For decades, the prospect of walking winding, thyme-scented trails in sunny mediterranean islands it attracted Britons and others from Europe’s frozen north.
But rising temperatures caused by global warming mean ranges of of Southern Europe are effectively staying off limits for walkers in the hottest summer monthsExperts say.
The dangers posed by extreme temperatures were vividly illustrated this month with the deaths of several hikers, most of them in Greece.
Age appeared to be a significant factor – most were in their sixties and seventies.
Many adventure travel companies They no longer offer hiking holidays in Spain, Portugal and Greece in July and August due to the danger that high temperatures pose, especially for the elderly.
Travel companies are having to adapt to rapidly changing weather conditions, offering more trips in spring and autumn and moving towards cooler destinations in the north. like Scotland It is Scandinavia.
“We have made some significant changes to our hiking offerings in Southern Europe. We no longer offer hikes in July and August in Portugal, Spain and Greece.
“This has happened in recent years and is linked to rising temperatures. The heat posed a danger,” said Hazel McGuire, general manager for Europe at Intrepid Travel.
“Scientific studies consistently show that adults over age 65, people with cardiopulmonary and other chronic illnesses, and very young children are particularly vulnerable to the effects of heat”, The Lancet, a British medical journalnoted in a recent report.
Michael Mosley
The case with the greatest repercussion was that of Michael Mosley, the 67-year-old British doctor and health journalist who was known to millions of viewers for his documentaries.
He died after walking alone on the Aegean island of Symi, in temperatures reaching 38ºC (100ºF) – and his death was just one of many.
On Friday, a 70-year-old British man was found dead in the Spanish Pyrenees, four days after starting a hike.
A 74-year-old Dutch hiker was found dead on the island of Samos and earlier this week a 67-year-old German hiker died while hiking near the Tripiti gorge on Crete’s rugged south coast. He contacted his wife to say he was lost and without water.
A 55-year-old American tourist died on the small island of Mathraki, near Corfu. Another American, Albert Calibet, a 59-year-old retired police officer, disappeared while hiking on the island of Amorgos in the Aegean Sea and has not yet been found.
Calibet set off along a well-marked path from the north of the island to a small port called Katapola. He knew the island well and was an experienced hiker, making his disappearance a mystery.
“He may have chosen a more difficult path and perhaps overestimated his capabilities. The heat has been intense,” said Calliope Despotidi, deputy mayor of Amorgos.
Constantina Dimoglidou, a spokeswoman for the Greek police, said hikers running into trouble is nothing new – it happens every year. “But this year it seems like more people became disoriented during the heat wave.”
Athens exceeds 43°C
Greece experienced its first heatwave on record last week, forcing the closure of the Acropolis and some schools as the temperature rose to 43°C (109°F) in Athens. This month is on track to be the hottest June ever recorded in Greece.
Hiking in places like Greece in the warmer months is simply no longer advisable, experts warn.
Intrepid Travel, which offers tours to destinations around the world from Europe to Africa and the Himalayas, recorded 121 more weather-related incidents affecting its customers last year than in 2022, including extreme heat, floods and fires. forestry.
“Climate change is having a significant impact on itineraries. We are seeing a trend towards Scandinavia and colder climates further north in Europe,” McGuire said.
Half season
Intrepid recorded a 61 percent increase last year in “low season” bookings – the period between peak and off-peak – in Western Europe and a 29 percent increase in Southern Europe.
The company has added more vacation packages during this period to destinations such as Italy, Spain, France and Portugal so customers can enjoy the cooler weather.
“Customers want to travel more in the spring and fall and part of that is related to the heat,” McGuire said.
Scorching heat is becoming an increasing problem in Europe because temperatures on the continent are rising at about twice the global average rate, according to the World Meteorological Organization and the EU climate agency Copernicus.
In Europe, deaths associated with hot weather have increased by a third in the last 20 years.
Greece has created a heat-related health alert system called Heat-Alarm. When launching it last year, scientists stated that “the eastern Mediterranean faces an increasing occurrence of intense and long-lasting heat waves. Future climate projections indicate that such extremes will be the norm for Eastern Mediterranean countries throughout the 21st century.”
Most susceptible elderly
Older people store more heat in their bodies than younger people and, as a result, are more susceptible to heat exhaustion and heatstrokesaid Christos Giannaros, one of the scientists leading the project.
Travel patterns in Europe are changing drastically, said Ginny Lunn, owner of hiking travel company WalkingWomen.
“Our busiest time now is April, before it gets too hot in places like Greece and southern Spain, and then late September, October and November. Now we’re going to southern Spain in December – you’ll still have wonderful blue skies.
“In the summer we go north to Norway, which has become very, very popular, and Scotland. These are now our biggest destinations for summer walks. The heat is coming early. You just need to rethink how you plan your vacation.”
The majority of WalkingWomen’s customers are over 50 and need to be particularly aware of the dangers posed by heat.
“We advise customers to carry two liters of water with them, wear a hat and choose shady water routes if possible. We use highly experienced local guides so they can adapt to changing weather conditions,” said Lunn.
School holidays
While empty nesters and retirees may avoid July and August and instead opt to go on vacation in the Spring or Autumn, families with school-age children are tied to the school holidays.
For them, the advice is to change destination – avoid the most torrid areas of southern Europe in high summer and opt for cooler places. Last year, a study by InsureandGo, a travel insurance company, found that 71% of Brits believe Mediterranean holiday destinations such as Spain, Greece, Cyprus and Turkey will be too hot to visit in the next five years.
“We always try to encourage our customers to go out of season, but the weather has put more emphasis on this. Why go to Lisbon in August when you will suffer from the heat?” said Justin Wateridge, managing director of Steppes Travel, a company that organizes luxury holidays around the world, from snow leopard spotting in India to tracking wolves in Italy’s Apennine Mountains.
‘It’s a matter of being experienced’
“If a client calls and says they want to scale Mount Toubkal[thehighestpeakinMorocco[opicomaisaltodeMarrocos[thehighestpeakinMorocco]in July, we suggest you go at a different time of day with less heat. Local vendors are definitely offering more availability during secondary seasons like spring and fall. It’s a matter of having knowledge about the destinations.”
A report released by the EU last year on the impact of climate change on tourism concluded that “northern European coastal regions are expected to see a substantial increase in demand during the summer and early autumn months, while…southern coastal regions will heavily lose summer tourist flows.
“Tourist demand is projected to increase in the spring and fall seasons.”
Avoiding the increasingly unbearable heat of southern Europe in high summer is not just a safety issue. “Hiking when it’s 40 degrees is not much fun,” McGuire said. “We have to pay attention to people having fun.”
