In recent days the weather conditions in Athens have been ideal, with a clear blue sky and the mercury reading 19 degrees Celsius. Thus, all residents and visitors of the capital are enjoying the warmest Greek winter ever recorded.

“However, the news is not good in view of the summer”, she observes Frankfurter Rundschau. “Because climate change will also be felt during the summer months with increased temperatures – which will be much more unpleasant than the mild winter.

[…] In Greece, the increase in average temperatures is manifested primarily by more frequent and more intense heat waves. […] This trend was already evident last summer, when people across much of the country suffered from weeks of extreme heat. In Athens, July 2023 was the hottest month since weather records began in 1863.”

At the same time, climate change is probably “a big challenge for the tourism sector as well. Last July, devastating forest fires broke out in Rhodes, which raged for days. Thousands of tourists had to be urgently removed from the hotels where they were staying and return early to their homelands.

Of course, these events did not prevent Greece from setting a new record last year, hosting 32.7 million visitors from abroad, who generated revenues of 20.45 billion euros. And this year the bookings suggest that there will be a further increase of around 10%.

So far, the business model of beach holidays seems to be still paying off. However, tourism industry strategists are bracing for the fact that in the long run more visitors will choose to travel during the milder autumn and spring months.

This change was already evident in the past months: in November the number of tourists showed an increase of 13% compared to the previous year, while in December the corresponding increase reached 32%”, concludes the Frankfurt newspaper.