The Effect of Weather on the Tourism Industry in Tyrol

Tourism industry serves as an important part of the economy in Austria and in Tyrol as well. In Tyrol most of the tourist activities are nature based therefore they can be affected by the weather conditions in the winter and in the summer season as well. Unfavourable weather conditions have caused delays in the ski resort openings in 2014 and this meant a loss in profit. The main objective of the research is to measure the effect of seven weather indicators on two tourism demand variables in Tyrol. Three panel data analyses were implemented that included 279 municipalities with 20 years of data. The analyses were conducted on the dataset as a whole and with the help of clusters. Two different methods of cluster formation were used, based on the touristic profile and the altitude of the municipalities, and based on the popularity of the municipalities. These clusters were formed and analysed in order to specify the effect of weather on tourism between the municipalities. The analyses resulted that weather affects tourism demand but this effect is rather small.