TOURISM RESOURCES IN URBAN HEAT ISLAND: A GIS ANALYSIS OF NOVI SAD, SERBIA

As a significant urban area, the climate of Novi Sad is under influence of urban heat island (UHI), an area that is significantly warmer than its surrounding rural areas due to human activities. Novi Sad is one of the main urban tourism destinations in Serbia. Turnover in catering trade and number of tourist arrivals and overnight stays indicate significant increase during warmer part of the year in Novi Sad. This paper investigates the spatial disfribution of tourism resources in UHI of Novi Sad, as spatial patterns of tourism activities are closely related to zones with higher temperature intensity. The research focuses on tangible resources, including key attractors in a destination and accommodation facilities. Novi Sad is located in the northern part of Serbia and according to Koppen-Geiger climate classification, the region around Novi Sad is categorised as Cf climate (temperate warm climate with a rather uniform annual distribution of precipitation). GIS analysis is based on nine different zones of annual mean UHI temperature intensity in area of Novi Sad (0 degrees C, +0.5 degrees C, +1 degrees C, +1.5 degrees C, +2 degrees C, +2.5 degrees C, +3 degrees C, +3.5 degrees C and +4 degrees C) determined by Unger et al. and Popov and Savic. It is believed that understanding spatial disfribution of tourism resources in context of UHI can help tourism officials to more effectively make decision in strategic tourism development of an urban destination.