Perception, attitude and opinion of the Spanish tourists about the episodes of extreme heat

Abstract

Here we present the perception, attitude, opinion and behaviour of Spanish tourists when faced with an episode of extreme heat, with temperatures similar to those forecast for summers at the end of the 21st century. The study was based on personal questionnaires, 351 of which were issued after a holiday period to university students in their role as tourist-consumers, following the Lexis stratified random sampling method. The results show that, for the geographic area of study, tourists largely perceive the extreme phenomenon as an event that could affect tourism in Spain. However, they also believe that the Spanish tourist sector is capable of devising strategies to mitigate possible negative effects. The attitude and behaviour of the tourists also show their capacity to adapt; they assess the measures introduced by the sector to date in the different destinations, while highlighting some shortcomings. This information should help to fill the current gap regarding knowledge of how tourist-citizens perceive certain extreme episodes and behave when faced with them, which could be highly important given that such episodes may become 'normal phenomena' as a result of climate change. This information may be useful in devising strategies for the adaptation and future sustainability of tourist destinations. © 2011 WIT Press.