Abstract
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.
Highlights
When asked about the most unfavourable conditions for hiking, in line with the previous results, most of those interviewed opted for highly overcast skies (Table 2)
It should be noted that according to the international literature review made by Verbos et al [101] of weather studies in outdoor recreation and nature-based tourism, little research of this kind had been done on hiking
To this end we studied a population sample, most of whom had higher education studies, went hiking frequently and had at least one year’s hiking experience
Summary
We need leisure time to combat the stress of work and our general daily lives and this can be spent doing a range of activities, including relaxation, socializing and physical activity [1]. Physical activity in the open air can be affected by factors that are beyond human control [6], such as seasonal variations in the climate [7,8], the length of the day [9] and climatic variables such as temperature [10,11], the intensity of the wind [10,11] and rainfall [9,10]. To this end our work will be based on and will build on the findings made by Martínez-Ibarra and Pardo-Martínez in 2017 [28]
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