Global warming may destroy the most popular tourist destinations shortly. Beaches are flooded by rising sea levels, and extreme heat drives tourists out of resorts, causing storms and fires. The German mass media presented this summary from the scene of the events.
For example, they refer to the condition of Es Trenc beach, which is considered one of the best beaches in Mallorca. Recently, scientists discovered that the beach of Es-Trenk has decreased in width by almost 40 meters. If the sea advances at its former speed, it, like many other beaches in Mallorca, will disappear into the sea.
“We are seeing a large-scale loss of land in the Mediterranean region,” said Thomas Dvorak, who coordinated a study by Germany’s federal environmental protection agency on the impact of global warming on tourism, published in 2021.
At the same time, according to him, so far only researchers are sounding the alarm, and the situation does not affect the number of visitors. On the contrary: Mallorca receives a record number of tourists this summer. “There is little evidence that people are changing their travel behavior because of climate change,” he added.
Moreover, tourists tend to ignore both the reduction of the beach area and the obvious dangers. According to the researcher, even such shocking natural disasters as the collapse of a glacier in the Italian Dolomites in early July, which killed 11 people, do not have a serious impact on the evaluation of tourists.
“If the same places experience repeated floods or glacier collapses, this will eventually affect tourism in the region,” added Dagmar Lund-Dürlacher, professor of sustainable tourism management at the Modul University of Vienna. However, so far such events have occurred sporadically in different districts. Therefore, hurricanes in the Caribbean and landslides at ski resorts do not scare away tourists. Resorts in the mountains can lose tourists if only because of a lack of snow – which also brings global warming. However, resorts save themselves with snow cannons.
“The disappearance of beaches, the frequency of storms and floods, as well as the absence of snowfall – these are just some of the consequences of global warming, which will inevitably affect the tourism industry”, – however, the researchers are sure.
Droughts and abnormal heat will also discourage tourists from visiting the affected regions – and there may already be tourists avoiding the Mediterranean in the summer because of the heat, Ms. Lund-Durlacher said. According to her, although a limited number of tourists are staying away from Southern Europe for now, popular holiday destinations should think about adapting to a changing climate.