Abstract
Coastal tourism is the largest segment of global leisure tourism and it is firmly linked to the destination’s natural resources—with climatic resources chief among them. Through observations and survey responses of beach users, studies have evaluated climatic resources for coastal tourism by quantifying optimal and unacceptable conditions. However, these studies have not taken into consideration that different forms of holidays (e.g., daytrips, short trips, main annual holiday, “once-in-a-lifetime” trip) may have varying degrees of resilience to climatic conditions. This is the first study to explore whether ideal and unacceptable climatic conditions vary between domestic and international tourists. Using an in situ survey, Canadian beach users traveling domestically (n = 359) and internationally (n = 120) were examined. Key findings include statistically significant differences (p ≤ 0.05) between the two sample groups for every climate variable, with the international sample more resilient to a broader range of weather conditions, including a greater acceptance for warm temperatures, longer rainfall durations, higher wind speeds, and greater cloud cover. This study adds further insight into the complexities of evaluating climate for tourism, with implications for the demand response of tourists to climate change.
Highlights
The cultural background of tourists and the influence this has on tourist behaviors and travel decisions has been highly researched
The cooler temperatures preferred by the domestic sample in this study can likely be explained by the fact that previous studies have all examined international tourists that are effectively paying to escape cooler conditions to enjoy a warm holiday, whereas the domestic sample in this study is traveling during the warm summer season to experience similar climatic conditions to their place of origin or perhaps to escape the urban heat by travelling to cooler lake-side conditions
Studies have found that distance traveled, spatial change, and length of holiday are important factors that influence behavioral differences between international and domestic tourists [13,15,20,21,22]. Despite both sample groups comprising tourists of the same nationality and climatic region of origin (i.e., Canada), ideal and unacceptable climatic conditions for a beach holiday differed for all variables examined
Summary
The cultural background of tourists and the influence this has on tourist behaviors and travel decisions has been highly researched. Evidence indicates that domestic tourists have different travel motivations compared to international tourists [7,8], as well as varying destination image perceptions [9], information search behavior and source preferences when trip-planning [10], recreational and shopping choices [11,12,13,14,15], service expectations [16,17], and degrees of destination loyalty and satisfaction [18]. The greater distances traveled by international tourists, including often-increased holiday length, are thought to be key factors that influence this behavioral difference from domestic visitors [13,15,19,20,21,22]. Weather and climate are Atmosphere 2016, 7, 30; doi:10.3390/atmos7020030 www.mdpi.com/journal/atmosphere
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