Exploring the impacts of tourism and weather on water consumption at different spatiotemporal scales: evidence from a coastal area on the Adriatic Sea (northern Italy)

Abstract

The growth of tourism in the last decades has left behind a significant footprint on water resources, which is particularly evident in the regions affected by water scarcity or consistent seasonal population fluctuations. However, only limited efforts were spent in evaluating the effects of tourism on water consumption with regard to specific non-residential users such as bathing facilities. The current work aimed at providing an insight into the effects of seaside tourism on water consumption in a case study coastal area in northern Italy that is typically subjected to high tourist fluctuations throughout the year. Analyses were carried out at multiple spatiotemporal scales – from urban to user level, and from yearly to daily scale – by exploiting hourly flow data collected at the inflow points of the area and at some touristic users (i.e. nine bathing facilities and a holiday home). In addition, the impact of weather – temperature and rainfall – on water use was explored. The study revealed consistent inflow fluctuations in the area concerned based on tourism (with a ratio between the maximum and minimum monthly average inflow of about 15.7) and demonstrated that the touristic component of water inflow was considerably higher than the residential component at the height of tourist season (i.e., 176 L/s against 42 L/s). Moreover, significant variations in the water inflow due to tourism and weather were also observed on a daily scale, along with considerable water consumption fluctuations in bathing facilities.

Understanding resource consumption and sustainability in the built environment

“…In a case study of northern Italy, coastal tourist areas showed little difference between water consumption on weekdays versus weekends, while residential areas had noticeably different hourly water consumption on weekends [9], demonstrating the changes in behavior associated with vacations compared to typical activities. At a larger scale, tourist activities change the spatial and temporal demand for water, with variability across seasons, weekdays/weekends, and weather conditions [9]. While human behavior and resource consumption change is complex [20], these results suggest that human engagement through education can play a notable role in advancing toward sustainability goals.…”

“…For example, education and encouraging conservation/efficiency led to significant long-term sustainable water management outcomes in community-driven efforts with Australian Indigenous communities [8]. In a case study of northern Italy, coastal tourist areas showed little difference between water consumption on weekdays versus weekends, while residential areas had noticeably different hourly water consumption on weekends [9], demonstrating the changes in behavior associated with vacations compared to typical activities. At a larger scale, tourist activities change the spatial and temporal demand for water, with variability across seasons, weekdays/weekends, and weather conditions [9].…”

“…Together, these data reflect the specific built environment context, and this context specificity motivates further data collection and sharing [7]. In collecting and sharing data, however, there are often tradeoffs between data spatiotemporal resolution (and its implications for privacy, data gathering, and management costs), monitoring locations, and study duration [8][9][10][11][12].…”

How Tourists ‘Escaping the Heat’ May Drive Future Increases in Municipal Water Demand in Oregon Coastal Communities

“…The rst is how water demand in relatively small, tourist-based communities in the Mid-Coast respond to climate variability. Although Toth et al [38] and Mazzoni et al [39] addressed this question for a region of northern Italy, the extent to which their results are generalizable is not clear. The second question is how climate change may affect water demand in these communities over the next several decades.…”

“…Tourists often can be characterized by more lavish water use related to more or longer showering and bathing, more use of water-intensive leisure and sport facilities such as swimming pools, hot tubs, spas, saunas, and golf courses, more laundering from the frequent changing of bed and bath linens, and more restaurant dining [35][36][37]. Given the different water demand of tourists compared to residents, and the transient nature of tourists, the sensitivity of water demand to weather and climate may be different for tourists [38,39]. Consequently, tourist and resident water demand may respond differently to future climate change.…”