Periodic Reporting for period 1 - WeCENT (Weather, Climate and ENvironmental information for Tourism)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2021-07-01 al 2023-06-30
The European tourism market relies on accurate and targeted information on weather, climate and the environment. There are several initiatives providing this type of information, but usually they are aimed at decision-makers in the tourism industry sector, while customized information for users is less easily available. Yet, local-level customized information on climate and environment would help users to improve their touristic experiences, contributing to the strengthen of tourism sector, while assisting tourism investors in considering climate information in their decisions, in particular toward reducing tourism seasonality. WeCENT (Weather, Climate and Environmental information for Tourism) tackles this issue and it aims to develop innovative environmental products for the tourism industry for free and commercial distribution. At the same time, the project addresses many EU tourism policy challenges related to competition and advanced technology.
The overall research objective is to develop and make available climate and environmental (CEnv) information tailored for touristic purposes, based on a set of parameters and indices, in an easy-to-use language/communication form, adapted for 4 different touristic destinations types (i.e. beach, mountain, rural, urban areas) and for different seasons. The specific objectives regard the quantification of users' interests in environmental specificities, selection of relevant climate and environmental information based on location, season and leisure activities types, translation of Earth observation data into user-friendly information and delivery of customized information to the user in an easy-to-access, compact and timely form.
The overall research objective is to develop and make available climate and environmental (CEnv) information tailored for touristic purposes, based on a set of parameters and indices, in an easy-to-use language/communication form, adapted for 4 different touristic destinations types (i.e. beach, mountain, rural, urban areas) and for different seasons. The specific objectives regard the quantification of users' interests in environmental specificities, selection of relevant climate and environmental information based on location, season and leisure activities types, translation of Earth observation data into user-friendly information and delivery of customized information to the user in an easy-to-access, compact and timely form.
The scientific work was organized around the specific objectives of the projects. Other important activities regarded the project management, training, dissemination and communication of the project.
The work toward the quantification of users interest in CEnv features included: a) a literature review aimed to identify CEnv features most appreciated by tourists in each type of touristic destination and how the scientific information on these features reaches the public; b) ranking of climate information of interest for tourists; c) study on the environmental features of rural destinations most attractive for tourists.
A total of 13 products have been developed, according to the proposal and including the results obtained during the project. The products are derived from a variety of data sources – observation-based datasets, analysis, reanalysis data at European and global scale, forecast data, satellite products. The CEnv information developed is provided for 40 destinations located in Italy and Romania, equally distributed between each of the main categories of dominant tourism type. The information is customized with regard to the destination type (i.e. information most relevant for each destination type), season (i.e. relevance of information for the season most appropriate for the dominant tourism type at the destination) and presentation form (i.e. graphics and text description). The information is also ‘translated’ to be easy to use, by presenting it in categories with intuitive labels, associated with short explanations. The CEnv information is organized in a compact, tree-like structure, such that all information relevant for a certain destination is accessible under the destination name. All products are freely available through the project website (https://pric.unive.it/projects/wecent/home#c4213(si apre in una nuova finestra)).
The dissemination and communication activities formed another major part of the fellowship. The project results were presented at 7 conferences and 3 articles were published. Furthermore, 30 companies from tourism sector have been contacted and informed through the project newsletter about the project. Three working visits to tourism companies in Italy and Romania included direct meetings and presentations of project activities and products. As a result, 4 accommodation units in Italy and Romania agreed to become stakeholders of the project. About 8500 people from the academic community and from the general public were informed about the project.
The work toward the quantification of users interest in CEnv features included: a) a literature review aimed to identify CEnv features most appreciated by tourists in each type of touristic destination and how the scientific information on these features reaches the public; b) ranking of climate information of interest for tourists; c) study on the environmental features of rural destinations most attractive for tourists.
A total of 13 products have been developed, according to the proposal and including the results obtained during the project. The products are derived from a variety of data sources – observation-based datasets, analysis, reanalysis data at European and global scale, forecast data, satellite products. The CEnv information developed is provided for 40 destinations located in Italy and Romania, equally distributed between each of the main categories of dominant tourism type. The information is customized with regard to the destination type (i.e. information most relevant for each destination type), season (i.e. relevance of information for the season most appropriate for the dominant tourism type at the destination) and presentation form (i.e. graphics and text description). The information is also ‘translated’ to be easy to use, by presenting it in categories with intuitive labels, associated with short explanations. The CEnv information is organized in a compact, tree-like structure, such that all information relevant for a certain destination is accessible under the destination name. All products are freely available through the project website (https://pric.unive.it/projects/wecent/home#c4213(si apre in una nuova finestra)).
The dissemination and communication activities formed another major part of the fellowship. The project results were presented at 7 conferences and 3 articles were published. Furthermore, 30 companies from tourism sector have been contacted and informed through the project newsletter about the project. Three working visits to tourism companies in Italy and Romania included direct meetings and presentations of project activities and products. As a result, 4 accommodation units in Italy and Romania agreed to become stakeholders of the project. About 8500 people from the academic community and from the general public were informed about the project.
The project outcomes bring novel aspects on two main directions – in the area of rural tourism research and in that of climate services. The contribution to the first direction regards in particular the ranking of climate and natural features of interest for tourists in rural destinations, validation of one climate index on rural destinations (Holliday Climate Index:urban) further accompanied by the investigation of the impact of climate changes on the tourism intensity in Romania and the development of a CEnv product on natural features (i.e. related to the degree of green vegetation cover). The other major contribution of the project is in the area of climate services, through the development of a prototype of a climate service for tourism, the methodology covering all the six main steps in the service development: target users, selection of destinations, users’ preferences for CEnv information to serve as basis for product development, product development, performance analysis of selected data, presentation form of the information developed, delivery method. The project results are expected to contribute to improving user experience by allowing a better planning and more realistic weather-related expectations, building destination image through a more efficient exploitation of climate assets, to reduce tourism seasonality through diversification of tourism products to cover ‘bad weather’ days, increasing of tourism flux in particular in rural and small urban destinations with possibly significant socio-economic impact and also to contribute to the digitalization of tourism through integration of the climate service with the tourism operators’ websites.