Travelers encountered many weather surprises this summer, from wildfires in Europe to knee-deep mud at Burning Man. Indeed, it was the hottest summer on record around the globe, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.
For example, does it still make sense to visit Italy in July, despite high temperatures, large crowds and minimal air conditioning? Or should “peak” travel season move to the more hospitable autumn or spring months? On the other hand, colder destinations in Northern Europe could actually see more vacationers. Denmark, France and the United Kingdom could receive more tourists because of higher temperatures, according to the report. Greenland, which is mostly covered with ice, is expecting to see far more tourists in the coming decades, with a new airport set to open in 2024.
Peak travel seasons Summers are for vacations — that’s a truth so universally acknowledged as to be almost self-evident. Families travel while kids are out of school, and office workers flee to vacation in ideal weather. Cherry blossoms in Japan are flowering 11 days earlier than they used to, according to a 2022 report in the journal Environmental Research Letters. This has shifted the tourist-attracting cherry blossom festival from April into March.
Tourism accounts for about 8% of global emissions, according to some estimates. A single trans-Atlantic flight would require an acre of forest to absorb its carbon emissions. Although the airline industry is racing to reduce emissions, it lags far behind other major emitters, such as passenger vehicles, in making meaningful change.