Tourism and climate in Lisbon. An assessment based on weather types

Abstract

Although climate is perceived as an essential part of tourism, influencingtouristic regional and seasonal distribution patterns, ideal climate conditions for tourism areoften assumed, rather than demonstrated. After reviewing the distinct tools that have beenapplied in order to evaluate climate potential for tourism, as well as tourists’ preferences,Besancenots’ weather-types method was chosen. This model was adapted and applied toLisbon, evaluating the suitability of the summer season for tourism activities. The resultingweather type pattern was then crossed with the seasonal tourist demands (visitation statistics),allowing to conclude that even when the weather is categorized as extremely hot(type 7) or unfavourable for tourism (type 8) it does not reflect in the room occupation ratesof the city of Lisbon, reinforcing recent advances in tourism climatology, that defy expertbased thresholds of thermal preferences and comfort. A reformulation of the weather typemodel with our findings can be a useful tool for future assessments of tourist potential underprojected climate changes.