Tourism’s
hot topic

Prepping clients 

Every trip starts with planning, and the impacts of climate change are now part of those conversations. 

Many travel advisors now counsel clients about when and where to travel or how to deal with fiery temperatures if they choose to go away in the summer.

“It really falls on the agencies and the advisors to let people know, ‘Hey, it’s going to be hotter than — let’s not swear — it’s going to be really hot over there, and you’re going to see 90-plus temperatures,’” said Angela Hughes, CEO and founder of Trips & Ships Luxury Travel in Winter Garden, Fla. “Those are warnings that we didn’t have to give people five years ago.”

Like other advisors, Hughes suggests clients travel to Europe in May or September to avoid the heat. For clients who do travel in the summer, it’s imperative that advisors ensure their hotels have air conditioning, she said. Hughes also encourages the use of private drivers in place of hotter transportation methods, like London’s Underground, where temperatures can soar.

Duncan Greenfield-Turk, CEO of the U.K.-based Global Travel Moments, said  more clients are shifting to the shoulder seasons, enabled by hotels and attractions in destinations that were traditionally summer-focused that have extended their seasons, opening earlier and closing later than they had in the past.

But for those who do travel in the summer, he strongly encourages them to be prepared, counseling them on what to wear and to carry water and keep electrolytes handy. Greenfield-Turk has also found that operators on the ground are becoming increasingly flexible, with some opting to cancel and reschedule day tours on the hottest days.

Tour operators adapt

Perhaps the way climate change most affects tour operations is in the unpredictability of weather patterns. It has forced operators to develop a plan B, and even a plan C, said Court Whelan, chief sustainability officer at Natural Habitat Adventures. 

“It’s the randomness,” he said. “The winter can be really cold or really warm. It can be really warm this week and cold next week. … We’re seeing that things aren’t as predictable as they once were.”

This means that Natural Habitat has to be ready to change plans with little notice, from securing an additional plane to accommodating guests impacted by weather events to having to change locations to observe wildlife or natural wonders, such as the northern lights. 

G Adventures has ingrained flexibility into its company philosophy, enabling its tour leaders to modify plans for the weather: think changing the itinerary to a morning or sunset hike to avoid stifling heat, said Emma Herrick, a U.S. global purpose specialist for the operator. 

“There’s been flooding in Peru, and some of our Inca Trail plans have gone wonky, and so that’s a moment where our local team is immediately on the ground thinking about how we are going to do this differently,” she said, adding that the operator might decide to change from a trek to a train or shift the days they hike.

In Africa, changes in the climate result in shifting animal behavior that can make wildlife viewing less predictable.

Kennedy Kaaya, co-founder and director of King’s Signature Safaris in Tanzania, said dry-season droughts lead to fewer watering holes for animals, making those animals harder to find. And it causes an overcrowding of tourists at remaining water sources. 

Heavy flooding also caused King’s to drop Lake Manyara National Park from its itineraries, when the open grassland habitat became submerged. Instead, the safari specialist now visits Tarangire, Ngorongoro and Serengeti.

“We’re seeing climate change impact wildlife behavior, the infrastructure and ultimately the tourist experience itself in Tanzania’s northern circuit,” Kaaya said. “For tourists, sightings are less predictable. This is true even for safari guides that have deeply studied animal behavior for decades.”

The impact on river cruising

Tauck, which offers both land tours and river cruises, has adjusted its Europe itineraries and products in response to the sweltering heat. For example, in the summer, the operator brings guests to see the Charles Bridge in Prague at sunrise when it’s cooler. 

Tauck has expanded its core river cruise season to run from April to October and designed its new Douro River ship to feature a pool, shaded sundeck and window glazing to keep the sun’s rays out, said CEO Jennifer Tombaugh. 

River cruising has been particularly affected this year by the heat-induced droughts causing dry spots for weeks along the Rhine and Danube, leading to canceled sailings and a Viking ship running aground on the Danube.

September has traditionally been a fairly safe month for river cruising, but this year, low water levels continued to plague the industry even as fall approached. 

For advisors like Sandra Ortiz, of SO Luxury Travel in Houston, who never recommends summer river cruises in case of water level-related interruptions,  that meant that many of the 17 couples she booked on September river cruises had their itineraries affected.

She canceled her own planned river cruise to stay home and better coordinate those clients. Some opted to go ahead with their trip as planned and roll with any potential changes, others rescheduled their sailing and still others canceled outright. 

Her clients are now looking to travel in April, May and October.

Expedition cruises adjust

Expedition cruise lines say they increasingly have to adjust plans midsailing as the ice and weather conditions in the Arctic and Antarctica grow more varied due to climate change. Shipboard teams can shift landing timing and locations depending on weather, an ability they rely on more and more.

“Our aim is to make the most of the environment as we find it on the day,” said Ulyana Horodyskyj, an expedition team member with Aurora Expeditions. “That sense of discovery and responding to nature, rather than following a completely fixed itinerary, is a fundamental part of the polar expedition experience.”

In Antarctica, sea ice is disappearing, she said, and ice that is unstable or moving can make some locations difficult to reach. 

Other obstacles related to more variable weather include stronger winds, bigger swells and more fog, said HX Expeditions senior vice president of maritime operations Claus Andersen. 

More frequently changing weather conditions mean the Antarctica cruise experience will look “increasingly different over the longer term,” said Horodyskyj, who is a glaciologist.

“While no single storm or canceled landing should automatically be attributed to climate change, the larger picture is clear: Antarctica is losing land ice, its surrounding ocean is warming and its ecosystems are responding,” she said. “Expedition travel is now taking place within an environment that is undergoing rapid and measurable change.”

That change is apparent for G Adventures’ Emma Herrick, who said expert guides on an Antarctica trip explained to guests that climate change is forcing krill, the itty bitty, shrimp-like crustaceans that play a fundamental role in the ocean’s food chain, to move in search of colder water as the oceans warm. This leads animals who eat krill to move, as well, making sightings less dependable, Herrick said.

Coolcation demand

As heat waves grow more frequent and intense across Europe, some hotels in cooler climates are seeing a summer business boost, with guests booking longer stays and pursuing more active itineraries than in years past.

At the Alpina Gstaad in Switzerland, commercial strategy consultant Mariano Tribelhorn said summer used to be a secondary season for the property but in recent years has become a bigger part of the business.

“Summer has become a strategic season for us,” he said. “We currently have the highest summer ADR in Switzerland.” 

Tribelhorn said the Alpina Gstaad’s entry-level rates in July have climbed from around $1,200 five years ago to $3,000 now.  The hotel, which opens from early June through mid-September, currently has one of the longest summer operating seasons among five-star seasonal properties in the resort town.

The Hotel Nesslerhof in Austria has similarly adapted to accommodate a surge in summertime demand. Tina Neudegger, co-owner and host of the Hotel Nesslerhof, said the property has responded by broadening its summer offerings, adding a stronger focus on activities like yoga, Pilates, guided hiking, biking, swimming and spa and sauna time.

“As more guests look to the mountains as an alternative to hotter, more traditional summer destinations, summer is becoming an increasingly important season for Hotel Nesslerhof and its international guest base,” said Neudegger. “Demand for cooler, active and restorative Alpine holidays has grown.” 

But it’s not just hotels in rural mountain destinations that are looking to attract “coolcation” guests.

In Denmark, the Admiral Hotel Copenhagen is betting that as more travelers look to swap out sweltering summer destinations for milder ones, they’ll still want the amenities of a warm-weather getaway. Earlier this year, the property debuted a new outdoor pool, which Jesper Stubgaard, the property’s managing director, called “a relatively rare amenity in Copenhagen.”

“As travelers increasingly seek destinations that offer a comfortable summer climate alongside rich cultural experiences, Copenhagen continues to appeal,” he said, adding that “the addition of the pool enhances that appeal.”

Airline adaptation

The aviation industry is adapting to the increased frequency with which excessive heat impacts flight operations.

Airlines sometimes face lift-off problems when operating in high heat due to the low density of the air. Lifting off on especially hot days requires faster speeds, less weight or a combination of both. 

Such issues are most frequent in places like the Middle East and the desert Southwest in the U.S. as well in high-altitude, hot summer climates like Denver, since air density also decreases with altitude.

When lift problems are anticipated, airlines must either reduce passenger or cargo loads or switch to smaller aircraft that can more easily get airborne.  

Koen Karsbergen, co-founder and principal consultant of Mexico-based Air52 Aviation Consultants, said that airline network planners are giving more consideration to lift constraints than they used to. 

“This is becoming higher on the radar than it was six or seven years ago, and the problem is definitely becoming more clear,” he said.

In the Middle East, airlines are increasingly scheduling more ultralong-haul flights in the cooler early morning or night hours, Karsbergen said. 

Network planning teams are also giving more frequent consideration to heat as they schedule aircraft on sensitive routes. Karsbergen cited Embraer E175 regional jets operating out of Miami as an example. If flight times approach three hours, bags or passenger counts sometimes must be reduced.