Determination of tourism climate index in Kerman province

Abstract

Climate is a natural resource that effects decision making for selection of destinations in tourism and ecotourism. The<br />relationship between climate and tourism is a complex one. But application of a climate index provides an ideal approach<br />to understanding this complexity and is a useful tool for the tourism industry. In this study, a modified version of<br />Mieczkowski's (1985) Tourism Climate Index (TCI) for months was used for Kerman province to determine climate<br />comfort ratings ranging from ideal to unfavorable. Data covering a network of 12 meteorological stations was used to<br />compute a TCI for the study region. Then index evaluations in each city were classified according to one of the six annual<br />TCI distributions presented by Scott and Mcboyle (2001). Results of modeling showed bimodal-shoulder peaks in seven<br />stations namely (Anar, Rafsanjan, Zarand, Sirjan, Shahre-Babak, Bam and Kerman); two stations namely (Baft and<br />Lalehzar) had summer peak, and three cities (Shahdad, Kahnouj and Jiroft) had winter peak. TCI scores for all months in<br />the study stations were transferred into Geographic Information System to determine the most suitable areas and months<br />for tourism activities in Kerman province.