HE Global warming reduces consumer spending tourists During your holiday in Spain. This is not a reflection of the future, but a reality of the present. This is demonstrated by a CaixaBank Research report that analyzed spending with debit cards and showed that there is already a clear correlation between the increase in tourist spending and the average temperature.
“Tourist spending increased further in Spain’s least warm municipalities. An increase of around 45 percent was seen, especially in municipalities where average temperatures were lower (below 17 degrees). In its place, tourist spending increased only around 25-35% The report published a few days ago states that the average temperature is higher (over 23 degrees) in municipalities.
The study also analyzes how temperature affects tourist spending on the same day, i.e. depending on the time. Thus, each degree deviation from the average temperature causes a decrease of 0.27% in tourist expenditures between 12:00 and 17:00, and a 0.27% increase in tourist expenditures between 22:00 and 19:00. So the warmer the weather, the less it spends.
“On days of extreme temperatures, we observe a decrease in total tourist spending (-0.12% per degree) and a redistribution of spending towards the least hot hours,” he adds.
During heat waves, all tourist businesses are losing sales. While there is a 0.16 percent decrease for every degree of temperature increase in restaurants, the decrease is 0.34 percent for every degree temperature increase in entertainment venues. Interestingly, supermarkets failed to benefit from the decline in restaurant spending and were also down 0.13%. “The only industry analyzed to benefit from heatwaves is pharmacies, which bill 0.06% more for each degree above the historical average.”
Pharmacies are the only sector analyzed to benefit from heatwaves
Considering this situation and, above all, the fact that the heat will increase, Report recommends tourism industry invest in innovation and adaptation to ongoing climate changes. “Specific strategies such as encouraging water activities during the hottest hours of the day, improving shade and cooling facilities on beaches, and developing night markets or events can help mitigate the effects of the heat. For rural areas, encouraging natural activities in the early morning or evening hours and making tourism offers more robust.” “Diversification to include more indoor options could help maintain tourism interest and spending.”
Spain will lose more and more tourists
This is not the first report to address the tourism consequences of the current global warming process. Last summer, a group of scientists from the European Commission Joint Research Center (JRC) published a report. A comprehensive study that didn’t exactly turn out well for Spain When analyzing future predictions.
In scenarios where the temperature will increase by 3 and 4 degrees Celsius throughout the year, tourist demand will decrease by 1.6 percent and 3.1 percent, respectively. This increase in tourist demand between October and May.
The worst will occur in July and August, when the JRC’s report is released. In case of a 3-degree increase, a decrease of almost 10 percent in tourist demand is predicted. and more than 15% in 4 degrees more scenarios.
A previous report predicted an almost 10% drop in tourist demand in Spain with a 3-degree rise, and a drop of more than 15% under a 4-degree rise scenario.
In fact, Spain is the country in Europe most likely to be affected by global warming. Some communities shown in red on maps: Balearic Islands and Murcia. According to the JRC report, a more than 5% decrease in the number of tourists is expected for the whole year.
This is a fact that has begun to be noticed for several years, with an increase in tourist arrivals to the northern regions during the summer months, in parallel with the apparent stagnation in typical summer destinations in our country. The place where high temperatures hit the hardest.
Reference work: https://www.caixabankresearch.com/es/analisis-sectorial/turismo/impacto-del-cambio-climatico-turismo-espana-analisis-y-perspectivas
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