Italy and Greece Face Worst Heatwaves and Wildfires
Gradual Increase in Travel to Northern Europe Instead of Southern Europe
Travel Seasons Also Increasing in April-May and September-October
As Southern Europe, a representative summer tourist destination sought by people worldwide, suffers from the worst heatwave in over 170 years this summer, an analysis has emerged that climate change is significantly altering Europe’s summer vacation trends. Traditional summer vacationers, who used to travel during the hot season, have shifted their main holiday periods to spring and autumn due to extreme heat, and with more tourists visiting the relatively cooler Northern Europe, the vacation trends themselves are changing.
According to reports from The New York Times (NYT) and CNN on the 16th (local time), while the southern European region centered around the Mediterranean continues to attract significant attention as a major tourist destination amid the resurgence of pent-up travel demand during the COVID-19 period, subtle changes are beginning to be noticed on the ground. It has been reported that Europe’s vacation schedules are increasingly shifting from the traditional peak season of July and August to the off-peak months of April to May or September to October, when temperatures are relatively lower.
Sebastian Ebel, CEO of Germany’s largest travel agency TUI, recently publicly mentioned this trend. In a meeting with reporters on the 9th, he predicted that due to climate change, more tourists will head north, with an increase in vacations spent in Northern Europe, the Netherlands, Poland, Belgium, and other such destinations. He also forecasted that the travel season would extend from early spring to late autumn.
On the ground, these changes have appeared starting this year. Karen Maggi, Senior Vice President of ITKE, a New York-based travel agency, stated that since mid-last month, there has been a growing number of customer inquiries about adjusting travel plans due to the heatwave. Dolev Azaria, CEO of Azaria Travels, another New York-based agency, also shared an example of a family client who changed their 5-day vacation destination from Rome to Amsterdam, Netherlands, to avoid the heatwave.
ForwardKeys, a Spain-based travel data company, recently told CNN that interest in Southern Europe from the UK has decreased compared to before. During the peak vacation months of July and August, online searches for flights from the UK to Southern Europe accounted for 58% of all flight searches in early July, down from 62% a month earlier.
Olivier Ponti, Senior Analyst at ForwardKeys, explained that last month, British tourists showed an increased preference for northern regions with lower temperatures compared to the south, suggesting that this summer’s heatwave has led travelers to choose destinations with cooler climates.
According to data released last month by the European Travel Commission (ETC), a European tourism association, the number of European tourists planning Mediterranean trips between June and November this year decreased by 10% compared to the same period last year. At the same time, the popularity of countries such as the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Ireland, and Denmark has risen. The ETC interpreted this as a result of tourists seeking less crowded areas with relatively mild weather.
This phenomenon appears to have emerged as a result of severe heatwave problems in Southern Europe, which was previously a major tourist destination, due to climate change. Portugal and Spain have been suffering from heatwaves with daytime temperatures soaring well above 40 degrees Celsius this year, and Greece’s holiday destination Rhodes Island experienced a large-scale wildfire last month, delivering a severe blow to the tourism industry. Experts analyze that these European weather anomalies are caused by the combined effects of global warming-induced climate change and the El Ni?o phenomenon.
Given this situation, industrialized and national economies reliant on tourism need to prepare accordingly. Greece and Italy, representative southern European tourist countries, saw their travel and tourism industries account for 18.5% and over 10% of their total economies last year, respectively. A decline in travel demand inevitably impacts national economies.
The change has already begun. British airline easyJet announced that as customer preferences shift and demand changes, it will maintain flexibility to adjust routes in the future.
Dr. Rebecca Carter of the World Resources Institute (WRI) described this summer’s heatwave as "the beginning of a trend we will see more of in the future," adding, "When deciding when and where to travel, weather and climate change should be included as part of the decision-making factors."
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