Climate and weather-related factors limiting outdoor activities and impacting tourism - case studies in Slovenia

Mikoš, Matjaž (author), Golja, Aleš (author), Bezak, Nejc (author)

Tourism must adapt to climate change while doing its part to help fulfil the Sustainable Development Goals. In scientific literature, climate services for tourism are under-researched. Slovenia (Central Europe), with its diverse climate and topography, was chosen as a case study to investigate climate change’s effects on the country as a tourist destination. Using publicly available meteorological data, the Tourism Climate Index and the Holiday Climate Index were estimated. The two indices show a weak relation to the statistical data on overnight stays in selected municipalities for the period 2019-2021. The climate change impact on ski tourism in nine ski areas in Slovenia was estimated using statistically significant negative trends of annual number of days with snow cover. The negative trends were more pronounced for the period 1961-1990 over 1991-2020; 1987 was determined as a turning point in the trend detection. Typical outdoor activities on the Soča River in western Slovenia include rafting and canoe rafting. The trends in river discharges were used to estimate the impact of climate change on the number of navigable days per year and per season (March 15 – October 31), and no clear trends were found in this case study. Further investigations are needed to support tourism adaptation strategies and investigate climate-tourism interaction.

• Language: English
• Keywords: climate change, outdoor activities, rafting, Slovenia, snow cover, tourism, trends
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FGG - Faculty of Civil and Geodetic Engineering
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Author Accepted Manuscript
• Year: 2022
• Number of pages: Str. 129-149
• Numbering: letn. 35, št. 63
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-151890
• UDC: 338.48:551.583(282.2)(497.4)
• ISSN on article: 1581-0267
• DOI: 10.15292/acta.hydro.2022.10
• COBISS.SI-ID: 169727491
• Publication date in RUL: 25.10.2023

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Acta hydrotechnica
• Shortened title: Acta hydrotech.
• Publisher: Fakulteta za gradbeništvo in geodezijo
• ISSN: 1581-0267
• COBISS.SI-ID: 1838689

Licences

• License: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
• Description: A Creative Commons license that bans commercial use and requires the user to release any modified works under this license.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: Analiza podnebnih dejavnikov, ki omejujejo aktivnosti na prostem in vplivajo na turizem: primer Slovenije

Abstract

Turizem se mora prilagoditi podnebnim spremembam, medtem ko pomaga pri izpolnjevanju ciljev trajnostnega razvoja. V znanstveni literaturi je ta tematika v povezavi s turizmom premalo raziskana. Kot študija primera je bila izbrana Slovenija (Srednja Evropa) z raznolikim podnebjem in topografijo s ciljem raziskovanja vplivov podnebnih sprememb na turizem v Sloveniji. Na podlagi javno dostopnih meteoroloških podatkov sta bila ocenjena turistični podnebni indeks in počitniški podnebni indeks. Indeksa kažeta šibko povezavo s statističnimi podatki o prenočitvah v izbranih občinah za obdobje 2019–2021. Vpliv podnebnih sprememb na smučarski turizem na devetih smučiščih v Sloveniji smo ocenili s statističnimi analizami letnega števila dni s snežno odejo. Negativni trendi letnega števila dni s snežno odejo so bili bolj izraziti v obdobju 1961–1990 kot v obdobju 1991–2020; leto 1987 je bilo prelomno glede na analize trendov. Značilni dejavn osti na prostem na reki Soči v zahodni Sloveniji sta rafting in rafting s kanuji. Trendi pretokov rek so bili uporabljeni za oceno vpliva podnebnih sprememb na število plovnih dni na leto in na sezono (15. marec–31. oktober). Glede na analizo trendov ni bilo zaznanih izrazitih sprememb v številu plovnih dni. Potrebne so nadaljnje raziskave za podporo strategijam prilagajanja turizma na podnebne spremembe in za raziskave interakcij med podnebjem in turizmom.

• Keywords: podnebne spremembe, rafting, športne aktivnosti, Slovenija, snežna odeja, turizem, trendi

Projects

• Funder: ARRS - Slovenian Research Agency
• Project number: P2-0180
• Name: Vodarstvo in geotehnika: orodja in metode za analize in simulacije procesov ter razvoj tehnologij