Forget the climate emergency and enjoy your holiday, say Europe’s tourism chiefs

Politicians have a message for tourists who might be freaked out over roasting temperatures and hellish landscapes of roaring forest fires: Swallow your fears and keep enjoying your holiday.

In Greece, 20,000 people were evacuated from Rhodes over the weekend as fires engulfed parts of the island, and British Foreign Office Minister Andrew Mitchell said he “wouldn’t” travel there at the moment. But Greece’s Tourism Minister Olga Kefalogianni talked down the threat, stressing that only a “small part” of the island had been affected. 

“There has been no disruption in the airport, and … [only] 10 to 20 percent of the total area of the island [was affected by fire],” she told the BBC’s Today program. “When it comes to hotel accommodation, it’s 15 percent of the total capacity of the island [that was affected].”

Her soothing takeaway? “Everybody is safe.” 

In Italy, where Rome hit a record 46 degrees Celsius in recent days while the north of the country saw floods of ice and water from hailstorms and Sicily’s Palermo airport was shut for several hours on Tuesday due to approaching wildfires, the message is the same.

“The high temperatures are physiological in this season and do not compromise in any way our tourist offer that remains solid, quality, varied and sustainable,” Tourism Minister Daniela Santanchè said late last week, adding: “We are waiting for you in Italy.”

She was backed up by the chief of the country’s tourism authority.

“I would like to reassure visitors who come to Italy from all over the world that here they will find a climate suitable for the summer season without particular criticalities and without any risk,” said Ivana Jelinic.

So far that message of carrying on regardless is still working.

Only 7 percent of European travelers surveyed in March said that extreme weather was their biggest vacation-related concern, according to a study carried out by the European Travel Commission.

And while 82 percent of those questioned in a 2021 Eurobarometer survey said they’d be prepared to change their travel and tourism habits to be more sustainable, environmental factors were among the least important metrics by which holidaymakers chose their destination.

There is an uptick in travel to countries like the Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Ireland, said David García León, a climate change analyst at the European Commission.

“It can also be argued that rising costs rather than the more benign weather are the main reason for this choice,” he said. “Still, the concern between EU citizens about the consequences of possible extreme weather conditions is growing.”

That adds to government worries. Tourism makes up nearly 10 percent of the EU’s GDP and employs around 23 million people. For traditional holiday destinations like Greece, the impact is even higher, with tourism accounting for a quarter of the economy.

The travel industry, just starting to emerge from the COVID catastrophe, hopes that dramatic footage of vacationers dragging their suitcases miles along Greek roads as they flee burning hotels, skies lit up by smoking plumes and people sleeping in makeshift shelters in hotel conference rooms doesn’t put off the punters.

The wildfires in Greece are a “clear signal that tour operators will have to adjust their strategy,” said Eric Drésin, secretary-general of European Travel Agents and Tour Operators.

“There’s definitely nothing we can do today or in the next week but there’s already a lot of concern. We’re going to work on that,” he said, adding: “It’s a very specific situation. There’s not heat waves everywhere. It’s July and I’m in France and it’s raining.”

There is a growing recognition that some aspects of tourism will have to change.

Greece’s Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis was relatively clear-eyed about the problem, telling lawmakers on Monday: “The climate crisis is already here … we are at war.”

But the industry says there’s no immediate urgency. In the works is a conference in September to discuss next steps and Drésin said that some tourist-heavy countries may change their marketing.

“Greece is pushing a lot on being a year-round destination. You’re not obliged to enjoy it in [just] July and August but in September, October, December,” he said.

Although many recent summers have been marked by roasting temperatures, increased deaths and wildfires, policymakers are only just starting to wake up to the problem.

The European Parliament’s Tourism Task Force, which was created to tackle issues within the sector, has focused its work on short-term rentals, digitalization and package travel regulations, but has done little to analyze the impact of extreme weather.

At an EU level, the Commission’s tourism strategy says that climate mitigation and adaptation measures “should always be included in the smart and sustainable tourism strategies on national, regional and local levels,” and it encourages tourist destinations to access research and funding opportunities through Horizon Europe’s Adaptation to Climate Change Mission.

A lot of the Commission’s policy is aimed at making tourism, and specifically transport, greener, rather than adapting the tourism sector to climate change.

But more summers like this one could end up having an impact on travel patterns, said Lucas Berard-Chenu, a lecturer at the University of Grenoble.

“Fire risk is likely to increase, potentially affecting tourist regions, particularly in the Mediterranean,” he said. More people may head to the mountains in the summer, thanks to “warmer and more stable weather conditions,” and “increasing heat stress in urban areas.”