Extreme heat poses ‘real risk’ to Spain’s mass tourism industry
Public health adviser says higher temperatures caused by climate crisis pose danger for visitors not used to them
The climate emergency poses a "real risk" to Spain's traditional mass tourist model as rising temperatures and more frequent heatwaves hit the country's most popular coastal destinations, a senior public health adviser has warned.
Héctor Tejero, the head of health and climate change at Spain's health ministry, said the increasingly apparent physical impacts of the climate emergency had already led the ministry to begin talks with the British embassy on how best to educate "vulnerable" tourists about coping with the heat.
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A Spanish government report published eight years ago predicted that a changing climate could dramatically alter Spain's tourist industry, eroding beaches, flooding transport systems, causing water shortages at the height of the season and forcing ski resorts to close down. The report forecast that, by 2080, tourism from northern Europe could fall by 20% from its 2004 level as rising temperatures induced people to holiday at home.
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The risks have been made clear in other parts of southern Europe grappling with extreme heat. In June, several foreign tourists, including the British television presenter Michael Mosley, died during a period of unseasonably high temperatures in Greece.
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