Indoor summer vacations? Hiking in the winter? The end of your favorite beach? Trip cancelation insurance costing as much as the trip? Climate change is here. We just had the hottest day the planet has ever experienced since records began (and we’ll probably break that every year from now until the end of your life). This is transforming how, where, and when people go on vacation. Let’s explore climate change effects on vacations with five impacts we’re already seeing in the world.
1. Climate change will eat your favorite beach.
If it isn’t coating the beach in stinky seaweed (see: Planning your Cancun vacation around the sargassum invasion) it might just be destroying the beach completely (see: Beach Towns Without Beaches: Palomino Colombia Previews Our Future). Unpredictable weather and scorching heatwaves in former beach destinations will shift beach resorts northward, which will be bad news for towns that previously relied on the seasonal influx of tourist dollars.
2. We'll vacation in cool places.
Not “cool” as in: “Using reusable grocery bags is cool”, but “cool” as in: “Let’s vacation in the cool mountains because it’s too hot down here by the coast.” Vacations have long been associated with sun and sand but as beach destinations become less desirable, we’ll see the popularity of non-beach destinations increase, such as mountains, forests, and even indoor, air-conditioned events (ewwwwww). These destinations may offer cooler temperatures, more diverse activities, and a sense of escape from the heat.
This is not a future, hypothetical scenario. Texas is experiencing a heatwave this week with wet-bulb temperatures beyond the safe limit for humans to be outside, shade or not. No summer camp. No playing in the backyard. No relaxing by the beach. This prompted the BBC to ask: Will Texas become too hot for humans?
This photo was taken in winter at Humantay Lake, near Cusco, Peru. My guide commented on how many of the glaciers in the area had disappeared since he was a kid. As glaciers recede further, it’ll become a special adventure to see one in person. The glaciers in this picture, over their sacred lake, will never again be as extensive as they are in this picture.
3. Climate change will shift when we go on vacation.
Traditional summer and winter vacation seasons may become less popular as temperatures become too hot in many parts of the world. The former off-seasons will become more popular.
This is not only true because of how summers are getting too hot and unpredictable. For people that could afford a winter ski vacation, that’ll become a thing of the past, or at least expensively unpredictable. The European Alps are on track to lose 80% of their glacier cover, under best-case scenarios, by 2100. The glaciers are key to the process that brings snow down on the slopes. Already, resorts are being forced to close in the winter, as this Bloomberg article from Jan, 2023 highlights: Record Winter Heatwave Forces Snowless Alpine Ski Resorts to Close Slopes
A 2018 report published in Nature expected the US alone to lose out on $2 billion in winter recreation revenues annually: Climate damages and adaptation potential across diverse sectors of the United States
4. Travel costs will increase.
Climate change will drive vacation costs in several ways: more expensive fuel, the need for infrastructure to cope with extreme weather events, insurance premiums to cover all of the cancelled trips from whacky weather, rising food costs (because farms don’t run well under whacky weather), pandemic costs (we’re not done with those), and who knows what else.
When Australians were able to travel again after the COVID pandemic, insurance premiums jumped 50% on average, and 59% for seniors.
The heavy 2017 hurricane season in the Caribbean not only prevented resorts from welcoming many tourists, but bumped up their insurance premiums by 40% on average: “Climate Change Won’t Kill Tourism, But the Industry Is in for a Painful Reckoning“
The ecolodge, Cannúa, near Medellin, Colombia, is an excellent example of a hotel that’s actually sustainable. Designed with permaculture principles, you can look out your window in the morning to see your lunch being picked in the surrounding gardens.
5. Demand for sustainable tourism will increase.
A glimmer of hope here: As people become more aware of climate change, and what we’re losing, there will be an increase in the demand for sustainable tourism and conservation tourism. Hopefully tourists will be more likely to choose destinations that are committed to reducing their environmental impact. The key with this will be real impact rather than a lot of the greenwashing that’s already happening with random sustainability certifications popping up all over travel sites.
The demand is there. Booking.com reported that 87% of respondents in a survey they conducted said they want to travel sustainably. But if that desire is going into imaginary carbon offsets, then it might not be so helpful: “Guardian: More than 90% of rainforest carbon offsets by biggest certifier are worthless, analysis shows“
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