IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGES ON TOURISM ON THE SOUTHWESTERN COAST OF TURKEY
IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGES ON TOURISM ON THE SOUTHWESTERN COAST OF TURKEY

Summary/Abstract: Tourism is considered as one of the most vulnerable sectors to climate changes. Essentially, climate changes and tourism affect each other reciprocally. In this study, we used Mieczkowski’s (1985) ‘Tourism Climate Index’ (TCI) to determine the impact of climate changes on the tourism climate comfort of six popular coast destinations in Southwest Anatolian. All data are 24-year monthly normal for the 1983-2006 interval and are provided by the Meteorological Service of Turkey. Seven climate elements (monthly maximum and average temperature, precipitation total volume, average wind speed, relative and minimum humidity and sunshine duration) are taken into account to calculate for the TCI formula. During summer, contrary to expectations, almost all stations record low TCI scores as a result of the combination of high temperatures and high humidity. On the other hand, spring and autumn are characterized by more comfortable conditions than summer according to TCI ratings. So, all stations have ‘bimodal- shoulder peak’ TCI distribution. In all stations, spring offers more favorable conditions than autumn in terms of tourism climatic comfort. There is no station that is in the ‘weak’ category (TCI rating under 40 throughout the year). In other words, all year is suitable for coastal tourism activities. It is not examined in any stations as ‘optimal’ tourism climate distribution (TCI rating of 80 or above for each month of the year). The most comfortable TCI distribution is represented by two popular Southwest Anatolian tourism destinations, Marmaris (in May) and Bodrum (in April). No station has ‘ideal’ category (TCI scores of over 90 throughout the year). Statistics show that, generally, winter comfort conditions is better than summer’s. Therefore, winter with warm days, will allow spreading coastal tourism to 12 months.

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