While popular Mediterranean destinations such as Spain, Italy, Greece and Turkey attract vacationers in the summer months, the record-breaking temperatures are also increasing interest in northern regions with milder climates. Emphasizing that there has been a significant increase in bookings for alternative destinations such as Norway, Rebecca Masri, founder of hotel booking app Little Emperors, said:
''I think because Europe is so hot, people are looking for cooler places and this has given the Nordic countries a really great opportunity to stand out as summer destinations. Popular destinations like Sardinia and Greece have seen less interest than usual due to the increased temperatures. Because our customers are younger, they usually have younger children and people don't want to travel with a small baby to a place where it's 48 degrees. It's not pleasant and because of the cancellation policies they can't back out of these bookings.''
As a result, many vacationers are booking to colder destinations, which has led to increased interest in the Nordic countries, Masri said:
''Norway, Copenhagen and the fjords have taken the majority of our summer bookings, which has been really interesting for us. We have never booked these destinations in the summer period. Yes, we definitely accept that there is a change due to the climate change we are experiencing. Also, destinations that are traditionally associated with winter getaways, like the alps, have also seen more interest than expected during the summer period. There is no more snow at Christmas, so we are booking more and more summer bookings in Courchevel and Gstaad. These destinations stand out in our bookings during the summer months instead of the Christmas season...''
Speaking at Virtuoso Travel Week, Jamsheed Pocha, co-founder of The Pelican, a Canadian company specializing in luxury travel, said that many North Americans traditionally book summer trips to European countries that are not as popular as Italy, France and Greece, such as Switzerland, Austria and Germany, where summer heat is less of a factor.
Sharyn Kitchener, managing director of the Australian Mosman Travel agency, said that this year's extreme heat will affect vacationers' future travel plans to Europe and Mediterranean countries. ''I think in the future people will think about this year's weather and maybe think differently about where to go or what time of year to travel to Europe,'' she said.
While it is a common opinion in the tourism sector that the extreme heat will change the way people travel, Paul Tumpowsky, founder and CEO of the New York-based travel agency Skylark, who stated that many hotels in Southern Italy are highly booked for September and October, said, "I think people are shifting their summer vacation to mid-October. Many hotels that normally close in early October now close in the middle or end of the fall.
