After a summer of wildfires and scorching temperatures in some of the continent’s most popular tourism destinations, the when and where consumers choose to travel may begin to change as the climate crisis intensifies – but how does the travel industry adapt?

“It’s an interesting discussion and something we as an industry need to ask ourselves,” says Advantage Travel Partnership chief executive Julia Lo Bue-Said, revealing new research on the topic commissioned by the consortium.

According to a new survey, the extreme hot weather across Europe this summer has made younger consumers likely to consider the timing and destinations of their holidays.

A OnePoll study of 2,000 British adults commissioned by Advantage last month found 70% of people aged between 18 and 24 are “somewhat or very likely” to change the time of year they travel, as a result of changing weather patterns – compared to just 25% of those over the age of 64.

Nearly two-thirds (62%) of the younger demographic of customers are also likely to change their holiday destination as a result of the impact of the warmer climate in certain countries – significantly more than those aged over 55.

Younger clients living in the east of England, Northern Ireland and London are the demographic most likely to make changes to their travel plans due to climate change.

“The poll revealed some interesting findings, and we now need to deep-dive into that and really understand what that means. The big topic of conversation in the industry is – who’s going to pay for that? [change in travelling habit],” says Lo Bue-Said.

“It comes at a cost. Will the consumer pay extra to travel at a different time of year? Will they pay extra to travel to different destinations?"

Despite the consumer sentiment, Lo Bue-Said believes the tangible figures to show a definite shift in booking behaviour aren’t appearing quite yet.

“It’s far too early to say if we will see a major shift in when and where Brits take their summer holidays, but it’s interesting to see from the poll that the impact of the adverse weather conditions across Europe this summer has made an impact on the younger generation.

"We’ve not seen hard booking data evidence right now that demonstrates that [behavioural change]. When you ask consumers what they feel, that’s one aspect, but hard, cold, data doesn’t show a change."

What’s government’s role in this?

Lo Bue-Said said Advantage had asked the question in its survey to help its members “start to prepare” for future trends and think about what services and products they can offer in order “to stay relevant”.

After Tui Group chief Sebastian Ebel’s recent comments on how the summer’s weather could reshape the peak travel season, Lo Bue-Said is calling for the industry to think about the bigger picture and how such a potential shift in when travellers go away would impact certain customers and could bring the sector into conflict with government.

“If you’re a family for example, and you don’t really have a choice but to go away when you can [school summer holidays], what could you do? What could the government do to help?" 

Currently, most schools in England and Wales finish for summer towards the end of July, while Scotland has an early summer break, so students return around the middle of August. Could this be changed and might such flexibility be needed to allow consumers their much-needed getaway while avoiding the scorching peak summer weeks?

“What are those conversations we could be having to say, if this is something that we’re all serious about and people do want to travel at different times of the year – and that’s the right approach to take from a sustainability aspect – what’s government’s role in this?

"Without wanting to cause any more disruption to the education system, what response should the government have if we’re looking to change the time of year we’re travelling?”