Weather, climate and the administration of the visitor business at heritage properties

Little is known about how weather and climate feature in the business administration of heritage properties as visitor attractions. Adopting a qualitative research design to address this gap, this paper examines how weather and climate change appeared in the thinking and practice of general managers (GMs) at multiple properties operated by a large internationally-known heritage organisation. From detailed Thematic Analysis of 13 in-depth interviews conducted in 2022, three main themes emerged: weather was the principal focus; operational responses were paramount in managing for weather and climate; and climate change was mainly cast as presenting challenges. As a first contribution of its type, this paper argues for this vital group of actors to be afforded more regular attention in research on climate change and heritage tourism management. GMs are pivotal to integrated organisational responses through delivery at the local level. The paper also argues in favour of considering the impacts of weather and climate on the visitor business at heritage properties, not just on natural and cultural heritage assets. Finally, in view of considerable activity by the organisation since the data was collected, the paper points to temporal comparative research with GMs as a means of examining progress to adaptation.