Climate Comfort Evaluation of National 5A TouristAttractions in the Mainland of China Based on Universal Thermal Climate Index

Abstract EN

Based on the daily climate data from 839 meteorological stations covering the 2014–2017 period in the mainland of China, the Universal Thermal Climate Indices (UTCI) were calculated and the UTCI of 247 national 5A tourist attractions in the mainland of China are obtained with ordinary kriging interpolation method.

Then, a spatial analysis of all the attractions was carried out based on UTCI.

The results showed that the mainland of China’s annual average UTCI is generally distributed as strip-belts along a latitudinal direction and the climate comfort level gradually decreases from south to north.

Significant regional differences in climate comfort results are obtained between the southeast coastal areas and the northwest inland.

It was found that the number of attractions with the best climate comfort level is relatively high in spring and autumn while it is less in summer and winter.

Considering the climate comfort levels, the attractions are grouped into five categories of “comfortable during spring and autumn,” “comfortable during winter,” “comfortable during spring, autumn, and winter,” “comfortable during spring, summer, and autumn,” and “uncomfortable during the four seasons” to carry out the study for determining the most convenient period of the year in terms of climate comfort.