groups, frequency of visits, and activities? To answer these questions, an in-situ survey was conducted in the Bavarian Alps (Germany) over three days in August A total of 744 tourists were interviewed. The ATS-region (Alpenregion Tegernsee-Schliersee) was chosen as the study area, because tourism is predominantly concentrated in the summer season (70% of annual overnight stays). Therefore, the region can be regarded as representative of alpine summer tourism. A standardized questionnaire was applied to examine climate preferences by directly measuring the stated tourist preferences. A pre-test of the questionnaire was conducted and resulted in minor wording modifications to improve the clarity of some questions. The survey contained questions about the relative importance of climate parameters (temperature, sunshine, rain, wind), which were evaluated by using a 5-point-Likert-Skala. In addition, referring to Rutty & Scott (2010), respondents were asked about the temperature ranges they perceived as ideal, too hot, and too cold for mountain summer holidays. Finally, they were asked to state how many days with summer thunderstorms and how many days with continuous rain they would accept during a one-week stay. This novel approach to query the variable precipitation aims to assist respondents in estimating conditions by avoiding the need to quote numeric values (mm, min). The same strategy was applied to identify the cloud cover perceived as ideal by using images of different cloudiness conditions instead of percentages. The 744 participants are on average 53 years old (range years), 51.2% are male, and 23.6% travel with children. 94.7% of the tourists are from Germany, 2.4% are from Austria, and the remaining respondents are from other EU and non-eu countries. Given these characteristics our sample is highly representative of the overall tourist population in the area (Tegernseer Tal Tourismus GmbH 2014). Selected Results The most important weather parameters are (1) little rain, (2) sunshine, (3) pleasant temperaturesand (4) no strong wind (Table 1). This confirms the importance of little rain in mountain environments. In comparison to Scott et al. (2008) temperature is even less important (ranked third instead of ranked second), supporting earlier findings of temperature not being the dominant climate variable. Age significantly affects the parameter pleasant temperatures (p=0,000), with older people attaching lower importance than younger respondents. Table 1: Relative importance of single weather parameters for mountain summer tourism (1 = not important; 5 = important) Little rain Sunshine Pleasant temperature No strong wind

3 Figure 1: Temperature preferences and thresholds for mountain summer tourism (too cold: n=712; ideal: n=730; too hot: n=716) Respondents (%) Temperature ( o C) Ø<14.6 o C Ø o C Ø >29.4 o C too cold ideal too hot Figure 2: Acceptance of days with summer thunderstorms (n=699) and days with continuous rain (n=716) 65

4 PROCEEDINGS OF THE 4 TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CLIMATE, TOURISM AND RECREATION CCTR2015 The average preferred ideal temperature is 23.1 C, which is 3 C higher than the optimal temperature in the survey by Scott et al. (2008). The average individual range of ideal temperatures varies between 21.3 C and 24.9 C. The average temperature thresholds are C ( too hot ) and 14.6 C ( too cold ) and thus slightly lower (30 C) and higher (9 C) than those by Ceron et al. (2009), respectively (Fig. 1). Age significantly affects the preferred ideal temperature (p=0.003) and the threshold too hot (p=0.001), with older people preferring colder temperatures. Furthermore, tourists whose main focus is doing sport activities significantly prefer (p=0.004) lower ideal temperatures than people who are not focused on sports during their holiday. Moreover, the threshold too hot is significantly affected by the frequency of visits (p=0.027), with first-time visitors preferring higher temperatures than regular guests. On average, more days with summer thunderstorms (3.07) than days with continuous rain (2.14) are accepted (Fig. 2). Age significantly (p=0.001) affects the acceptance of days with summer thunderstorms, with younger respondents accepting higher numbers than older people. Furthermore, the frequency of previous visits significantly affects the acceptance, with regular guests accepting higher numbers of days with continuous rain (p=0.049) and days of summer thunderstorms (p=0.046) than first-time visitors. Moreover, tourists who are not focused on sports during their holiday accept ahigher numbers of days (p=0.034) with continuous rain than people whose main focus is doing sports activities. Conclusion This study contributes to the understanding of weather preferences of tourists in mountain environments, overall and depending on age, as well as their frequency of visits and activities. Further research should focus on temperature preferences depending on frequency of visits, travel motives and activities, because there is still insufficient data on these interactions. In addition, there should be more focus on the acceptance of rain during mountain summer holidays, because rain is the dominant weather parameter. Finally, it is important to study age-specific preferences of tourists and to incorporate them into tourism and supply planning, especially when considering complex issues such as demographic change and seasonal adjustments triggered by climatic changes. References: Bigano, A., Hamilton, J.M., Tol, R. (2006). The impact of climate on holiday destination choice. Climate Change, 76: Ceron, J.P., Dubois, G., van de Walle, I., Picard, R. (2009). CRE- DOC. Climat, meteorology et frequentation touristique, rapport final. Ministere de l Ecologie, de l Energie, du Développement durable et de la Mer, Paris. de Freitas, C.R. (2003). Tourism climatology: evaluating environmental information for decision making and business planning in the recreation and tourism sector. International Journal Biometeorology, 48: Denstadli, J.M., Jacobsen, J.K., Lohmann, M. (2011): Tourists perceptions of summer weather in Scandinavia. Annals of Tourism Research, 38: Eugenio-Martin, J.L. & Campos-Soria, J.A. (2010): Climate in the region of origin and destination choice in outbound tourism demand. Tourism Management, 31: Gómez-Martin, M.B. (2006). Climate potential and tourist demand in Catalonia (Spain) during the summer season. Climate Research 32: Hamilton, J.M. (2004). Climate and the Destination Choice of German Tourists. FEEM Working Paper No [DOI: Hewer. M.J., Scott, D., Gough, W.A. (2014): Tourism climatology for camping: a case study of two Ontario parks (Canada). Theoretical Applied Climatology 704. Springer Verlag Wien. [DOI: /s ] Mieczkowski, Z. (1985): The tourism climate index: a method of evaluating world climates for tourism. The Canadian Geographer, 29:

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