How Europe's record heat is rewriting the summer holiday

When people talk about Europe's hotspots, they're not usually referring to the weather. But this year, the continent's summer heatwave is making news for all the wrong reasons. Devastating wildfires in Spain and France have left a trail of destruction. In the UK, there have been hundreds of deaths because of high temperatures. In other parts of Europe, the strain on water resources is affecting sectors like hydroelectricity and agriculture.

The travel industry has also been affected by the heatwave in various ways. At the very least, it's making it more uncomfortable to visit parts of Europe at the moment. I felt that last week in London as I sweated my way through some of the city's parks, now all covered in dry brown grass. But it's also having tangible effects, such as river cruises being forced to change itineraries because of low water levels. Only days ago, about 180 people were rescued from a Viking ship that ran aground on the Danube in Bulgaria.

It's clear we've hit a point where travellers and tourism operators can't dismiss these natural disasters and extreme weather events as freak occurrences. Beyond the awful consequences for locals, climate change is also having a longer-term impact on the way we explore the world.

There's been a trend in recent years for shoulder season travel, particularly in Europe. This was originally to avoid the crowds and high prices of July and August, traditionally the most popular months because of the good weather. But as that weather worsens and becomes a deterrent, the shoulder season is actually becoming more popular as a refuge from the heat.

In Booking.com's 2026 Travel & Sustainability Report, about three-quarters of people surveyed say they consider extreme weather before choosing the destination and timing of a trip. About 31 per cent have even cancelled a trip before it started because of climate-related risks.

That same report shows that many travellers are instead embracing "coolcations" in Europe, a growing trend to go somewhere away from the heat during those summer months. There's been a large growth in visitor numbers to countries like Ireland, Lithuania, Norway and Finland, where avoiding overtourism can be a bonus.

But while official figures from the European Travel Commission support the coolcation trend, they also show that the Mediterranean destinations are still much more popular. About 60 per cent of European travellers say countries like Italy, Spain and Croatia are their top choices for spring and summer holidays. Just look at your social media feed this week and you'll likely spot someone you know sunning it up on a Greek island or sipping a spritz in Florence.

With that in mind, I asked Southern Cross Travel Insurance what it's seeing with its customers in Europe. It told me there have been 110 climate-related claims by Australian tourists between 2023 and today, with a total of $125,075 paid out. About 63 per cent were related to storms (including wind and rain), 18 per cent related to flooding, and 10 per cent related to heavy snow (including avalanches).

"Our claims data shows that cyclones, floods, fires and storms can lead to cancelled trips, unexpected accommodation and transport costs, and substantial financial losses," SCTI chief customer officer Jess Strange says.

The highest number of claims were from trips to the UK, followed by Greece, Italy, Spain, and France. Yet only eight claims were directly related to heat and only two because of wildfires. So far, there have been no claims related to this year's European wildfires. You have to wonder whether those numbers will rise in coming years as extreme weather gets even worse. (Perhaps insurance premiums will also rise, or maybe companies will just stop covering weather altogether!)

Meanwhile, as climate changes travel, so too does travel change climate. Tourism is estimated to cause about 8 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, so there's an imperative for the industry to both respond to weather events and try to reduce them.

In the short term, we're seeing initiatives like the Acropolis in Athens closing for several hours in the afternoon on extreme heat days; the Colosseum in Rome has started evening tours up to 10pm or even midnight to escape the blazing sun; the Italian archaeological site of Pompeii now provides maps showing how you can stay in the shade; and the Austrian capital of Vienna bans cars on some streets during heatwaves and uses that space for shade sails, seats and water fountains.

In the medium term, many European ski resorts realise that snow coverage will decrease over time, so they're investing in infrastructure like mountain bike trails and high-altitude golf courses. Coastal areas are seeing more inclusive resorts being developed, with shaded pool areas becoming more popular than sunny beaches.

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And as we look even further ahead towards ways to reduce the severity of climate change, there are airlines and cruise lines trying to move to more sustainable fuel, campaigns to get people onto trains instead of planes, and hotels being built with natural heating and cooling.

Who knows what will work or what the future holds, but the warning signs right now are not positive. Maybe some destinations will simply become unvisitable in their current forms - who wants to go to Majorca if it's a desert? And maybe there'll be new unexpected destinations that emerge - a beach holiday in Denmark, let's say?

What we do need to realise is that climate-related events like the European heatwaves are already changing the traditional summer holiday. I was sad last week to see the brown grass of London's once-lush parks, but at least I know it'll be green again one day. Hopefully the tourism industry will also be green one day. In the meantime, we should prepare ourselves for even more change.