Evaluation of the Tourism Climate in M’Sila Province Using the Tourism Climate Index (TCI)

Climatic factors constitute one of the most important elements of tourist attraction and a vital natural resource for any tourist destination. Many studies in applied climatology link the degree of influence of climatic characteristics with tourism, highlighting the term “climatic comfort” as one of the most essential conditions for attracting tourists. This study aims to evaluate the tourism climate of M’Sila Province using the Tourism Climate Index (TCI) developed by Mieczkowski in 1985, which is considered one of the significant indicators applied to many regions worldwide to assess the impact of climate on tourism attraction. The index relies on various climatic variables, including daytime comfort index (CID), daily comfort index (CIA), precipitation index (R), sunshine duration index (S), and the wind speed index (W), to formulate the mathematical equation with specific standardized weights and proportions. The equation of this index was applied to all months of the year to identify the most climatically suitable tourism months in M’Sila Province, based on climatic data from the two meteorological stations (M’Sila and Bousaada) for the period from 1991 to 2023.

The results of the Tourism Climate Index (TCI) evaluation for M’Sila Province indicate a range from acceptable to excellent, with evaluation scores ranging between 56.2 and 82.4. These results are considered favorable and contribute to attracting tourists throughout most of the year. For the M’Sila station, the results showed an excellent tourism climate in April and October, a very good tourism climate in March, May, September, and November, and a good tourism climate in January, February, June, July, August, and December. The acceptable tourism climate was recorded in August. For the Bousaada station, the results were similar to those of the M’Sila station but consisted of only three categories of tourism climate. A very good tourism climate was observed in March, April, May, September, October, and November, a good tourism climate in January, February, June, and December, and an acceptable tourism climate in July and August.

The study concluded that M’Sila Province enjoys an attractive tourism climate during most months of the year, making it a significant tourism hub that combines various types of tourism due to its diverse and abundant tourism potential. Consequently, the study recommended enhancing and rehabilitating all tourism resources in the province, with greater focus on maintaining and expanding green spaces.