The Commission on Climate, Tourism and Recreation was formed during the 15th Congress of the International Society of Biometeorology held in November 1999 in Sydney, Australia. The aim of ISB Commission 5 is to promote research in tourism climatology. The first formal meeting of the Commission took at the Meliton Resort, Halkidiki, Greece from 5-10 October 2001. The objectives were to: 1) bring together a selection of scientists and tourism experts to review the current state of knowledge of tourism climate; and 2) explore areas and priorities for future work and the role of the Commission in this. The Workshop highlighted the fact that although climate is widely recognised as vitally important to tourism, relatively little is known about its effects. Even less is known about the economic impact or significance of climate on commercial prospects for tourism. Important research themes that warrant attention were identified. Among these was the need for a tourism climate index that integrates all facets of climate, uses standard data and objectively tested and verified. Work is also required on: the risks to tourism caused by extreme atmospheric events; developing a better understanding of what climate-related information that tourists want; exploring the distinction between impacts of climate on tourists vs. impact on the tourism industry; setting a standard approach to thermal climate assessment; assessing the role of weather forecasts and long term expectations of climate on choices made by tourists, and identifying what climate related-criteria people use to make decisions about tourism and recreation choices.