Walter Finch
SPAIN is facing a devastating cocktail of climate change phenomena that threatens to decimate its tourist industry.
Alongside Italy, France, and the UK, Spain has been identified as one of the European countries most at risk of losing tourists as extreme weather events become more frequent.
Tourist-centric Malaga has been identified specifically as the Spanish region most at risk of excessive heat – one of three extreme weather phenomena that is predicted to worsen over time.
This is according to a recent study by researchers in Italy which analysed the impact of climate change on popular tourist destinations across Europe.
They identified the countries with tourism sectors that will most be at risk from excessive heat, floods and gales.
The areas of Spain most dependent on tourism stand acutely vulnerable to all three.
Excessive heat, in particular, is expected to have a significant impact on tourism in Spain.
The study found that Spain is the second most vulnerable country in Europe to extreme heat.
Around 12% of Spain’s tourist attractions will be affected by extreme heat stress, behind only Italy with a staggering 49%.
This could lead to potential tourists looking elsewhere for a summer holiday in order to avoid the unbearable temperatures.
Excessive heat is likely to also hit France, while strong gales will hit the United Kingdom, Italy and France the most, and flooding will increase the most in France, Italy and the United Kingdom.
It will rank fifth as the country whose tourist attractions are most vulnerable to river floods (9%) in Europe, with France (16%) and Italy (15%) taking first and second spot respectively.
And 9% of Spain’s tourist-heavy areas will be afflicted by wind storms, making it fourth behind France (13%), Italy (14%) and way out in front is the UK (29%).
