THE IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON VISITOR ATTENDANCE AT LEISURE FARMS: EXAMINING THE ROLE OF RESTLESSNESS TRIGGERED BY TEMPERATURE CHANGES

Climate change and global warming have become global issues, supported by evidence derived from multiple complex and independent climate indicators, including rising global average temperatures, ocean warming, sea-level rise, shrinking icebergs, and increased atmospheric moisture content. This study uses visitor numbers to Tsou-Ma-Lai Farm, as recorded by the Tourism Bureau of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications from 2014 to 2023, as the dependent variable. As independent variables representing climate change, meteorological data from Tainan City (2014–2023) were used, including monthly temperature, humidity, wind speed, rainfall, number of precipitation days, area pressure and sunshine duration. An Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression analysis was conducted to examine their effects. The results indicate that most independent variables did not significantly influence the dependent variable. However, after refining the model to retain the key variables, it was found that temperature had a significant negative impact on visitor numbers to the leisure farm. Specifically, for every unit increase in temperature, the number of visitors decreased by 1,362. Therefore, this study suggests not only emphasizing the global environmental effects of climate change but also addressing the negative impact of rising temperatures on the tourism industry.