The summer of 2023 has been hard on the Greek island of Rhodes. The reason for this was the devastating forest fire season, which surprised holidaymakers and locals alike with its intensity in midsummer – and caused chaos. And it wasn’t just Greece that burned last summer; Portugal, Spain and Italy were also affected by forest fires. This year in many holiday destinations the motto is: New Year, new luck. But forest fires are almost a part of summer due to the increasing heat periods in southern European holiday destinations.
While locals have now found solutions and ways to deal with the danger, holidaymakers still find it difficult to come to terms with the threat of forest fires at their travel destination. This is also shown by a current study by the comparison portal “HolidayCheck”. According to this, 80 percent of travelers make sure that the risk of extreme weather and natural disasters at their destination is as low as possible when booking their vacation. More than half of those surveyed also specifically avoid regions where forest fires recently occurred or only travel there in the off-season.
Forest fires as extensive as last summer on Rhodes or Corfu are still an isolated case, but heat waves in southern Europe are not. The company A3M from Hamburg is an early warning crisis expert and works with well-known tour operators in Germany. It has determined where heat waves occurred in July and August 2023 and illustrates this in a clear map. As can be seen, heat periods occurred in all regions around the Mediterranean.
Knowing this can be a first aid. But the experts at HolidayCheck have even more tips for a holiday without worrying about the next big forest fire on your doorstep.
