Elsevier

Tourism Management

Volume 38, October 2013, Pages 80-84
Tourism Management

Research Note
The effect of climate change on the fall foliage vacation in China

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2013.02.020Get rights and content

Abstract

Fall foliage season has been a favorite time for sightseeing activity for centuries around the world. The dates of fall foliage coloration for Acer mono maxim at two stations (Beijing and Xi'an) with more than 30 years of records were collected. Time-series analysis showed a strong overall delay of the timing of the fall foliage vacation season. The trend for later fall foliage vacation season averaged 4–5 days/decade. Regression analysis revealed that the air temperature in September or October is decisive for the annual timing of the fall foliage vacation season. A warming of 1 °C led to a delayed beginning, best date and the end of fall foliage vacation of 5.3 days, 3.5 days and 3.7 days respectively. The beginning of fall foliage vacation season started to delay in the 1990s. Sudden delay in the best date of fall foliage vacation season of Beijing and Xi'an took place in the early 2000s and 1990s respectively. For the end of fall foliage vacation season, an abrupt delay occurred in the early 2000s. This has implications for tourists and the tourism industry with reference to the timing of trips and their promotion.

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.

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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.

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