The tourism climate index (TCI) provides information on the levels of comfort for tourism activity based on the climate of a destination. This index has been widely used to quantify the impacts of climate change on tourism at a diversity of destinations. The index is calculated based on the monthly averages of seven variables. To apply this index in South Africa, meteorological datasets of each variable were obtained from the South African Weather Service for 18 locations across South Africa. Each location is climatically distinct and relies on the tourism sector to generate social and economic development within the region. The 18 study sites, are influenced by differences in elevation, the Benguela and Agulhas currents, found along the west and east coast of the country respectively, and by the temporal scale at which summer and winter rainfall occurs across the country. Various data limitations resulted in the need for an adapted tourism climate model in order to calculate the climate suitability of all the chosen locations. The annual mean TCI scores for the period 2005-2014, reveal excellent to ideal climate suitability for tourism at the majority of the locations, with TCI scores ranging between 80.20 and 93.00. However, for the same period, East London, Port Nolloth and Belfast have annual average TCI scores between 74.88 and 79.20, which indicates that their climate suitability is considered to be very good. During the period 2005-2014, the majority of the locations experienced an increase in their climate suitability for tourism. Mean Monthly TCI scores indicate seasonal variations in the climate suitability of destinations across the country. These results suggest that Durban and St Lucia have the most favourable climate conditions for tourism during winter; while Cape Town, Paarl, Port Elizabeth, East London, Port Nolloth and Knysna have the most favourable climate conditions for tourism during summer; and Bethlehem, Bloemfontein, Johannesburg, Kimberley, Ladysmith, Nelspruit, Pilanesberg, Pretoria, Polokwane, and Belfast have the best climatic conditions for tourism during spring and autumn. The difference in average TCI scores across the country and the rate at which these TCI scores change over temporal scales highlights the need for constant monitoring of the climate suitability in these regions, particularly because they are reliant on the tourism sector. Rainfall and average thermal comfort had the most negative influence on the annual mean TCI scores, whilst daytime thermal comfort had the most positive influence on the same TCI scores. Tourism academics and researchers in South Africa were interviewed and they perceive climate change to be a social issue that will only impact the South African tourism sector in the future. The perceptions of the tourism academics and researchers are important as they are often the first people to engage with information pertaining to issues about tourism in South Africa. Although none of the respondents could provide a clear indication of when they perceive climate change to have an impact on the South African tourism sector, the majority of them believe that that TCI can be used as a tool to quantify the impacts of climate change on the tourism sector. This would improve the capacity of tourism stakeholders to adapt to the resultant impacts. However, most of the tourism academics and researchers clearly stipulated that the TCI should be used in conjunction with current climate change and tourism research in the country
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/21000 |
| Date | January 2016 |
| Creators | Robinson, Dean Connor |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
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