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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.

Guardian, Sam Jones in Madrid, Sat 27 Jul 2024 

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……………………………………………………………………………………………

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.

Tejero noted that recent epidemiological studies had shown that approximately 3,000 deaths are attributable to the heat each year in Spain, and that hot spells cause a 10% rise in urgent hospital admissions. He also said higher temperatures would also lead to an increase in vector-borne diseases, pointing out that a man was admitted to hospital in Madrid this week with Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, an emerging disease spread by ticks.  https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/27/extreme-heat-poses-real-risk-to-spains-mass-tourism-industry

July 31, 2024 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | climate change