A Field Study of the Function of Climatic Parameters in Tourism and the Validation of Bioclimatic Indices (Case Study: Gandoman Lagoon)

Climate is considered as one of the most important factors affect the tourism industry. The present study is a field study that aims to investigate the role of climate in tourism and validate the performance of bioclimatic indices. This research has been carried out in Gondman lagoon area in Chahar Mahal and Bakhtiari province on the Nowruz holiday of 1396. The field data are collected through a questionnaire with axial topics including thermal sensation, thermal preference, aesthetics, adaptive behavior, and individual characteristics. Another part of the data is climate parameters such as temperature, relative humidity, cloudiness and wind, which is measured at the same time as completing the questionnaire by the lutron-lm-9000 data logger calibrated to CE standard. Bioclimatic indices (Predicted mean vote and Physiological Equivalent Temperature) are used to measure the thermal comfort conditions. Besides, Pearson correlation and multiple regression model are used to analyze the data. The results show that there is no significant correlation between the actual data obtained from the questionnaire and the data estimates by the indicators. Biochemical indicators show more warming conditions, while actual data often indicate a feeling of thermal cooling. In contrast, the thermal sensation of individuals reveals a significant and meaningful impact on independent climate parameters, the highest for clouds (R = -0.82) and humidity (R = -0.88). In other words, the visual conditions of the environment have a significant role in the type of person's sense of warmth. Due to the negative of these coefficients, cloudy sky with high humidity has significantly affected the type of heat feeling stated in the questionnaires. The use of bioclimatic indices in the evaluation of thermal comfort conditions requires the validation of these indicators and, if necessary, corrected.