According to AFP, on September 3rd (local time), French Environment Minister Monique Barbut affirmed that summer 2026 is the hottest summer the country has ever recorded since the observation began in 1900.
This year, France has suffered 53 days of severe heat, including a series of 23 consecutive days, reaching a record similar to 1983. Not only France, a series of European countries have also recorded historical temperatures.
Extreme heat combined with prolonged drought has caused heavy loss of life across the continent. The Robert Koch Institute (Germany) estimates that about 14,000 deaths are related to high temperatures this summer, far exceeding the record of 2018; Spain alone recorded nearly 4,500 cases and France exceeded 7,300 cases.
The scorching heat also seriously damages tourism symbols. In France, the area of forest burned is 6 times higher than the average in the past 20 years. In southern Paris, the Fontainebleau forest, which is famous as a "paradise" for mountain climbing and picnics, has been burned down more than 10% of its area, forcing many dangerous areas to be blockaded right in the peak season.
In addition, the record low water level on key river routes carrying tourists and cargo ships across Western Europe makes the summer travel landscape even more suffocating.
Before the prolonged intense heat waves, travel trends in Europe have had a clear shift at the end of the summer vacation in August. Instead of traditional sunny destinations, a large number of tourists have proactively changed directions, choosing cooler destinations in the northern region of the country to avoid record heat.
This wave paves the way for northern coordinates such as Copenhagen (Denmark), Oslo (Norway) or Helsinki (Finland) to break through thanks to the cool climate below 30°C. At the same time, many tourists also choose to find "temperature oasis" right in the area by flocking to the coast of Galicia (Spain), the high mountains of Trentino-Alto Adige (Italy) or the Jurassic Mountains and Normandy (France) to enjoy fresh air, dispel urban stuffiness.
Besides the shift in the flow of tourists, summer 2026 also exposes a large gap in European tourist reception infrastructure. Originally built to keep warm in the cold winter, most people's houses, traditional hotels, schools and even hospitals in France or Germany do not have air conditioning systems suitable for the current harsh heat.
Climate change is comprehensively reshaping Europe's smokeless industry. To ensure the safety of tourists and maintain economic revenue, the old continental countries are forced to accelerate green transformation, invest in upgrading adaptive cooling infrastructure and proactively redistribute tourism products seasonally throughout the year.
