An Evaluation of Zayandeh-Rood River Tourism Climate Comfort using CTIS Index

Tourism industry has become one of the world’s most benefiting industries. It has had a 439-million dollar role in the economy in 1998. It is predicted that in 2020 there will be 1.6 billion international tourists which will cause a 2 trillion dollar turnover worldwide (WTO). Climate and tourism affect each other in different ways as the leading parts of a system and in interaction bring up a new discussion called “Tourism Climatology” (Shackleford & Olsson, 1995). Having desirable climate conditions is among the advantages and potentials for tourism, many tourists pay close attention to the climate in choosing a destination (DeFreitas, 2001, 8). The tourism industry is in serious need of tourism climate evaluation as one of the main economical sources of the country, so it is vital to evaluate the country’s tourism climate using scientific and quantitative methods acceptable all over the world. Usually climate elements in tourism are introduced by a set of indexes. The new index which has been used recently and doesnt have the previous indexes’ deficiencies is programmed and evaluated as CTIS. It combines the thermal components, such as PET, aesthetic components, like cloudiness and mist, and physical components, such as the wind speed, rainfall and the vapor pressure. In this research statistics and the weather information of 5 stations (Isfahan, Kaboutar-abad, Daran, Fereydoun-Shahr, Varzaneh) alongside Zayandeh-Rood River have been used to make the comfort climate calendar of a 31-year period for Isfahan, from 1983 to 2013.