Growing up in Texas, Mary Beth Walsh thought she was used to high temperatures. Heat waves occur frequently in his hometown of Dallas, which is currently under the influence of extreme temperatures.
But when the 21-year-old visited Athens with friends in mid-June, she was shocked by the “unbearable” 98 degrees Fahrenheit (37 degrees Celsius) heat she encountered. “I had no idea about the heat there until I got there, it was quite surprising,” she told CNN.
“I always joke that my tolerance for heat is very high; I bring my sweatshirt with me to class in August (in the US),” he said.
But there was no air conditioning in her apartment, and temperatures during the day were too high to explore the city on foot. “Our energy levels were lower than we thought,” she said. “Walking directly in the heat was pretty unbearable.”
The scorching summers in Europe due to the climate crisis are now a fact that many tourists are aware of. Experts say interest in visiting warmer Mediterranean countries is falling in 2023 due to record heatwaves and bushfires, with more temperate destinations becoming increasingly popular.
Recent heat-related deaths and disappearances in Greece, including the deaths and disappearances of British television personality Michael Mosley, have the potential to further fuel this shift northwards, as extreme heat impacts holiday decisions.
The extent to which the travel industry and tourists can adapt to increasing climate impacts is becoming a bigger issue for Southern European countries, many of which rely on tourism to stimulate their economies.
Night shift
Recent high temperatures have made the climate crisis even more apparent for some European holidaymakers.
“The climate crisis that we fear will happen in 10-15 years already exists in some parts of the world. That’s the scary part,” Roo Clark, 28, from Suffolk in eastern England, who is currently staying with his girlfriend on the Greek island of Skyros, told CNN.
“Five years ago, my friends and I didn’t even talk about climate change, but now it’s talked about a lot more.”
Authorities in Greece have repeatedly warned tourists not to underestimate the intense heat, especially in the middle of the day. Walking in high temperatures has been a common thread connecting the country’s recent deaths.
Excluding a day or two of rain, temperatures in Greece are forecast to be between 90 and 95 degrees Fahrenheit (low to mid-30s in Celsius) over the next few weeks, a few degrees above the summer average, according to CNN meteorologists. It is expected to keep temperatures low.
Stefanos Sidiropoulos, who runs Greece’s largest travel agency specialising in outdoor activities, said tourists should not jump into activities too quickly. “It’s more difficult for people coming from northern Europe or Canada, places with colder temperatures. They need time to adapt to the conditions,” he told CNN.
Sidiropoulos’s travel agency, Trekking Hellas, now offers some activities when temperatures are cooler, such as at sunrise and sunset. “Or at night, with torches,” he adds.
Depends on tourism
The impact of climate change on where tourists spend their holidays will have serious consequences for some countries that rely on travel for their income.
According to the World Travel and Tourism Council, tourism in Greece generates approximately 38 billion euros ($41 billion) in revenue, equivalent to about 20% of the country’s economy.
In Italy, where level three heat warnings (the highest alert) were recently issued for the cities of Rome, Perugia and Palermo, tourism represents 10% of the country’s economy and one in eight jobs is heat-related, according to the latest figures.
A 7% increase in expressions of climate change concerns among European travelers following a summer 2023 heatwave that caused thousands of people to flee wildfires on the Greek island of Rhodes, according to the European Travel Commission (ETC), a non-profit organization. happened. He is responsible for promoting Europe as a travel destination. [AD: Do we have figures? If not, I wouldn’t say sharp and characterise it as anecdotal]
This follows a decline in interest in southern Mediterranean resorts between the summers of 2022 and 2023, with cooler destinations such as the Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Denmark becoming more attractive, ETC told CNN.
“Travelers are increasingly aware of extreme weather events and their potential impact on their holidays,” ETC CEO Eduardo Santander told CNN, adding that in the future, more travelers will be traveling to Southern Europe in the late spring and autumn rather than during the warmer summer months. He added that it might lead him to visit.
For now, tourist concerns about climate change tend to be relatively short-lived, Santander said. “Travellers worry after the summer but tend to forget about these events when booking their next holiday in the spring,” he said.
‘Full of bites’
Extreme temperatures are a result of climate change affecting tourist destinations across Europe. But there are others too.
Warmer conditions caused by climate change are pushing disease-spreading mosquito populations into new areas of Europe, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).
Tourist Clark, currently staying on Skyros, said mosquito numbers were very high during the heatwave in early June.
“We were absolutely riddled with bites. There was no wind, and even though we were medicating ourselves, they still found a way in,” Clark told CNN. “That was definitely due to the low winds and high temperatures.”
One of the important mosquito species that can spread dengue fever, chikungunya and Zika viruses Aedes albopictusAccording to ECDC, it is now established in several European countries, including Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain.
ECDC director Andrea Ammon said travel could contribute to expanding the strain’s reach. “Increased international travel from countries where dengue is endemic will also increase the risk of imported cases,” she said in a statement.
Last year, the ECDC noted that the number of locally acquired dengue cases in Europe increased from 71 cases in 2022 to 130.
The ECDC told CNN that no locally acquired dengue cases have been reported in Europe so far this summer, but based on previous summer trends they expect the first cases to be reported in the coming weeks.
A human case of West Nile virus infection spread by indigenous people Culex pipiens According to the ECDC, mosquito cases were reported in the Spanish province of Seville in March. Last year, the organization recorded 713 human cases of locally acquired West Nile virus infection in nine EU countries, resulting in 67 deaths.
Adapting to the ‘new normal’
Last summer’s record-breaking temperatures around the world were a result of human-caused climate change and the return of the natural El Niño phenomenon that caused global temperatures to rise.
This has caused temperatures to reach record levels in some parts of Europe, the fastest-warming continent on the planet.
But even as El Niño fades, experts say the long-term trend of global warming is likely to continue. “Climate change is shifting the odds in favor of more extreme events happening more frequently and then becoming more severe,” Rebecca Carter, director of climate adaptation and resilience at the World Resources Institute, told CNN.
He added that the high number of tourists in some parts of Europe puts local governments in an even more difficult situation, as they need to both protect residents from high temperatures and protect visitors.
Carter said the travel industry needed to consider climate adaptation. “This is something the travel industry has not thought about as much as it should,” he said, adding that booking rules for flights and hotels could be made more flexible, for example.
“People plan these trips weeks or months in advance, and you can’t predict when a particular place is going to experience extreme heat.”
Carter said some tourists, such as parents whose children are in school, have less flexibility when deciding on travel plans. He said planning is important under these conditions: “What would you do if there was an extreme heat wave and the power went out? Can you plan ahead where to go for help?”
Sidiropoulos, of Trekking Hellas, agreed that forward planning was important, but he still wanted visitors to get out and enjoy the beauty of Greece’s culture and natural world.
“I always tell people who travel: ‘Don’t stay in your hotel and just do the classic things like go to a restaurant,’” he said. “You have the opportunity to see nature and see the unique side of our country.”
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