Mediterranean Sea
The alarm: The beginning of the end of summer trips to the Mediterranean
Adam Westin
Published 10.52
Extreme weather, forest fires and a health guru who dies in the heat.
Experts now predict that summer trips to the Mediterranean Sea will plummet in popularity.
- There are a few conceivable scenarios, says tourism researcher Robert Pettersson.
Quick version
As extreme heat waves become the new normal, tourists will opt out of traveling to the Mediterranean in the summers.
This is claimed by Greg Dickinson, senior travel writer at the British The Telegraph. But travel is still strong, and the British are expected to make the pilgrimage to "The Med" this summer.
"This heat will one day mean the end of summer holidays in the Mediterranean. Like Dubai in August, it will be too uncomfortable to handle,” writes Greg Dickinson.
Missing Brits in the heat
As examples, he brings up this year's record-breaking heat wave in Greece, the spring's water rationing in parts of Spain, and that the temperature reached 48.8 degrees in Italian Sicily this year.
The highly publicized death of TV profile and health guru Michael Mosley on the island of Symi, and the disappearance of 19-year-old Briton Jay Slater in similar circumstances, are also cases of concern.
- It is quite clear that climate change and extreme weather, with not least heat waves and forest fires as a consequence, have received a lot of space in the media in recent years, says Robert Pettersson, operations manager at the tourism research center Etour at Mittuniversitetet in Östersund.
"The big changes ahead"
Studies so far show fairly small changes in Swedes' travel behaviour, says Pettersson.
- I would think that we have the big changes ahead of us, says the tourism researcher.
- If we put a parenthesis around the pandemic years, the Swedes have a fairly steady departure, with Greece and Spain accounting for a great deal of the guest nights abroad. We have some research colleagues from Spain, and they also do not testify to any mass bankruptcies or plant closures. It's more of a concern for the future.
Spring and autumn may become more attractive periods to visit the Mediterranean, which is already a trend, writes The Telegraph.
- You can also think that the resorts that live on charter tourism will face the challenges with design and technology. For example, building in more shady places, building over pool areas, air conditioning to a greater extent. It can be a way to meet temperature and climate changes, says Robert Pettersson.
Sweden can be a winner
The tourism researcher also believes that tourism other than sun and bathing can nibble at market shares. And that places like northern Germany and northern Poland, and not least Sweden and the rest of Scandinavia, can increase in popularity.
Both because the "homestay" trend continues, and because people from other countries find themselves here.
- If Europeans and others seek cooler places, Sweden could be a winner.
Then, of course, there is the factor that flying itself contributes to the emission of greenhouse gases.
- We see in studies that people do not live as they teach, and do not travel as they teach. Many are aware of the negative connection between climate change and air travel. But when Swedes and others book their trips, environmental sustainability is not at the very top of the decision scale. Factors such as price, availability, quality and tradition weigh more heavily, says tourism researcher Robert Pettersson.
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