Last week, hundreds of vacationers had to be evacuated from the resort island of Maui, in the US state of Hawaii, as wildfires raged across a large area in the west of the island, razing some places to the ground. This week, the focus is on Yellowknife in Canada, where another series of wildfires has also prompted a large-scale evacuation.
Less than a month ago, wildfires on the Greek island of Rhodes damaged two seaside resorts and numerous other areas, forcing more than 20,000 people to evacuate, many of them tourists.
Tourists in other vacation hot spots have faced other kinds of problems and dangers, including sizzling temperatures of more than 50 degrees Celsius, severe water shortages, and dried up lakes or rivers on which they had hoped to swim or participate in water sports. In addition, there was a lack of snow on many peaks.
The results of global warming, including spikes in average temperatures around the world and more frequent occurrences of extreme weather events, from droughts to flash floods, are playing havoc with tourism all around the world, but more so in Western nations.
For well over half a century, the tourism industry in the Western hemisphere has eagerly looked forward to the summer season, typically peaking in July and August, as its busiest time of the year. Hordes of tourists, mostly families with children, traditionally descend on destinations, be they beach or mountain resorts, at this time for their annual vacations, and stay there for several days, if not weeks. For most tourists, especially those from colder climates, the idea is to relax and enjoy a bit of sun.
However, climate change is putting paid to this image of a traditional summer vacation. Thanks to rising temperatures over the past few years, thousands of holidaymakers have been caught up in extreme weather events such as sizzling cities, where daytime temperatures can now exceed 45 C or even approach 50 C. This has been seen in southern Europe, most notably Spain, forcing tourists to spend their time sweating indoors rather than enjoying activities such as sunbathing at the beach, taking a dip in the ocean, or simply strolling around cities, shopping and seeing the sights.
All of these factors are playing havoc not only with the plans of tourists but also with the tourism industry, which is increasingly bearing the financial brunt of extreme weather events and evacuations. Last week, Tui — a large European travel firm — confirmed that it had spent about €25 million ($27.4 million) to deal with the fallout from the wildfires in Rhodes, from which 8,000 of its customers had to be evacuated.
With climate change unlikely to slow down, let alone reverse, the tourism industry needs to reinvent itself.
Ranvir S. Nayar
The amount was small enough for the company to absorb and still report a hefty profit, as the tourism industry continues to grow rapidly in the post-pandemic world. This year does not portend well for the future.
Holidaymakers, travel firms, hotels, airlines and every other cog in the tourism machine, including theme-park operators and activities providers, will need to start planning for a world in which weather-related interruptions and disruptions become more frequent, more severe and more prolonged.
The options to deal with the situation are limited. Most travelers remain bound to the July-August window for a family break, as governments are unlikely to turn school calendars upside down by moving the main annual break to another time of year just so that students and their families are able to enjoy a vacation.
One option for families might therefore be to seek out alternative destinations, preferably in cooler climes such as northern Europe or the Nordic nations, or in tropical nations where it is hot and humid for most of the year and where they would at least be protected from wildfires.
But if opting for less-traditional, cooler destinations might be a choice for travelers, it is not an option for the tourism industries in traditional vacation hot spots in Europe and North America, where tens of billions of dollars have already been invested in the creation of comprehensive tourism infrastructures, including hotels, shopping malls, theme parks, activities and transportation networks, and where hundreds of millions of people are employed in the sector.
With climate change unlikely to slow down, let alone reverse, and the idea of relocating and setting up shop elsewhere not an option, the tourism industry needs to reinvent itself and start thinking in terms of a new peak travel season: the winter.
There is no real reason why the winter cannot be the new summer, as far as peak tourism seasons go. After all, most educational institutions take a break of at least two weeks around the end of the year, which is the main hurdle in getting families to travel at any particular time.
Certainly, this shift will call for a significant amount of adaptation and reinvention. For one thing, the days are shorter at this time of year in traditional Western holiday destinations, and so the scope of activities might need to be altered, or retrofitted, to cope with a scenario in which dusk falls by 5 p.m., but it could certainly still be possible to go snorkeling or enjoy a theme park ride, or just about any other activity.
With the proper use of technology, most of which is readily available and not prohibitively expensive, the tourism industry can indeed ensure that not only does it survive the climate time bomb, but actually thrives during its new “summer season.”
- Ranvir S. Nayar is managing editor of Media India Group.
