Preferred climates for tourism: case studies from Canada, New Zealand and Sweden

Climate has an important influence on the travel decisions of tourists. This paper reviews the distinct lines of inquiry that have been used to examine the influence of climate on tourist decision making, and attempts to define optimal climatic conditions for tourism. The study examined tourist perceptions of optimal climatic conditions (for temperature, sunshine, wind) and the relative importance of 4 climatic parameters (temperature, precipitation, sunshine, wind) in 3 major tourism environments (beach-coastal, urban, mountains). A survey instrument was administered to university students (n = 831) representing the young-adult travel segment, in 3 countries (Canada, New Zealand, Sweden). Three salient findings include: significant variation in the perceived optimum climatic conditions for the 3 major tourism environments, differences in the relative importance of the 4 climatic parameters in the 3 tourism environments, and similarities as well as differences in the climatic preferences of respondents from the 3 nations. These findings have several implications for the literature on climate and tourism, including the development of climate indices for tourism, destination choice and travel pattern modelling, and climate change impact assessments. When applied to a broader cross-cultural sample of tourist segments, the present approach could potentially reveal the complexities of tourist preferences for climate.