Tourism Climate Comfort Evaluation of Xuwen County

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1007-6190.2025.01.017

Abstract：Based on meteorological data from Xuwen County from 1957 to 2022, this study evaluated the tourism climate comfort using the temperature-humidity index, wind effect index, vacation climate index, and linear trend analysis method. The results show that March to April in spring and September to November in autumn are the most comfortable months for human perception and suitable for tourism. The vacation climate index of Xuwen County is above 65 for all months of the year, reaching or exceeding the 'suitable' level, with no 'acceptable' or lower levels. The temperature-humidity index and wind effect index show significant upward trends with climate tendency rates of 1.7 and 59.0/(10 a), respectively. The annual average comfortable time is 162 days, and about 180 days are considered as climate comfort periods. The time of comfortable and cold discomfort shows significant decreasing trends at -2.6/(10 a) and -3.1/(10 a), respectively, while the time of hot discomfort shows a significant increasing trend at 4.5 d/(10 a), especially more pronounced in the past 10 years. The annual average vacation climate index of Xuwen County is 73.5, belonging to the 'very suitable' level, with an average of 323 days per year for vacation suitability and above, accounting for 88.5% of the year. The duration of the vacation suitability period is long. The vacation climate index of Xuwen County shows a significant decreasing trend at a rate of -1.0/(10 a), while the time of unsuitable or below climate shows a significant increasing trend at 1.1 d/(10 a).