Research NoteThe effect of climate change on the fall foliage vacation in China
Introduction
Seasonal changes in vegetation appearance are generally appreciated by tourists (Bender, Schumacher & Stein, 2007). During the fall, some destinations become particularly attractive when Acer species start changing color, such as in most of southern Canada; much of the eastern part of the United States; Northern, and Western Europe; most of northern China, as well as Korea, and Japan (Daniel & Edward, 1993; William, 1999, pp. 4–19). This fall foliage vacation season occurs between the onset of leaf coloration and the end of leaf fall. There is usually a period of a week or so when the fall foliage in a particular area is at its best (Daniel & Donald, 2007).
The autumnal foliage season has become a favorite time for weekend recreation and week-long vacations (Christine & Daniel, 1995). The spectacular colors of autumn mean more than just pretty scenery to travel and tourism industry. In China, red leaf viewing has been a quite popular recreation activity for centuries and today draws large numbers of travelers to famous spots. The Fragrant Hill Park Red Leaf Festival attracted 1.36 million of tourists in 2011 (http://www.xiangshanpark.com/cn).
The fall foliage vacation is sensitive to climate change as climate-driven changes in phenology are becoming more apparent (Daniel, 2003; Zheng, Ge, Hao, & Wang, 2006). The average annual length of the growing season has lengthened by 4.8 days in autumn since early 1960 (Menzel & Peter, 1999). Leaf coloring has been delayed by 4.8 days since the early 1960s, and autumnal senescence has been delayed by between 1.3 and 1.8 days per decade during the last 30 years (Menzel et al., 2006).
Phenological change is one of the most readily observable ecosystem reactions to climate change. Phenology therefore offers promise as a tool for estimating the impact of climate change on leaf viewing tourism. We present a quantitative study where the contribution that climate change makes to Chinese fall foliage vacation is assessed. This analysis can be used to help policy makers to design mitigation strategies and adaptation approaches that enhance the adaptive capacity of the tourism industry of China to climate change.
Section snippets
Materials
Analysis was undertaken for Acer mono maxim, widespread and typical red leaf specie in China. The leaf coloration records were obtained from the Chinese Phenological Observation Network (CPON) consisting of a total of 25 observation stations with the longest series recorded since 1963. The dates of onset of coloration, peak coloration and last defoliation date of Acer mono maxim at two stations (Beijing and Xi'an) with more than 30 years of records were included.
The Institute of Geographic
Interannual variability in the beginning of fall foliage vacation season
On average, the beginning of fall foliage vacation season in Beijing started on October 9–10. During the study period, the beginning of leaf coloration in Beijing had delayed altogether by 21 days, this corresponds to a significant trend (p < 0.01) of 5.6 days/decades (Fig. 1).
In Xi'an, the leaf coloration begins on October 14–15. The beginning of fall foliage vacation season in Xi'an had delayed altogether by 15 days, this corresponds to a significant trend (p < 0.01) of 5.1 days/decades (
Conclusion and discussion
There was a strong overall delay trend for the timing of the fall foliage vacation season in China. The timing of the fall foliage vacation season correlated well with mean air temperatures for September or October. Warmer temperatures might delay the timing of fall foliage vacation. In the short term, the delayed leaf coloration might cause people to adjust the timing of their fall foliage vacations, and long-term implications for climate change could alter the schedule altogether.
There was a
Acknowledgments
This study was supported by the Key Project of National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC, No.: 41030101) and National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program) (2010CB950100).
Quansheng Ge is a professor of Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, China. He is majoring in physical geography and historical climate change.
References (13)
- et al.
Basic characteristics of the fall tourism market
Tourism Management
(2007) - et al.
Tourists and retailer's perceptions of services
Annals of Tourism Research
(1995) - et al.
Air temperature trend and the impact on winter wheat phenology in Romania
Climatic Change
(2012) - et al.
The response of first flowering dates to abrupt climate change in Beijing
Advances in Atmospheric Sciences
(2011) - et al.
Landscape, seasonality, and tourism: a survey with examples from Central Europe
Seasonal Landscapes
(2007) - Daniel, S. (2003). Climate change and tourism in the Mountain Regions of North America. In Conference on Climate Change...
Cited by (35)
Flowers as attractions in urban parks: Evidence from social media data
2023, Urban Forestry and Urban GreeningSensitivity of forest phenology in China varies with proximity to forest edges
2023, Forest EcosystemsModelling alteration of leaf coloration peak date in Cotinus coggygria in a high-elevation karst region
2022, Agricultural and Forest MeteorologyCitation Excerpt :This kind of change in deciduous plants (e.g., Acer rubrum, Betula lenta, Betula papyrifera, Acer saccharum, and Quercus velutina) also occurred at the Harvard Forest, Massachusetts, USA, in the period of 1993-2010 (Jeong and Medvigy 2014). Temperature plays a leading role in these autumn phenological changes because it can induce plants to change leaf color and shed leaves in advance or delay to prevent freezing damage or lengthening growing season (Delpierre et al. 2009; Fu et al. 2018b; Ge et al. 2013; Jeong and Medvigy 2014; Tao et al. 2018). For instance, a warmer August or September can put off the leaf coloration date of deciduous plants (e.g., Aesculus hippocastanum, Fagus sylvatica), while a warmer May or June may advance the date (Delpierre et al. 2009; Estrella and Menzel 2006; Tao et al. 2018).
The role of seasonality in assessments of conflict tendency between tourism development and ecological preservation in protected areas: The case of protected areas in China
2022, Journal of Environmental ManagementCitation Excerpt :Such seasonality can be investigated on the quarter or month scale, and the latter is used more often since it can describe the seasonal characteristics more precisely than the former. For example, Gilaberte-Búrdalo et al. (2017) portray monthly changes in snow depth in the Spanish and Andorran Pyrenees and analyze the related impact on ski tourism; Ge et al. (2013) consider monthly changes in fall foliage coloration and evaluate their impact on fall foliage vacation. Seasonality is a result of the combined effect of natural and social factors (Hartmann, 1986; Lu, 1994; Hylleberg, 1992; Butler, 1994; Baum and Hagen, 1999).
Detection of autumn leaf phenology and color brightness from repeat photography: Accurate, robust, and sensitive indexes and modeling under unstable field observations
2019, Ecological IndicatorsCitation Excerpt :Therefore, more standardized observations are necessary to reveal the comprehensive mechanisms underlying leaf senescence and productivity in upland vegetation. In addition, autumn leaf coloring is an important cultural ecosystem service connected to tourism (Ge et al., 2013). The size of autumn foliage tourism industry was estimated to be a US $400 million in parts of north-eastern USA and south-eastern Canada (Hall et al., 2011).
Quansheng Ge is a professor of Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, China. He is majoring in physical geography and historical climate change.
Junhu Dai is an associate professor of Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, China. He is majoring in plant geography, phenology and vegetation ecology.
Jun Liu is a PhD of Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, China. His research interests include energy requirement and carbon dioxide emission of tourism, impacts of climate change on tourism and tourism planning.
Shuying Zhong is a Research Assistant of Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, China. Her major research is phenology.
Haolong Liu is a PhD of Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, China. His major research is climatic change.