Extreme heat in south Europe will be good for Dutch tourism: TUI

The increasingly extreme temperatures in the south of Europe will probably be good for tourism in the northern countries like the Netherlands, according to Sebastian Ebel, CEO of tour operator TUI. He expects that some summer vacationers of the future will likely opt to avoid extreme heat and forest fires and choose cooler destinations or travel in spring and autumn, AD reports.

Ebel expects the Scandinavian countries, Belgium, and the Netherlands to become more popular among tourists due to the heat in southern Europe. “We will focus more on those new destinations,” he said.

According to Ebel, the high temperatures are already having an effect, with bookings for the autumn months rising sharply. Though he doesn’t think it is an immediate threat to tourism in the Mediterranean. The traditional summer holidays to the south in July and August will remain popular.

Southern Europe has seen unprecedented heat these past two summers, and meteorologists don’t expect that to change. They predict increasingly longer and increasingly intense periods of high temperatures for the region.

At the end of July, travel agencies evacuated thousands of travelers from the Greek island of Rhodes due to intense forest fires. The evacuation cost TUI 25 million euros.

Despite this, the company expects that its results this summer will be almost back to pre-pandemic levels. According to TUI, bookings are currently at about 95 percent of the level before the coronavirus outbreak, while holiday prices increased by around 7 percent.