Travel safely
Where is there a fire this year? Map shows heat waves in European holiday destinations
A3M specializes in security analysis and also publishes the Travel Risk Map every year. There is also a special map for heatwaves in Europe.
© A3M, Open Street Map
The forest fires on Rhodes affected thousands of holidaymakers last year. This year there is great concern about new disasters. A risk map should help to assess the danger.
The summer of 2023 has been hard on the Greek island of Rhodes. The reason for this was the devastating forest fire season, which surprised holidaymakers and locals alike with its intensity in midsummer – and caused chaos. And it wasn’t just Greece that burned last summer; Portugal, Spain and Italy were also affected affected by forest fires. This year in many holiday destinations the motto is: New Year, new luck. But forest fires are almost a part of summer due to the increasing heat periods in southern European holiday destinations.
While locals have now found solutions and ways to deal with the danger, holidaymakers still find it difficult to come to terms with the threat of forest fires at their travel destination. This is also shown by a current study by the comparison portal “HolidayCheck”. According to this, 80 percent of travelers make sure that the risk of extreme weather and natural disasters at their destination is as low as possible when booking their vacation. More than half of those surveyed also specifically avoid regions where forest fires recently occurred or only travel there in the off-season.
Map shows forest fire risk in the Mediterranean
Forest fires as extensive as last summer on Rhodes or Corfu are still an isolated case, but heat waves in southern Europe are not. The company A3M from Hamburg is an early warning crisis expert and works with well-known tour operators in Germany. It has determined where heat waves occurred in July and August 2023 and illustrates this in a clear map. As can be seen, heat waves occurred in all regions around the Mediterranean.
Knowing this can be a first aid. But the experts at HolidayCheck have even more tips for a holiday without worrying about the next big forest fire on your doorstep.
- Countercyclical travel planning: “One possibility is to avoid travel areas and certain travel months. But holidaymakers can also cleverly reorganize their planning,” explains Christoph Heinzmann, travel expert at HolidayCheck, in a statement. For example, you could move your travel destinations on the Mediterranean to the Easter or autumn holidays and instead travel to Belgium, the Netherlands or Austria in the summer.
- Off to the north: Speaking of travel destinations: The cooling trend has been making the rounds for a long time and for good reason. If it gets too warm in the south of Europe in summer, you might want to head to Scandinavia. There you will also find great beaches and impressive nature – just with bearable temperatures.
- Prefer package tours: If there should be a forest fire at your holiday destination, you are well protected, especially as a package holidaymaker. Because then the tour operator has to arrange the journey home. Individual travelers only have the option of a sponsored return home earlier if they have booked appropriate travel insurance. In order to be able to react to natural events at short notice, it is also worth spending a few euros more on the Flex offer.
- Always stay up to date: If you want to best assess the situation at your travel destination, you should not just rely on information from tour operators and accommodation, but rather provide information proactively. Good sources here are local media and the Foreign Office.