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ABSTRACT
Nature-based tourism is beholden to weather, extreme weather, and climate change (i.e. climate resources), though researchers have yet to longitudinally explore the influence of climate resources on United States National Parks for visitation and camping. Accordingly, this study operationalises climate resources at 11 southern United States National Parks using five tourism climate indices including the Tourism Climate Index, Holiday Climate Index (urban and beach), Optimised Index, and Camping Climate Index. Results demonstrate that the Camping Climate Index is more predictive of visitation, recreational vehicle camping, and tent camping compared to other indices, though not for all locations or tourism activities. Results also indicate that between 1981 and 2019 climate resources improved at mid-latitude parks though either declined or moderately improved for parks in arid and tropical locations. Discussion, limitations, and future research directions are provided.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Correction Statement
This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Siyao Ma
Siyao Ma is working on her PhD degree in Environmental Dynamics at the University of Arkansas. She received an MS in Agricultural Economics from the University of Arkansas and a BA in Economics from the Henan University of Science and Technology (China). Her research interests include environmental economics, econometrics modelling, tourism, and climate change. She has taught multiple sections of a Business & Environment and Foundation in Sustainability course.
Christopher A. Craig
Christopher A. Craig obtained his PhD in Environmental Dynamics and MA in Organisational Communication from the University of Arkansas and his MBA from the University of Mississippi. His primary research stream explores the dynamic relationships shared between the natural environment, organisations, and society. Dr Craig currently teaches Applied Organisational Sustainability, Outdoor Tourism Management, and Strategic Management courses.
Song Feng
Song Feng received his PhD in Atmospheric Physics from the Lanzhou Institute of Plateau Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. His research interests encompass past, present and future climate changes and impacts using global and regional climate models and advanced statistical methods. Dr Feng currently teaches Applied Climatology, Global Change, Meteorology and Quaternary Environment.
Chang Liu
Chang Liu is working toward a PhD degree in Geosciences at the University of Arkansas. She received a BS in Atmospheric Sciences in 2014 and a MS in Applied Meteorology from Lanzhou University in 2017. Her main research interests include paleoclimate data assimilation and future climate changes.