Greece: from mild winters to extremely hot summers – changes in tourist preferences

Climate change leaves no hope for a moderately hot summer – extreme temperatures and, alas, fires are ahead again. How does it affect our country, and is a change in tourist seasons coming?

German media write about an unusually warm winter in Greece, and predict dangers for tourists associated with rising temperatures. It was February outside, for example, and the weather conditions in Athens could be called ideal: cloudless blue skies, spring temperatures of 19-20°C. Residents and visitors to the Greek capital enjoyed the warmest Greek winter ever. However, Frankfurter Rundschau writes:

“The news ahead of summer is not very good. Climate change will continue to be felt during the summer months with rising temperatures that will be much more unpleasant than mild winters.[…] In Greece, rising average temperatures manifest themselves primarily in more frequent and intense heat waves. […] This trend was already evident last summer, when people across much of the country suffered from extreme heat that lasted for weeks. In Athens, July 2023 was the hottest month since weather records were set in 1863.”

Deutsche Welle is no less pessimistic, quotes newsbeast.gr:

“Climate change is likely to be a big challenge for the tourism sector as well. Last July, devastating forest fires broke out in Rhodes and raged for several days. Thousands of tourists had to urgently check out of the hotels where they were staying and return home ahead of schedule.”

The Frankfurt newspaper states: “These developments, of course, did not stop Greece from setting a new record last year, welcoming 32.7 million visitors from abroad, generating revenue of 20.45 billion euros. And this year, bookings suggest there will be a further increase of around 10%. So far, the business model for beach holidays appears to still be paying off. However, travel industry strategists are preparing for the fact that in the long term, more visitors will choose to travel during the milder autumn and spring months. This change has already been evident in recent months : In November, the number of tourists showed an increase of 13% compared to the previous year, and in December the corresponding increase reached 32%.”

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