Contemporary Challenges of Climate Change, Sustainable Tourism Consumption, and Destination Competitiveness

Timo Ohnmacht, Julianna Priskin, Jürg Stettler, Timo Ohnmacht, Julianna Priskin, Jürg Stettler

• Publisher: Emerald Publishing Limited
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781787563445
• eBook ISBN: 9781787563452
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: Business

This volume presents twenty updated and new theories of travelers' decisions and behaviors. It describes the advances in theory construction and practical applications of theory in the disciplines of tourism, hospitality, leisure, and entertainment (THLE) research. The chapters all build on the grand models appearing in these four literature streams during 1965-2015.

This approach is comprehensive in both coverage and depth with regard to constructing, testing, and applying theories of travelers' decisions and behaviors, which includes original work in updating grand theories and micro (algorithm-conscious and non-conscious based) theories of travelers' decisions and behavior. This volume is the first to fully recognize and construct theories across the THLE discipline.

This volume describes the synergies, symbioses, and serendipity occurring in THLE behavior. It tears down researchers' parochial fences of what is and is not tourism, hospitality, leisure, and entertainment. The time has arrived tor tourism to embrace hospitality, hospitality to embrace tourism, and all to embrace leisure and entertainment, and this volume serves as a catalyst to accomplish this embrace.

CHAPTER 1

‘SOMMERFRISCHE’ IN TIMES OF CLIMATE CHANGE: A QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS OF HISTORICAL AND RECENT PERCEPTIONS OF THE TERM

Fabian Weber, Carina Fanninger, Christiane Brandenburg, Alexandra Jiricka-Pürrer, Christina Czachs and Wiebke Unbehaun

ABSTRACT

With an increase in hot days, tropical nights, and heat waves, assumedly more residents of large cities will seek rest and recreation in higher-altitude tourism destinations during the summer. This phenomenon is referred to as the revival of ‘Sommerfrische’ (summer freshness or summer retreat). This chapter examines the impact of climate change on summer tourism in the Alps by urban residents. It scrutinizes the historical perception of the term Sommerfrische, as well as the understanding and perception of this term today, based on an extensive literature review and two focus-group discussions. The findings form the basis for specifying the attributes that can be used to describe a modern form of Sommerfrische. The results indicate that today’s understanding of what Sommerfrische could be and the attributes of Sommerfrische travel are very different from the historical phenomenon. Nowadays, summer excursions and short trips to destinations close to cities are considered to be Sommerfrische as long as they have escape from the heat as a common motive. The results demonstrate the broad interest of urban residents in Sommerfrische and also suggest avenues for further research on the adaptative behavior of town-dwellers in hot summers with respect to the extent of their actual and potential future travel behavior.

Keywords: Adaptation; climate change; Sommerfrische; summer retreat; tourism; refresh; travel behavior

INTRODUCTION

Climate change has diverse impact on tourism, on both the supply and demand sides. Various authors (cf. Götz et al., 2012; Müller & Weber, 2008; Pröbstl-Haider, Haider, Wirth, & Beardmore, 2015) assume that, given the increase in heat days, tropical nights, and heat waves, more residents of large cities will seek refreshment in higher-altitude rural tourism destinations during the summer. This phenomenon is referred to as a revival of Sommerfrische, a common form of upper-class travel during the summer performed by urban residents in Austria in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

As consequences of climate change, increases in heat waves, and hot summers in European cities are expected. In the city of Vienna, for example, days with temperatures above 30°C have already increased from nine days a year in 1961–1990 to 15 days a year in 1981–2010 (ZAMG, 2016). By 2040, on average every fourth day in summer could be a heat day (Kromp-Kolb, Formayer, & Clementschitsch, 2007).

Several studies (such as Chladek, 2005; Fleischhacker & Formayer, 2007; Serquet & Rebetez, 2011) see this development as an advantage for tourism in rural mountain destinations close to urban agglomerations. They might become more attractive for tourists who seek relaxation and refreshment away from urban heat. While a wide range of scientific articles exists on the impact of climate change on winter tourism, much less literature is available on the impact of hot summers on Alpine tourism and on how urban residents adapt to summer heat.

Given that the new potential for summer tourism in rural mountain areas can be derived from the adaptation of urban residents to an increasing number of heat days and tropical nights, the question arises as to whether the traditional concept of Sommerfrische can be revived. This requires a more thorough understanding of how people conceptualize Sommerfrische in order to discuss whether the term might need to be redefined with the objective of using it as a successful climate change adaptation strategy in tourism.

Against this background, this chapter aims to examine the understanding and perceptions of the term Sommerfrische today. The chapter is based on the research project REFRESH (ACRP 8th Call), the aim of which was to evaluate whether and how residents of large agglomerations adapt to urban heat in their recreation and travel behavior. Further questions include the role of Sommerfrische as one possible adaptation strategy and how nearby mountainous regions may respond to this demand by creating sustainable tourism offers and travel options. This chapter focuses on the historical and recent use of Sommerfrische as a way to adapt to hot summers in large European cities under conditions of climate change and the respective associations of the term of Sommerfrische.

The results should allow first, to determine the associations connected with the term Sommerfrische and provide initial insights into its potential as a strategy of adaptation to urban heat for rural mountain destinations, and secondly, to build a basis for future quantitative research that aims to examine the actual and intended travel behavior of city dwellers in hot summers. In this chapter, evaluating how the term Sommerfrische is perceived is based on an extensive literature review and two focus-group discussions.

The structure of the chapter is as follows. First, an extensive literary review analyzes the different definitions and historical development of the term Sommerfrische. In this section, the impact of climate change on travel behavior is also examined. The second section explains the methodology of the focus-group discussions and the most relevant results from these sessions. Finally, the results are discussed and conclusions drawn, including suggestions for further research.

LITERATURE REVIEW

The concept and prospects of Sommerfrische were defined and analyzed on the basis of the existing literature, and the impact of climate and climate change on travel behavior in the Alps in summer was also analyzed. This literature analysis served the purpose of informing the guidelines of focus-group discussions with two types of stakeholders. These focus groups aimed at investigating in greater depth the current perceptions, importance and possible attributes, and preferences associated with such travel.

The Term Sommerfrische (Summer Freshness)

Kabak, Wacha, and Wochinger (cited in Schmidt-Lauber, 2014) carried out an analysis of travel guides and lexicons in researching the term Sommerfrische. In the Grimm brothers’ German dictionary of 1905, Sommerfrische was described as a ‘holiday for town-dwellers in the countryside during the summer (…) also the location thereof’ (Grimm, 1526 cited in Schmidt-Lauber, 2014, p. 65) and in the Brockhaus’ Konversations-Lexikon from 1898 as ‘health resorts’ (literally, ‘climatic resorts’). The travel guides of the period also use the idea of a medicinal, healthy purpose to such travel to describe Sommerfrische. Kos (1995) defines Sommerfrische similarly as a ‘tranquil sequence of largely interchangeable amenities’ and the ability to remain somewhere, in contrast to journeys involving continuous changes of location. For Kos (1995), the idea behind ‘Sommerfrische’ is one of ‘the slowing down of life, of continuous presence rather than manically zipping through nature and landscape’ and as ‘a time for oneself rather than a time for travel’ (Ko...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Editorial: Contemporary Challenges of Climate Change, Sustainable Tourism Consumption, and Destination Competitiveness
• Chapter 1. ‘Sommerfrische’ in Times of Climate Change: A Qualitative Analysis of Historical and Recent Perceptions of the Term
• Chapter 2. Antecedents to the Performances of Mountain Ropeway Companies: Empirical Evidence for Switzerland
• Chapter 3. Perceived Social–Environmental and Emotional Well-Being as a Benefit of Sustainable Tourism Products and Services
• Chapter 4. Willingness-To-Pay Vs Actual Behavior: Sustainable Procurement at Festivals
• Chapter 5. Tourists’ Perceptions of And Intentions-To-Stay at a Capsule Hotel in Bangkok
• Chapter 6. Territorial Planning as a Creative Tool for the Upgrading of Cultural Tourism
• Chapter 7. A Conceptual Framework of Commercial Hospitality: Perception of Tourists in Thailand and Switzerland
• Chapter 8. Sustainable Tourism Development and Thai Cultural Heritage
• Index