Climate Change Has Begun To Warp The Travel Calendar

There is arguably no catastrophe that the world has collectively faced as severe as the effects of global warming, besides the threat of nuclear war.

- RAHUL JACOB

Amid floods in the Himalayas and forest fires in California and Spain, and the attendant droughts and displacement of people, it is hard to find any good news. This summer, the distressing headlines of flash floods and inclement weather in and around Himalayan destinations have been like a chronicle foretold of the worst of climate change. But last week, a survey of 6,000 travellers by the European Travel Commission found that 75% of those surveyed said climate change had made them alter the way they travel. The silver lining is that it might yet lead to less congested airports and roads—and happier holidays. It could conceivably reduce the hostility towards tourists overwhelming cities such as Barcelona and Venice.

Among the changes people are making in Europe is to travel in autumn all the way till November to places like Greece and Crete. Others are opting for what travel companies are inelegantly marketing as "coolcations" in places such as Norway. American travellers' visits to Norway are up by more than a third in the past year over the previous one.