Skiing through climate change: How tourist specialization shapes adaptation preferences and willingness to pay

초록

The global ski tourism industry faces unprecedented challenges from climate change, necessitating comprehensive adaptation strategies to ensure long-term sustainability. This study examines South Korean ski tourists’ preferences for climate adaptation strategies using a choice experiment approach. Results revealed that technological adaptation strategies, particularly artificial snowmaking and operational reliability, generated the highest overall preferences and captured the largest market share across the entire sample. Substantial preference heterogeneity emerged when participants were segmented by skiing specialization. High specialization skiers showed strong preferences for spatial adaptations, exhibiting willingness to travel greater distances and pay premiums for high-altitude resorts. Conversely, low specialization skiers favored technological and operational adaptations, valuing slope availability and convenience. These findings demonstrate that effective climate adaptation requires differentiated strategies tailored to distinct market segments rather than uniform approaches, contributing to sustainable tourism development and climate resilience aligned with global sustainability goals. © 2026 Elsevier Ltd

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