Climate crisis 'an opportunity for agents to show their worth'

Mediterranean destinations were placed on high alert last week as wildfires continued to rage across several countries in the southern Europe, with some of the UK’s major tour operators opting to cancel holidays to Rhodes – which was hit the most severely – as blazes continued to spread.

Yet according to chief executive of the Advantage Travel Partnership Julia Lo Bue-Said, citing feedback from members, the recent warm weather hasn’t yet resulted in clients switching their focus to cooler destinations.

The Travel Network Group group marketing director Ross East, meanwhile, told TTG he believed consumers were taking longer to commit to bookings due to national media coverage of the situation in the Med, adding they weren’t proactively raising climate change as an issue when speaking to members.

But frontline travel agents have told TTG they’ve seen clients’ behaviour shift as they become more aware of climate issues. This trend, they think, is being exacerbated by recent events such as the heatwave and wildfires in southern Europe, with some agents stating these weather events could shape the future of peak summer booking trends.

Wake-up call

"Every summer we see wildfires – but it’s not just about the heat; there’s flash flooding, rising sea levels – it’s an existential threat," said Karen Simmonds, chief executive and founder of Balham’s Travel Matters.

Simmonds predicted consumers will begin to choose different holiday destinations during the summer as the ever-increasing temperatures in the Mediterranean make trips abroad "too uncomfortable".