No. 743 - Climate change and winter tourism: evidence from Italy

Vai alla versione italiana Site Search

by Gioia Maria Mariani and Diego ScaliseDecember 2022

In this paper we study the relationship between snowfall, passes and overnight stays in ski resort level by assembling a novel dataset matching weather conditions to winter tourism flows in 39 Italian Alpine ski resorts over the last 20 years. We provide an estimate of future potential loss for winter tourism due to climate change.

We estimate a positive and significant relationship between snowfall and winter tourism flows. According to consensus projections on climate variables, we estimate that in the coming years the impact of climate change on ski passes and overnight stays could be significant, especially at lower altitudes. Moreover, producing artificial snow might not be sufficient to sustain winter tourism flows.

Full text