Global Climate Resources for Camping and Nature-Based Tourism

Siyao Ma, Christopher Craig, Daniel Scott and Song Feng
Additional contact information
Siyao Ma: Department of Geosciences, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701, USA
Christopher Craig: Arthur J. Bauernfeid College of Business, Murray State University, Murray, KY 42071, USA
Daniel Scott: Department of Geography and Environmental Management, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada
Song Feng: Department of Geosciences, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701, USA

Tourism and Hospitality, 2021, vol. 2, issue 4, 1-15

Abstract: Climate change is impacting the distribution of climate resources upon which nature-based tourism and recreation depends. Accordingly, we examine the global distribution of climate resources from 1948 to 2016 using the Camping Climate Index (CCI), a composite index previously validated for camping and national parks visitation for 80% of the world’s major climate types found in the United States. Calculating the CCI globally, spatial and temporal analysis indicates that climate suitability differs greatly for nature-based tourism and that changes have occurred over the last 50 years in many destinations. Locations with higher latitudes and altitudes have primarily experienced shifts towards more favorable climate conditions. Conditions have worsened in tropical and subtropical regions such as central Africa, central Australia, and Southern Asia. Results demonstrate that the redistribution of global climate resources for nature-based tourism and recreation is primarily driven by warming temperatures and the increased frequency of extreme weather events in some regions. Study findings are of particular interest to destination managers and planners of outdoor locations susceptible to weather and climate change.

Keywords: nature-based tourism; camping climate index; climate resources; climate change; camping; global distribution (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Z3 Z30 Z31 Z32 Z33 Z38 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2673-5768/2/4/24/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2673-5768/2/4/24/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jtourh:v:2:y:2021:i:4:p:24-379:d:704849

Access Statistics for this article

Tourism and Hospitality is currently edited by Mr. Philip Li

More articles in Tourism and Hospitality from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().