Southern Europe is a popular tourism hub that in recent years has also become a climate change "hotspot," experiencing a warming rate 20% higher than the global average alongside frequent and intense heatwaves. This makes the peak tourism season at many popular sites hot in every sense.
A new study by Dr. Eran Ketter, a tourism consultant and researcher from the Department of Tourism and Hotel Management at Kinneret Academic College, and Dotan Farkash, sought to examine the "authentic" field experience of tourists and understand how the heat alters the visiting experience at open heritage sites (those situated under the open sky). Through an analysis of TripAdvisor reviews from 11 open heritage sites in Southern Europe (such as the Colosseum in Rome and the Acropolis in Athens), the researchers examined how the climate crisis affects the way we consume tourism, and what adaptations are required of such sites as a result.
Suffering from the heat, but satisfied with the visit
Ketter explains that the choice of heritage sites was deliberate. "Fewer external interventions are made at heritage sites because people want to preserve their authenticity, so it is unlikely they will add interventions like large pergolas and air conditioners," he says. The study examined 6,500 reviews published on TripAdvisor during the warm half of the year - April to September - over a four-year period. The reviews were cross-referenced with weather data from the time of the visit, including meteorological measurements from the nearest monitoring stations to each site, average monthly temperatures, the number of days per month above the average temperature, humidity data, and heat stress levels. "We conducted a correlation analysis between the reviews and the data; we checked the frequency of expressions related to heat or relevant infrastructure - for example, words like 'shade,' 'bench,' and 'water station' - in the months that were hotter," Ketter says.
Indeed, the study compared references to these terms in reviews of visits made on exceptionally hot days with those made on relatively cool days during the six-month warm period. It found that the word "heat" and descriptions of "thermal intensity" (such as exhausting heat or a feeling of "stickiness") were significantly more common in reviews on hot days (2.36 times and 2.21 times more frequent, respectively). In addition, the reviews contained more references related to the expectation of infrastructure that helps cope with the heat, such as shade (2.15 times) and drinking fountains (3.34 times).
However, despite the increase in reports of heat and the physical difficulty it brings, the study's central and surprising finding is that the overall level of satisfaction (the star rating) emerging from the reviews was unaffected and remained high and stable.
More water and less walking
Ketter explains the discrepancy: "It appears we have a certain adaptation of visitor expectations here," he says. "Someone traveling to Greece in August knows it is hot, but they still want to visit the Acropolis, and they understand that this heat is part of the visit. So it is hot and people complain, but still - the site is an important and amazing heritage site."
He views this insight as positive and optimistic for the future of tourism. "It truly shows resilience, because it is not as if heatwaves in Europe mean tourists will stop visiting Spain, France, and Greece. They will continue to visit, and they will continue to visit in the summer, but they will also make micro-adaptations at the behavioral level and around the visiting experience," he says.
An example of a micro-adaptation - meaning adjustments in visitor behavior and expectations - identified by the researchers is that at high temperatures, there is less engagement with walking around the site. Reviews written around hot days contained fewer mentions of walking paths at the site and visits to its distant sections. "On hot days, people apparently make their visit more limited. They do not want, for instance, to circle the Acropolis; they want the minimum possible amount of walking," Ketter says, emphasizing the active coping mechanisms of tourists who do not remain passive in the face of climate change, but rather adapt to the changing reality. "They have a vacation in August, and they will make the most of it. They will adapt both their expectations and their behavior - so they will take water and a hat and visit the Acropolis at 8 a.m. or at sunset, rather than in the middle of the day, but they will not give up on the vacation because of the heat," he explains.
Adapting infrastructure to reality
Alongside the adaptation by tourists, tourism sites are also required to adapt to the changing reality. For this purpose, Ketter proposes a model based on three pillars: Tourism development that includes building adapted infrastructure and diversifying products and audiences (such as transforming ski sites into summer leisure and music hubs); the human element, which combines working with decision-makers so they understand the implications of the climate crisis on tourism, alongside making practical knowledge accessible to entrepreneurs and field tourism personnel to build community resilience; and finally, active crisis management, which includes formulating specific procedures for dealing with extreme events such as heatwaves, aiming to protect the health of visitors and staff and adjust the visiting experience in real time.
When it comes to open heritage sites, a unique challenge arises. Alongside the critical need to adapt infrastructure to the reality of the climate crisis and extreme heat conditions, there is a constraint due to the need to preserve the site's authenticity. "It is not enough to just build a small pergola," Ketter says. "These are sites that sometimes receive thousands of visitors a day. There needs to be an adjustment of walking paths and real shade that will actually allow people to sit comfortably in the shade for a few minutes every 400 to 500 meters." The solution, according to him, should include natural shade through vegetation, shorter shaded routes, and technology that monitors heat stress, recommends safer visiting hours, and suggests routes tailored to real-time weather conditions.
"The study teaches us that tourists are already adapting, but site managers are required to do so as well," Ketter concludes. "Every site manager must ask themselves how the climate crisis affects the visiting experience at their site, and act proactively to adapt the visitor experience to the constraints of the climate crisis."
The article was prepared by ZAVIT – the news agency of the Israel Society of Ecology and Environmental Sciences.