Climate Change and Thermal Comfort in Top Tourist Destinations—The Case of Santorini (Greece)

George Katavoutas,Gianna Kitsara,Dimitra Founda,Christos Giannakopoulos

doi:10.3390/su13169107

George Katavoutas, Gianna Kitsara + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/su13169107

Copy DOI

Journal: Sustainability	Publication Date: Aug 14, 2021
Citations: 8	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: National Observatory of Athens

Abstract

The Mediterranean area is one of the most visited tourist destinations of the world, but it has also been recognized as one of the most vulnerable to climate change areas worldwide with respect to increased thermal risk. The study focuses on a top worldwide tourist destination of the Mediterranean, Santorini Island in Greece, and aims to assess the past, present and future thermal environment in the island based on the advanced Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI). The study utilizes historical observations capturing past (late 19th to early 20th century) and more recent (1982–2019) time periods, while future projections are realized based on four regional climate models (RCMs) under the weak mitigation scenario (RCP4.5) and the non-mitigation scenario with high emissions (RCP8.5). The frequency of cold stress conditions at midday decreases during winter and early spring months by up to 19.8% (January) in the recent period compared to the historical one, while heat stress conditions increase in summer by up to 22.4% (August). Future projections suggest progressive shifts of the UTCI towards higher values in the future and an increase in the exposure time under heat stress depending on the RCM and adopted scenario. The increase in moderate and strong heat stress conditions is mainly expected during the summer months (June, July, August); nevertheless, a noticeable increase is also foreseen in September and May. The highest occurrences of favorable (no thermal stress) conditions are also projected to shift by one month, from June to May and from September to October, in the future.

Highlights

Several studies in the literature investigate the implications of climate change on thermal comfort and how these may affect the presence of tourists in different destinations around the world such as Australia [3], China [4], Cuba [5]
The onset and cessation months of conditions leading to heat stress (UTCI > 26 ◦ C) are March and November, respectively
The present analysis revealed some very important features for a top tourist destination worldwide, Santorini Island in Greece, in regard to the human thermal environment during a historical (1898–1927), a recent (1982–2019) and two future periods (2035–2058 and 2075–2098)

Summary

Introduction

Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Climate is one of the key factors determining tourists’ destination choice. In this respect, all destinations are climate-sensitive and vulnerable to possible impacts of climate change. The association between climate change and all aspects of tourism is complicated, global warming is already affecting the tourism industry and will continue to pose a risk to this sector of economy [1,2]. Several studies in the literature investigate the implications of climate change on thermal comfort and how these may affect the presence of tourists in different destinations around the world such as Australia [3], China [4], Cuba [5]

Methods

Results

Conclusion