In one of the least helpful reports one could hope for, the EU has predicted that southern Europe will “soon” become a no-go area for affluent northern European holidaymakers due to the ravages of climate change.
Stressing that Spain and Portugal are “at risk from more extreme weather, leading to droughts and wildfires”, the UK’s Daily Express puts the boot in bigtime today – only explaining well down in its text that the report is based on an estimate for global temperature increases “by the end of the century”.
It is a conservative estimate, the paper warns.
But still, it is alluding to a scenario 75 years away.
How that can have sent “shockwaves across the Mediterranean”, when everyone whose current livelihood depends on tourism will be long dead by 2100, is not explained.
The Express simply affirms that the “frightening predictions” mean “British holidaymakers will soon shun popular Mediterranean resorts including Spain and Portugal as climate change causes them to be ravaged by drought and wildfire”.
Holidaymakers “fleeing” the UK – again, the Express gives no explanation as to why British holidaymakers should be fleeing their own country, particularly as they are set to gain from the generalised rise in temperatures – “are likely to opt for alternative destinations to avoid the sweltering heat”.
This year, the paper adds, Cyprus has been hit by 63ºC temperatures and cars have been filmed “melting” in Italy.
Recovering its grasp of geography, the doom-laden text returns once again to bash the Iberian Peninsula – where it claims the tourist industry of Spain will be one of those “most hit” by the effects of climate change.
Only the Balkans, Estonia, Latvia, Slovenia and Slovakia are likely to side-step the “searing heat”, says the Express, and thus their tourist industries are set to boom.
Again, one has to remember this is all in 75 years time…
Meantime, in the Algarve this weekend the weather is perfect, the sea is warm, and life as we know it may be a lot more jolly if we all steer clear of the Daily Express.
