Geoadria, Vol. 31 No. 2, 2026.
Review article
https://doi.org/10.15291/geoadria.5106
Tourism climate indices in tourism geography: A systematic review of their development, applications, and research trends
Leona Matotek
*
* Corresponding author.
Abstract
Weather and climate strongly influence tourism demand, destination attractiveness, seasonality, and the spatial distribution of tourism activities. Tourism climate indices (TCIs) provide a way to combine climatic variables into synthetic measures of tourism suitability, but their development and application within tourism-geographical research remain fragmented. This review systematically synthesizes the use of TCIs in tourism geography, with particular attention to their development, spatial distribution, application contexts, and methodological approaches. The study is based on a systematic literature review of 94 peer-reviewed studies published between 1985 and 2025, identified through Web of Science and Scopus and analysed according to PRISMA guidelines. The results show that the Tourism Climate Index remains the most frequently used index, although recent research increasingly applies modified, perception-based, activity-specific, and scenario-oriented approaches. TCI research expanded markedly after 2020 and is concentrated mainly in Köppen temperate (class C) climate regions, European and Asian contexts, and coastal and urban tourism environments, while tropical, island, nature-based, and other climate sensitive contexts remain less represented. Methodologically, descriptive index application still dominates, but comparative, model-based, and projection-oriented studies are becoming more visible. The review shows that TCIs remain useful tools for analysing climatic suitability, seasonality, and tourism-climate relations, but their explanatory value is limited when they are weakly connected to observed tourist behaviours, visitor flows, and destination characteristics. Future development of TCIs should therefore place greater emphasis on empirical validation, spatial context, tourism activity, and the transferability of indices across different climatic regions and tourism environments.
Keywords
tourism climate indices; tourism geography; methodological approaches; thermal comfort; spatial patterns
Hrčak ID:
352622
URI
Publication date:
30.12.2026.
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