The impact of climate change on the characteristics of Iraq's tourism climate

This study aims to reveal the impact of climate change on the characteristics of Iraq's tourism climate. Tourism is one of the most important human activities and is most affected by climatic conditions; indeed, the type of tourism activity is determined by the nature of the climate and its changes. The study relies on three criteria to assess Iraq's tourism climate: the Tourism Climate Index (TCI), the Tourism Comfort Climate Index (TCCI), and the Cooling Energy Index (CP). The Republic of Iraq is located between latitudes 295° and 372° North and longitudes 45° and 38° East. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Arabian Gulf and Kuwait to the south, Saudi Arabia to the southwest, Jordan to the west, and Syria to the northwest. Its area is 345,052 square kilometers. A 50-year period, from 1967 to 2016, was selected for the study, which utilized data from eight meteorological stations: Mosul, Sulaymaniyah, Kirkuk, Baghdad, Rutba, Al-Hayy, Diwaniyah, and Basra. These indicators were applied to all months of the year (4,680 months across all stations) throughout the study period to determine the changes in the characteristics of Iraq's tourism climate. The study revealed spatial and temporal variations in the tourism climate categories according to the adopted criteria. This was evident in the monthly assessments, specifically in calculating the frequency of each category and the percentage of area occupied by each. Furthermore, the study showed that all tourism climate categories underwent changes during the study period, and that there were variations in the levels of change between different regions of Iraq.