August 23, 2026

"More visitors are giving up on summer holidays in cities that feel like saunas and booking 'coolcations' in Iceland, Norway, or Denmark...."

"A 2023 European Commission study forecast 'a clear north-south pattern in tourism demand changes' that 'becomes more pronounced for higher warming scenarios,' signalling growing economic consequences for Madrid, Lisbon, Athens, and Milan. 'Travelling to European cities is about cultural experience,' Daniel Scott, a scholar of tourism at the University of Waterloo, in Ontario, told me. 'Whether it’s Paris, Barcelona, or Rome, you amble around, sightseeing, street shopping, taking a riverboat tour, going to a museum, a restaurant, a cafĂ©. Most of that time, you’re outside.' Climate change increasingly turns pleasure trips into exercises in escaping pain. 'When I’m in Europe, I always notice how many people crowd under trees and shaded areas,' Scott said. 'But at some attractions, like the Acropolis, there’s no way to avoid the blazing sun. On especially hot days, they’ve got the Red Cross giving out water, medics pre-positioned because they know many people are going to be in trouble when they come down.'"

From "The End of the European Summer/As extreme heat overwhelms the Continent’s great cities, they are racing to transform themselves for a climate that they were never built to withstand" (The New Yorker).

45 comments:

Original Mike said...

"'When I’m in Europe, I always notice how many people crowd under trees and shaded areas,' Scott said"

I've always headed for the shade. Global warming has nothing to do with it.

ronetc said...

Well, there was this one time about 30 years ago when my family was vacationing in Denmark . . . and the heatwave was so intense the candles that had given a romantic glow to the living room of the house we were staying in began to melt and became an inverted U in the candelabra. A reminder that "weather happens" . . . and does not necessarily have anything to do with "climate."

Mason G said...

'When I’m in Europe, I always notice how many people crowd under trees and shaded areas,' Scott said.

So it's come to this- people concerned about the weather on their European vacations. Sad.

Original Mike said...

Supposedly, the Earth has warmed 1-1/2 degrees C since 1850-1900, and most of that increase is in nighttime temperatures. While that increase, over time, can change eco systems, it is not enough to turn European holidays from blissful paradise to a hellscape.

rehajm said...

…a hot sticky Europe means wet and slippery terrazzo floors…

Wilbur said...

"Dr. Daniel Scott is a Distinguished University Professor and Research Chair in the Department of Geography and Environmental Management at the University of Waterloo (Canada) and a Canada Excellence Fellow at Canadian University Dubai. He has worked extensively on the human dimensions of climate change, particularly the transition to a low carbon tourism economy and adaptation to the complex impacts of a changing climate in the global tourism sector and protected areas."

Here I thought he was just a Professor of Tourism. Oh wait ...

Dr Weevil said...

The fact that the professor mentions Iceland, Norway, and Denmark, but not Sweden, suggests another possible explanation: tourists may be going to places that are not (or not yet) overrun by roving gangs of feral Islamic males, as most of the warmer places, and Sweden, are.

n.n said...

Urban heat island effect. Meanwhile, CO2 is greening the planet, and the Greens are apoplectic.

Jamie said...

"Climate change increasingly turns pleasure trips into exercises in escaping pain."

Please. Do they even consider the facts that:

(1) many, many more people, in poorer health, are now *able* to travel to places like Greece, because:

(a) there are many more people who are "rich,"
(b) travel is much cheaper now than it's ever been, and
(c) everyone has a greater (sometimes unrealistic) expectation that they'll be accommodated in places that were never built for people with health issues?

and

(2) the overall age of tourists is increasing along with the overall age of people from developed nations, and older people have less tolerance, both physically and psychologically, for discomfort?

Of those "reporting" on this "phenomenon," how many began their travels as backpacking twentysomethings sleeping in hostels, but who now cannot be satisfied with a hostel's thin bunk beds and "Continental breakfast" of cooked coffee and cold toast?

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

Looking forward to next Summer’s article, when it’s unseasonably cool.
I’m constantly coming across references in early 20th-century European literature to unusually hot days. How long has it been a thing for the affluent to abandon Paris in August? Centuries?

Jamie said...

Rather than just using Greece as a tourist destination (which it still is, because it's wonderful), I should've added "and Iceland" - and I should've added a third unconsidered factor to my little list:

(3) places that were not considered tourist destination in the recent past, *such as* Iceland, have now been "discovered" thanks to the Rick Steves school of "only chumps go where everyone else goes."

I don't disagree with the observation of whoever it is, above, that Sweden has a lot more unassimilated Muslim men present than, say, Iceland does, and that some travelers will choose Iceland at least partly on that account. (The cartel situation in Mexico is definitely a factor for our travels. Meanwhile, Columbia, which I wouldn't have dreamt of visiting in the heyday of cocaine trafficking, is apparently pretty dang safe and fun these days.) But it's also my recollection that Sweden has been a tourist destination for a long time, whereas Norway really hasn't, except for cruises through the fjords, and Iceland definitely hasn't.

Valentine Smith said...

The bullshit never stops with these people. I’ve been hearing this shite For 60 years and I’m sick of it. They are like the hypochondriac whose tombstone reads “see I told you I was sick” every time There’s a Weather event.

lonejustice said...

If possible, travel during "shoulder season," which is usually early spring and mid to late fall. It's often T-shirt weather during the day, and maybe a light jacket in the evenings. More comfortable, less expensive, and fewer crowds. That's what my wife and I do, and we usually travel overseas once or twice a year.

gilbar said...

serious question:
doesn't SCIENCE SAY, that ALL this hot weather is CAUSED by the importation of people from hot climates? DOESN'T IT?
isn't THAT? what THE SCIENCE SAYS?
TRUST THE SCIENCE!

There was NO hot weather in europe, before all these africans migrated (just check the tree ring data)

Oh Yea said...

"...Daniel Scott, a scholar of tourism at the University of Waterloo, in Ontario..."

Who's paying for his scholarly field research?

Jamie said...

"If possible, travel during "shoulder season," which is usually early spring and mid to late fall."

People with school she kids can't (or at least don't) travel then, which can be a boon for the rest of us in terms of both expense and crowds, as lonejustice notes.

People doing full-time travel, especially in retirement, may even choose the straight-up off season, to stretch their retirement dollars.

I would count late November as off season for Greece - the islands are more or less closed for business, even now - and that's when we took two of our three kids there when they were in high school (unfortunately for the oldest, he was in college and had evil profs who scheduled can't-miss exams for the Wednesday of Thanksgiving week). We had the Acropolis almost literally to ourselves - unaltered pictures of no one but our family, standing in front of the Parthenon; shops and restaurants in Monemvasia opened their doors simply because the four of us (and, as it happened, the American ambassador to Greece and his wife, and their security team) came into town. It was the best experience. The Peloponnese had NO tourists but us, it seemed.

Wilbur said...

AI tells me the early summer months of July and August 1914 experienced notable heat waves and soaring temperatures across parts of northern Europe and Britain just as World War I began, though this hot spell was later contrasted by a broader, multi-year climate anomaly of heavy rain and cooling.

My parents both vividly remembered the hot Midwestern summer of 1935 more than 50 years later.

Ice Nine said...

I spent many years in Iowa, with its even higher than Europe this summer average temperature numbers. And that includes the pre-AC days. Iowans (and many others) laugh at the temps that are being cited in Europe. We somehow survived the same temps, summer after summer. Most anyone can afford a fan, y'know?

I think all the talk about the supposedly terrible heat wave in Paris and Europe is hysteria pumping by the "climate change" propagandists and their touting of it as something particularly onerous is something that would be scoffed at by millions of people who live in the northern hemisphere. We understand that it was apparently quite unusual for Europe - that is not debated so let's drop that. The point is, in the big picture of the weather that people in the world - northern hemisphere - regularly experience and contend with, it was nothing more than some summer days that end with "Y".

Aggie said...

It's the Creeping Menace story, the old Booga-Booga.

...'As extreme heat overwhelms ...something something... transform themselves for a climate that they were never built to withstand...'

They won't give it a rest, even as the IPCC has given up on its extremes and admitted that there is nothing to fear, and nothing particularly hazardous. And Earth's climate has always been changing, and we should be grateful for the warm spell we are presently blessed with, for the past few tens of thousands of years. Civilization very likely would not have happened with out it.

If the Stupid People in charge hadn't conned themselves into shutting down perfectly safe nuclear power plants in the name of ecological virtue, they would be luxuriating in air conditioning.

It's a choice.

Robert Marshall said...

I've been told that there's been a lot of anti-tourist pushback from the locals, especially in Spain. And along comes 'global warming' to the rescue!

Is there anything global warming can't do?

Achilles said...

People who still complain about "Climate Change" should just get it over with and tattoo "idiot" on their forehead.

Mason G said...

"We somehow survived the same temps, summer after summer."

I lived in Phoenix for seven years. The duplex across the street from me didn't have A/C. Nobody died.

Where I live now, it gets above 100 degrees pretty regularly this time of year. My house didn't have A/C when I bought it, many houses around here don't.

rhhardin said...

Nature abhors a vacation.

Original Mike said...

"I've been told that there's been a lot of anti-tourist pushback from the locals, especially in Spain."

As if that was their biggest problem right now.

bagoh20 said...

What has changed is people and their tolerances, more than the climate. The change in climate is imperceptible in the period we are talking about..

bagoh20 said...

I have noticed that you can look up any subject and approximately 97.6543% of the content will be negative and usually doom obsessed. No wonder we have so many crazy people screaming at the sky. Vacations should be the easiest and most lucrative subject to be positive about, but noooooo!

Lazarus said...

It could be good for the "Global South," or at least the Southern Hemisphere. Then again, for every up there's a down. Enough Europeans are going to Mauritius or the Seychelles already. Any more and I fear the islands will capsize.

P.S. If Ossoff was Hank Johnson's brain, does that make us think better or worse about Ossoff?

Joe Bar said...

We are in Banff right now, and it is much more pleasant than conditions at our. Virginia home. We escape the humidity in late summer every year.

tcrosse said...

Quoth Wkipeida: "In the 1850s, wealthy Southerners traveled to Minnesota by steamboat to escape the intense southern summer heat and seasonal diseases, staying at prominent early establishments like the Winslow House in St. Anthony. After the Civil War, this trend evolved into a broader luxury railway resort culture around scenic lake country."

Joe Bar said...

Everyone knows that we are at the end of the 20,000 year warm period, right? The glacial cycle is 100,000 years, and we are overdue for the return of the ice sheets.

Peachy+2 said...

the sun is bigger and no one is talking about it.

Jack Klompus Astronaut Pen said...

I usually ask that RC guy where the Jews go on vacation and then go there and yell at them for to ruining my life.

Original Mike said...

"In the 1850s, wealthy Southerners traveled to Minnesota by steamboat to escape the intense southern summer heat and seasonal diseases, "

Northern Wisconsin was another refuge. We live our summers in a 100 year old house in Vilas County. The early history of the area is well known; at the turn of the 20th century people of means would take the train from Chicago, St Louis, etc to escape the summer heat.

Iman said...

Gotta watch out for those high 70s!

Clyde said...

You don’t book a summer vacation in Florida, either, at least if you’re smart. We’re a great destination in winter, as well as the pleasant parts of autumn and spring.

Mason G said...

""In the 1850s, wealthy Southerners traveled to Minnesota by steamboat to escape the intense southern summer heat and seasonal diseases..."

So you're saying Global Warming started earlier than has been claimed?

Mason G said...

"The glacial cycle is 100,000 years, and we are overdue for the return of the ice sheets."

So you're saying Global Cooling is coming any day now?

tommyesq said...

Hasn't the NYT and the New Yorker been bombarding us with stories about how overcrowded and miserable mainstream Europe has become? Now it is too hot as well? Seems like they are doing more harm to Europe than the Trump tariffs ever did.

tommyesq said...

"particularly the transition to a low carbon tourism economy"

Wouldn't that really mean "no tourism" if you really believed climate heating was an issue (as this site has frequently pointed out)?

bagoh20 said...

Of course, here in Vegas on the southwest corner of the sun, we are famous for our oppressive heat, and it is damned hot, but it's not long into winter before we start missing it. It doesn't get real cold here, maybe a dusting of snow every half dozen years, but we spend a lot of summer time swimming in lakes and pools, and we really miss the comfortably warm water of summer. Right now, all outdoor water is about 85 deg F, which is perfect.
We've been considering moving to a beach house in Hawaii for perfection. Checked out some beautiful ones there on Zillow. A mere 5-10 million can get you a really beautiful place with your own beach in the backyard. It's not really spending the money, because you can get it back, but in the last few years the prices have skyrocketed for some reason, and that makes it a little scary. I wouldn't consider it unless I had very easy access to the beach, but that adds about 3-4 million or more for a sandy beach. I've wanted to live there ever since I first visited at 25 years old, when a girlfriend won free flights and she took me. We were broke, but we spent a month island hopping, living on the beaches in a tent and running up her credit card. An incredible adventure. I fell in love with the place, and I've been back about 10 times since. I love it all except Honolulu, which I avoid.

Amexpat said...

I work in the tourism business in the Nordic area and I've noticed an uptick in the number of tourists. The larger countries can handle it, but Iceland with a population of 400K, which I just got back from leading a tour, was close to Disneyland madness on the sights near Reykjavik. We did the ring road around the country and things were better when you were a days drive out of Reykjavik. And serious hikers can still find solitude there.

A downside with vacationing in the Nordic area is that few places have airconditioning as it's only needed for a couple of weeks. So when the temp gets in the 80's, which is hot here, hotel rooms can be uncomfortable.

bagoh20 said...

I have A/C and it's set at 81, about 30 deg.below outside.

Original Mike said...

We ran the furnace today. In August! Probably a first.

Assistant Village Idiot said...

My son and daughter-in-law from Tromso are vacationing in Turkey for the next 20 days.

mccullough said...

Europe wasn’t meant to be Muslim either. But there they are.

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