Differences in Outdoor Thermal Comfort between Local and Non-Local Tourists in Winter in Tourist Attractions in a City in a Severely Cold Region

Abstract

The unique climate and the landscape of severely cold regions in winter attract many tourists. The outdoor thermal environment affects the space use and the tourist experience, becoming one of the key factors in the design of tourist attractions. The outdoor thermal comfort of tourists from different regions should be considered, but it has been poorly studied in winter in severely cold regions. This paper explores the differences in outdoor thermal comfort in winter between local and non-local tourists through the field measurement of the thermal environment and a questionnaire survey of thermal comfort at tourist attractions in Harbin, China. The results show that the proportion of local tourists who expect the air temperature and solar radiation to rise in winter is higher than that of non-local tourists. The thermal sensation vote of local tourists is generally higher than that of non-local tourists. When the Physiologically Equivalent Temperature (PET) < −6 °C, the thermal satisfaction of non-local tourists is higher than that of local tourists. When the PET value is −10 °C, the thermal comfort of non-local tourists is the highest. The thermal comfort decreases with the rise or fall of the PET value. When −28 °C < PET < −7 °C, the thermal comfort of non-local tourists is generally higher than that of local tourists. This paper provides a reference and evaluation basis for urban tourist attractions’ outdoor thermal environment design in severely cold regions.