Heatwaves not changing UK holiday plans, travel bosses say

British travel executives meeting in Madeira for the Abta convention said the extreme heat that hit Europe this year has not changed most Britons’ holiday plans, with demand still concentrated on hot summer beach breaks.

Bosses acknowledged holidays will become less affordable, but saw little evidence that customers were abandoning southern Europe for cooler destinations. Garry Wilson, chief executive of easyJet Holidays, said the heat was not affecting demand in the short term.

Fuel remains a central concern. New jet fuel supplies were established after the US first attacked Iran in February, but costs have stayed far higher for longer than many expected. Neil Swanson, Tui UK & Ireland managing director, said fuel is a huge part of any holiday and people will have to reckon with the cost. Tui, easyJet and Ryanair secured much of their 2026 fuel at fixed prices, but easyJet and Ryanair are now cutting winter capacity. Swanson said consumers will pay more as airlines become less hedged.

Costs squeeze household budgets

Mark Tanzer, chief executive of Abta, said the bigger worry is the squeeze on household incomes from domestic costs, which will make the market tighter. Booking numbers have held up, but customers are leaving it later to book, often seeking a deal or reacting to uncertainty.

Mass travel firms say the template has not changed: most customers still want a hot summer holiday on the beach. Shoulder-season travel and city breaks are driven more by price than climate, and executives dismissed talk of “coolcations” or a shift north. Swanson said nothing had changed. When Tunisia was forecast 45C for 10 days, Tui offered customers the chance to switch; take-up was low, he said, because people expected it to be hot. Wilson said easyJet sends more customers to Majorca in a week than to Tromsø or Malmö in a year.

Weather disruption and industry change

Outbound holidays prospered during the heatwave, Wilson suggested, as people went abroad to escape UK heat because Britain lacked infrastructure to cope. Tanzer said the Spanish tourist board has been pushing cooler northern destinations, but he doubted the north had 100m beds to absorb visitors who mainly go to Spain’s south, east and islands. He said some holidays could become more expensive because of limited availability, citing fewer skiing holidays if snow is higher up mountains.

Tui’s European river cruises were disrupted when the Danube’s water levels dipped last month, leaving some passengers on a boat-replacement bus for most of their return Austro-Hungarian cruise. Katy Berzins, Tui’s head of river cruises, said rivers are changeable but 2026 was unprecedented. Tui is adding two ships with lower draught for the Seine and Douro.

James Thornton, chief executive of Intrepid Travel, said the firm no longer sold active travel group tours in southern Europe in summer. He said 185 extreme weather-related incidents affected its holidaymakers last year, compared with a handful when it started, and that Intrepid now has a decarbonisation fund and promotes a “not-hot list” of less-visited destinations.

Taxes and jobs

Rising tourist taxes suggest many destinations feel they already have enough visitors. Wilson called them “grossly unfair”, saying destinations such as Mallorca built economic positions on mass tourism and then added taxes, which only returns travel to the rich. Shaun Morton, chief executive of On the Beach, laid off 20% of the Manchester-based online agency’s staff this summer to automate and streamline. He told delegates that technology-skilled staff would probably keep their jobs longest, but acknowledged they were worried.

Source: The Guardian Business.