Euronews reports that climate change is the biggest threat to tourism, according to a travel commission CEO. This is nonsense. Weather has always interrupted travel; the CEO and Euronews did not even try to cite any data demonstrating it is becoming more common. Tourism is so huge in Europe, that the term “overtourism” is being used to describe the conditions of popular European cities that are experiencing huge numbers of visitors. Sometimes violent anti-tourist protests are breaking out in some European cities. Based on recent protests, if anything is threatening tourism there, it is the backlash against visitors in various popular European locations.
The article, “European Travel Commission CEO: ‘Climate change is the biggest threat to tourism right now’,” reports on a speech given by Eduardo Santander, who is the CEO and Executive Director of the European Travel Commission (ETC), at a recent tourism summit put on by Euronews.
The ETC, according to their website, “is a non-profit organization representing the national tourism organizations of Europe.” Santander explained that tourism makes up 10 percent of Europe’s economy, and 10 percent or more of the GDP of Spain alone. Santander proceeded to say that tourism infrastructure needs more investment because of the pressures of “overtourism” causing congestion at airports and in the visited communities. He then goes off the rails and claims that “climate change is the biggest threat to tourism right now, by far.”
Euronews quotes him as citing anecdotes like train service interruption “because the rails are expanded because of the heat,” and cruise lines being unable to enter some European rivers due to drought causing falling water levels.
The truth is that bad weather has and always will impact tourism. Deadly or severe heat waves are not unprecedented for Europe, nor are their impacts. This is especially true regarding drought: one need look no further than the reappearance of “hunger stones” – ancient drought-indicating markers in European rivers and lakes which show that severe drought in fact occurred multiple centuries before industrialization.
The article also claims that people are fleeing hotter vacation destinations for cooler ones. It is true that more of the cooler parts of the world are seeing more tourism, but so are the warmer locations. Indeed, tourism is booming in many countries as greater numbers of tourists explore beyond historically popular destinations, including colder locales. Overall, France saw the busiest summer tourism season in 15 years this year. Data from this year showed that tourism increased more in parts of France like Normandy than they did on the French Mediterranean coast, but numbers are still well above pre-pandemic levels.
It is almost certainly not the heat itself, tourists looking for a beach vacation expect and want the heat… except that perhaps American tourists would rather not stay in the hotels that lack air conditioning.
If it were true that global warming was making it so that people were abandoning hot destinations, places like Mexico would be seeing declines, but this is not the case. Mexico’s attractive areas have also seen increased tourism despite known dangers, and Mexico is much hotter than France. Mexico’s tourism has surpassed pre-pandemic tourism levels such that it is expected to be one of the top five most-visited countries by 2040.
This year, Spain is expected to surpass its all time record for tourist visits. The Canary Islands are warm year round, and saw a record breaking year last year for tourism.
Recently, the massive increase in tourism has become so stressful to some European city residents that protests against tourists have broken out in France and Spain, again the two places where climate change is supposedly threatening tourism.
In France, residents complain about the “Disneyfication” of parts of Paris, overcrowding has led to strikes and unrest. In Spain it is worse: protests have broken out in Barcelona, the Canaries, and other locations, some involving violent confrontations this year and in 2025.
Just because weather and transit disruptions in some locations can cause tourists to modify their vacation choices, does not mean that climate change is a huge threat to tourism. Despite knowing that the numbers are improving almost everywhere, Euronews and Santander decided to exaggerate the threat in order to give lip service to the climate agenda. At the same time, they are deflecting blame for European policies and the actions of some of Europe’s citizens that discourage or make tourism less welcoming.
Climate Change isn’t the issue. Policies for Fighting the ever changing climate creates the issues.
Climates change…always have…always will.
The Sahara Desert was once a verdant greenbelt.
Doggerland was once above water.
Antarctica was once ice free.
Canada was once covered by a mile thick ice sheet.
The threat to Euro tourism isn’t climate change, it’s cultural change.
After reading the article a second time…and more in line with the central theme…
Climate Change isn’t affecting tourism beyond the desire for comfort on warmer days which European destinations may not provide.
However, Violence against tourists will greatly affect tourism (Political Climate Change).
The only thing this has to do with climate change is that just another one is trying to use climate change to wangle investments for their cause.
(using expanding rails in Europe as argument while way hotter and poorer countries all around the world can handle this problem show what a snake this guy actually is)
The biggest threat to tourism is expensive fossil fuels and net zero travel.
The rest is the usual nonsense as overtourism, just as increase in food production or skiing boom – especially in China – wouldn’t and couldn’t be a thing in a warming related climate crisis.
The Orwellian thing here is that climate change is the only reason tourism in Spain exists on a relevant level – as people from cooler countries go there for a change – because of the warmer climate.
There is a reason why regions closer to the equator get way more tourism than the arctic ones.
The only problem they may have is deterioration of infrastructure – as result of overtourism and lack of money and investments as result of going green.
I’d venture to guess that RR engineers figured out how to manage rails for very hot weather shortly after railroads began. It wouldn’t be rocket science. 🙂
If US people are trying to avoid the heat then Florida and all of the Gulf coast must be nearly uninhabited by now. Its been hot there for centuries.
Apparently the name Miami comes from a native American language, which meant something like “hell on earth”. Which it was and those native tribes would only winter there and move way further north in summer. But with air conditioning and taming the swamps, it’s really not bad living here in S Florida now. Right now, October 11/26 at 7:00 AM just before sunrise, it is 81 deg F (27.2 C), and will rise to about 90 F midday (32.2). It almost never drops below 75-80 F from May to November in S Florida, except in the gust front ahead of a thunderstorm. Air conditioning is a must, and stays on year round, except for a few days in January or February where heat is needed if we have a cold spell. And I have to laugh at people here complaining when it drops to 55 F for a couple days as I am from the North and have worked outdoors at night in a blizzard with -20 F. Also have to laugh at nonsense from Europe complaining about 27C as being too hot to work!
Linnea,
My criticism of the article that you dissect would start with the quoted “tourism makes up 10% of Europe’s economy.” This depends on how “economy” is defined. (I will now use unreal, simple analogies to introduce a more complicated scenario.)
If European tourism vanished “overnight” meaning a short term like a year, the consequences would be far different to vanishing European agriculture overnight. People can live without a holiday, but not without food.
I suspect that the Santander quote is a dodge to try to make tourism seem critically important to the European economy when in reality it is more like optional.
Unfortunately, there is a current, increasing trend for some authors to be less than objective when they push an idea. Non-specialist authors invade specialist fields and it shows.
Here, I am invading text book style national economic theory. I hope that it shows enough to cause greater discussion.
See what I did there? Geoff S
An additional problem for many of the inhabitants of tourist hotspots in addition to the number of visitors is that many local properties are bought by wealthy people not resident in the areas to let out as Air B&B’s etc.and locals are excluded or even evicted from local homes. Witness the current demonstrations underway in Barcelona.
“Tourism is so huge in Europe, that the term “overtourism” is being used to describe the conditions of popular European cities that are experiencing huge numbers of visitors.”
Well, those same areas now whining about too many tourists were whining about almost NO tourists during the Covid “crisis”. Some people are never happy.
But climate change tax rates are a threat to tourism.
Wait, I thought tourism was “bad” for the climate. I mean, think of the carbon supernovaprint of millions of people going on holiday. How dare they! Just have a picnic in your backyard, and be happy knowing you are “saving the planet”. Of course, that would mean the end of the super-duper Climatefests in far off and exotic places.
Oops.
Was there ever a time when fluctuating weather in general wasn’t a tourism threat? So what sort of credibility can any news outlet have by making such a statement? Just because the unfavorable weather of one year causes a drop in tourism, it would have to occur for a number of years before the tourist industry was irreparably damaged. During the 1930s the Great Plains region of North America was hit hard by drought causing farming to be temporarily unprofitable, but after that period it recovered to the point where it has been one of the world’s leading agricultural producers. The same could occur with tourist areas.
EU countries keep complaining about too many tourists, I thought they’d be happy with the possibility. Mind you, Barcelona had anti-tourist demonstrations a couple of years ago, so the tourists gave them a wide berth … and they bitched about the lack of tourists because they lost their jobs.
Too many tourists is the biggest threat to tourism. Locals are fed up with being driven out of their homes and businesses in far too many tourist destinations.
The biggest threat to many sectors, tourism included, is the price of petrol. Why? Because if people don’t have a choice about driving to work, their disposable income is decreasing as pump prices rise.
I was in a restaurant yesterday getting a takeaway and the owner told me that his business was way down since the rise in price of diesel and petrol. People were cutting back on going out to a restaurant to cover the greater outgoings on petrol.
The same will happen with holidays. Fewer people will be able to afford to travel, those that can will be spending less.