"Travel is already being blighted by extreme weather,” says Alex Hawkins, strategic foresight editor at The Future Laboratory. “By 2033, the map could be completely redrawn. We’ll have to broaden our horizons and get more creative about where, when and how we explore.” Europe saw heatwaves hit a hot and humid 40 degrees last summer, barely dipping in the evenings. Right now, northern Ethiopia is facing severe drought, while in the south, just above the Equator, and in Kenya and Somalia, there are devastating floods. In the Alps, last winter’s ski season was a largely slushy affair.
Higher temperatures are already affecting the decision-making of almost 70 per cent of travellers who say they are now reconsidering where they would traditionally go, according to a recent report by Marriott Bonvoy with The Future Laboratory. Having analysed the travel plans of 14,000 travellers across the continent and the Middle East, for the coming three years, a quarter of us are already planning to travel at different times of year with almost a third considering cooler destinations to swerve the extremes. Hawkins suggests destinations such as Scandinavia, Scotland and even upper parts of Canada are on the cards as more appealing. “Agriculture, and especially winemaking, is already following that trajectory — so travel isn’t far behind.”
