Climate and weather-related factors limiting outdoor activities and impacting tourism: Case studies in Slovenia

Abstract

Tourism must adapt to climate change while doing its part to help fulfil the Sustainable Development Goals. In scientific literature, climate services for tourism are under-researched. Slovenia (Central Europe), with its diverse climate and topography, was chosen as a case study to investigate climate change’s effects on the country as a tourist destination. Using publicly available meteorological data, the Tourism Climate Index and the Holiday Climate Index were estimated. The two indices show a weak relation to the statistical data on overnight stays in selected municipalities for the period 2019-2021. The climate change impact on ski tourism in nine ski areas in Slovenia was estimated using statistically significant negative trends of annual number of days with snow cover. The negative trends were more pronounced for the period 1961-1990 over 1991-2020; 1987 was determined as a turning point in the trend detection. Typical outdoor activities on the Soča River in western Slovenia include rafting and canoe rafting. The trends in river discharges were used to estimate the impact of climate change on the number of navigable days per year and per season (March 15 – October 31), and no clear trends were found in this case study. Further investigations are needed to support tourism adaptation strategies and investigate climate-tourism interaction.