“The usual tourism in the Mediterranean is coming to an end. Extreme heat waves on the southern coast of Europe are sending vacationers to cooler countries,” – this is the alarming forecast of concerned Turkish experts presented by Turizm Guncel publication. There is a risk that tourists, at least in summer, will leave such popular countries as Turkey, Spain, Italy, and Greece, which live off tourism, and head for regions with a mild climate.
The program for booking Little Emperors hotels “raised” another reason for concern about the Turks. Its researchers noted that there has been a significant increase in bookings in alternative cool destinations such as Norway: “Because of the heat, people are looking for cooler places, which has given the Scandinavian countries a great opportunity to stand out as a summer destination,” the authors estimate.
Moreover, this applies mainly to family tourism – not everyone is ready to travel in +45 and above with a small child. As a result, many tourists book colder destinations, which causes increased interest in the Scandinavian countries. “Norway, Copenhagen, and the fjords took up most of our summer bookings. We have never booked these destinations for the summer — so yes, we agree that there have been changes due to climate change,” the researchers said. “Winter” alpine resorts are also booked for the summer – the well-known Courchevel.
In addition, it is worth noting that these destinations are, to put it mildly, more expensive than Turkey, and paying tourists “relocate” there. For example, there is increased interest in countries that do not suffer from the heat, such as Switzerland, Austria, and Germany, said Jamshid Pocha, co-founder of the Canadian company The Pelican.
However, there is hope that the extreme heat will not completely “drive out” people from the Mediterranean, and will only change the framework of seasonality. Yes, many hotels in Italy have already “shifted” the closing time. In Italy, there was a time when hotels closed at the beginning of autumn – now they close until the end of October-November because already many tourists postpone their vacations to October, which once fell outside the framework of the “velvet season”.