Weather, climate, and tourism performance: A quantitative analysis

Abstract

Weather is a component of tourism destinations that impacts demand, provision of services, and destination image. As a result, changes in weather can impact destination performance in a variety of ways. The current study examined the impact of weather variations on weekly (revenue per available room or RevPAR) and annual (number of establishments, annual payroll, first quarter payroll, and number of employees) economic indicators for 5 locations in the United States including San Diego, California; Las Vegas, Nevada; Vail, Colorado; Chicago, Illinois and Miami, Florida. Analysis confirmed that weather impacted economic performance in both the short (weekly) and medium (annual) term. These results provide insight into the impacts of weather on tourism destinations and the impact of climate or long term weather change at destinations. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.