Extreme weather events are now the #1 concern of 14% of European travelers
As 2024 summer holiday planning season looms, the European Travel Commission - as well as tour operators and hoteliers - is concerned that the heat waves and wildfires that have plagued southern European destinations in 2023 could result in a shift to cooler destinations this year.
The Financial Times reports that price/earnings ratios of major tour operators continue to lag behind 2019 levels.
For the first time in 2023, cooler destinations like Iceland and the Nordics were among the fastest-growing countries in terms of year-over-year arrival numbers.
% Change in 2023 Arrivals vs. 2019:
- Albania 53%
- Andorra 31%
- Liechtenstein 16%
- Iceland 15%
- Serbia 15%
- Portugal 11%
- Montenegro 10%
- Denmark 8%
- Malta 8%
- Turkey 7%
But cooler destinations have far lower hotel capacity vs., e.g., Italy, which has about 1.1M rooms available.
Hotel capacities of cooler destinations:
- Sweden 300K rooms
- Norway 200K
- Belgium 200K
- Ireland 150K
- Finland 100K
- Denmark 70K
As of 2024 there's not yet enough more demand for cool-weather destinations to justify significant investment in hotel expansion. Many services won't be available in shoulder seasons. And the higher costs of trips to these countries is a further deterrent to a massive shift in travel plans.
But if extreme summer hot weather conditions continue in Europe, the trend toward cooler destinations could pick up momentum.
Stay tuned.
