Year 2024 marked the hottest year in history. This extreme heat, sometimes dubbed the "silent killer," proved deadly in places like Thailand, India, and the United States. Now, a study has found that by the end of the century, dangerous temperatures could kill 50% more people in Europe.

Climate change to boost heat deaths in the South

Southern Europe is all set to face another year of brutal summers and heatwaves, triggering fears that Europe might be on its way to facing water shortages of a level never seen in decades. The trend, attributed to climate change, is expected to spell doom for Europe’s agriculture as well as the power industry. Where farmers are expecting the lowest yield in decades on one hand, hydropower production is also expected to take a severe hit on the other.

<h2>Spain “becoming a desert”</h2>

The country suffered a long and painful drought last year. And no relief is expected this year either, thus severely threatening Spain’s food exports to other European Union nations. As per France 24, the month of April was the driest on record, and several cities recorded their highest temperatures in decades. Jorge Olcina, head of the climatology laboratory at the University of Alicante, said, “The situation is particularly alarming in the regions of Catalonia and Andalusia, where the water reservoirs are at less than 25 per cent of their capacity."

Watch:&nbsp;Seattle records high of 31°c | WION Climate Tracker

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Spain is known as “Europe’s back garden” because it exports a large part of its agricultural production, and Spanish farmers are, unsurprisingly, among the first to suffer the consequences of a water shortage.

Patricio Garcia-Fayos, director of the Desertification Research Centre in Valencia, even fretted that a large part of Spain will become desert in the coming years. He said, "It’s essential to fight against climate change and at the same time learn how to manage our water better. Otherwise, a large part of Spain will be a desert in a few years."

<h2>France facing its driest winter since 1959</h2>

Paris has already activated the drought crisis alert in the country’s four departmental prefects. People living in Ain, Isère, Bouches-du-Rhône and the Pyrénées-Orientales are prohibited from using water for non-priority purposes, including watering their lawns and filling their swimming pools. The irony is that the country which was on the verge of facing a food crisis last year has now asked its farmers in these regions to avoid using water for irrigation.

Similarly, Portugal is also experiencing an early arrival of drought. &nbsp;90 per cent of the mainland is facing drought, with 20 per cent of the country facing extreme drought.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/node/592586">Also Read |&nbsp;Cities reel under heatwave as temperatures soar in India | WION Climate Tracker</a>

The agriculture sector of Italy is also under stress after two years of water scarcity. According to Luca Brocca, a director of research at Italy's National Research Council, “Northern Italy has a 70% deficit in snow water reserves and a 40% deficit of soil moisture.”

<h2>Climate change behind the summer crisis</h2>

Experts blame climate change for excruciating summer and water shortages in southern Europe as well as in the Horn of Africa. Hayley Fowler, Professor of Climate Change Impacts at Newcastle University, said, "In terms of the climate change signal, it very much fits with what we're expecting.”

Many farming regions have yet to adopt water-saving methods like precision irrigation or switch to more drought-hardy crops, such as sunflowers.

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Southern Europe is all set to face another year of brutal summers and heatwaves, triggering fears that Europe might be on its way to facing water shortages of a level never seen in decades.

Southern Europe is all set to face another year of brutal summers and heatwaves, triggering fears that Europe might be on its way to facing water shortages of a level never seen in decades. The trend, attributed to climate change, is expected to spell doom for Europe’s agriculture as well as the power industry. Where farmers are expecting the lowest yield in decades on one hand, hydropower production is also expected to take a severe hit on the other. Spain “becoming a desert” The country suffered a long and painful drought last year. And no relief is expected this year either, thus severely threatening Spain’s food exports to other European Union nations. As per France 24, the month of April was the driest on record, and several cities recorded their highest temperatures in decades. Jorge Olcina, head of the climatology laboratory at the University of Alicante, said, “The situation is particularly alarming in the regions of Catalonia and Andalusia, where the water reservoirs are at less than 25 per cent of their capacity." Watch: Seattle records high of 31°c | WION Climate Tracker × Spain is known as “Europe’s back garden” because it exports a large part of its agricultural production, and Spanish farmers are, unsurprisingly, among the first to suffer the consequences of a water shortage. Patricio Garcia-Fayos, director of the Desertification Research Centre in Valencia, even fretted that a large part of Spain will become desert in the coming years. He said, "It’s essential to fight against climate change and at the same time learn how to manage our water better. Otherwise, a large part of Spain will be a desert in a few years." France facing its driest winter since 1959 Paris has already activated the drought crisis alert in the country’s four departmental prefects. People living in Ain, Isère, Bouches-du-Rhône and the Pyrénées-Orientales are prohibited from using water for non-priority purposes, including watering their lawns and filling their swimming pools. The irony is that the country which was on the verge of facing a food crisis last year has now asked its farmers in these regions to avoid using water for irrigation. Similarly, Portugal is also experiencing an early arrival of drought. 90 per cent of the mainland is facing drought, with 20 per cent of the country facing extreme drought. Also Read | Cities reel under heatwave as temperatures soar in India | WION Climate Tracker The agriculture sector of Italy is also under stress after two years of water scarcity. According to Luca Brocca, a director of research at Italy's National Research Council, “Northern Italy has a 70% deficit in snow water reserves and a 40% deficit of soil moisture.” Climate change behind the summer crisis Experts blame climate change for excruciating summer and water shortages in southern Europe as well as in the Horn of Africa. Hayley Fowler, Professor of Climate Change Impacts at Newcastle University, said, "In terms of the climate change signal, it very much fits with what we're expecting.” Many farming regions have yet to adopt water-saving methods like precision irrigation or switch to more drought-hardy crops, such as sunflowers. WATCH WION LIVE HERE ×

Southern Europe 'turning into desert', France, Italy and Spain to face brutal summer of drought

Storms battered parts of Southern and Central Europe, France, Italy and Austria. All reported casualties are caused by heavy rain. The storms followed by an intense heatwave affected most of Europe.

Storms batter South and Central Europe, kills at least 12

It took one electricity bill to crush Dimitris Diavatis' hopes that his Greek summer resort could bounce back to its pre-pandemic health this year, even with bookings pouring in.

The amount was more than double what he paid this time last year when the hotel was not even open. After two sluggish summers, the irony was not lost on him: "We won't make a profit in a good year," he said. "It'll be eaten up by inflation."

Greece - like the other&nbsp;tourism-dependent economies on the euro zone's Mediterranean fringe – is seeing signs of a much-needed recovery in visitor numbers in 2022 after two largely lost years. As in Spain, Portugal and Italy, the sector is a huge employer and contributor to state revenues.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/london-hundreds-of-women-march-in-a-bid-to-end-violence-and-misogyny-459556">London: Hundreds of women march in a bid to end violence and misogyny</a>

But across the region, the pandemic has changed the&nbsp;face&nbsp;of&nbsp;tourism. Hotels were already grappling with higher fuel bills and inflation which a further energy price surge in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine will only make worse.

The dislocation of labour markets caused by COVID-19 has left entrenched staffing shortages, while Italian tourist officials concede that pandemic-era holidaying – with its emphasis on hygiene, cleanliness and space – is a big challenge for its ageing infrastructure.

Meanwhile, a market for more modest, small-scale vacations is opening up: In Spain and Portugal, a reluctance among many tourists to travel far is accentuating the trend for stays in rural areas in tents, campers or motorhomes.Industry and government officials in Greece are forecasting revenues will reach 80-90% of the record seen in 2019, when 33 million tourists brought in 18 billion euros in revenues, worth a fifth of national output.

Yet a bumper season is unlikely to offer much relief to struggling businesses which emerged from a decade-long financial crisis in 2018 only to have the pandemic bring global travel to a halt two years later.

So acute is the problem of soaring heating oil, gas and electricity prices that the president of the Greek&nbsp;tourism&nbsp;confederation SETE, Yiannis Retsos, wrote to ministers in January urging them to provide financial support, saying it was "objectively impossible" for year-round hotels to the cover their costs, especially after the quieter winter months.

The highly indebted countries of&nbsp;Europe's south were also bracing for the&nbsp;European Central Bank to remove the stimulus that has kept their borrowing costs down.

Although the Ukraine war has left the interest rate outlook uncertain, the&nbsp;southern&nbsp;fringe still badly needs its&nbsp;tourism&nbsp;sectors to get back to work given the economic hit the conflict is set to deliver.

Speaking a day after the invasion, which Russia calls a "special operation", Greece's Retsos said it was too early to gauge its impact on the&nbsp;tourism&nbsp;sector.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/radio-free-europe-with-roots-in-the-cold-war-suspends-operations-in-russia-459548">Radio Free Europe, with roots in the Cold War, suspends operations in Russia</a>

More than a week into the conflict, there has been no noticeable increase in cancellations across the region.

Russian tourists only make up a very small proportion of the sector in&nbsp;southern&nbsp;Europe&nbsp;- 2% of revenues in Greece in 2019 and around 1% of nightly hotel bookings in Portugal. Turkey - outside the&nbsp;European Union - is a more popular destination.

But with&nbsp;European gas prices already at record highs, and this likely to feed into inflation globally, the concern in countries like Greece is the conflict will only worsen an already bleak outlook, further crimping guests' spending power and increasing providers' costs.

NO END TO COSTS

Even hotels that were shut during winter worry they will not be able to shoulder the extra burden, having already agreed prices with tour operators last summer, said Babbis Voulgaris, head of the Corfu hoteliers' association.

Resort owner Diavatis, who also owns a year-round boutique hotel and a waterpark complex on the island, agreed.

"This will be a real crisis for us," he said. "I won't say it's worse than the pandemic because at least we're open. But we didn't lose money then. Now we're heading towards losing money."

The Greek government has spent over 42 billion euros in pandemic support measures since 2020 to keep businesses and households afloat and about 2 billion euros since September to subsidise power bills through March. For hoteliers, the support does not go far enough.

"In the summer, with the air-conditioners working, the refrigerators, the kitchen, everything - I don't how when this will end," said Costas Merianos, who owns a small family-run hotel on Corfu's Ionian coast.

Across the sea in Italy, lockdowns and energy prices have forced many hotels to shut for good, said Marina Lalli, president of the Federturismo industry association.

And while Lalli was hopeful&nbsp;tourism&nbsp;could inch closer to 2019 levels this year, Italy&nbsp;faces the additional problem of being "a mature tourist destination with mature hotel structures that need to be renewed," she said.

"In the post-COVID era, tourists are even more attentive to quality, they want a guarantee of cleanliness and want to feel safe."

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/invading-russian-military-forces-belt-maker-to-weave-camouflage-webbing-for-ukrainian-troops-459565">Invading Russian military forces belt-maker to weave camouflage webbing for Ukrainian troops</a>

SOMETHING DIFFERENT

Greece said it was opening its&nbsp;tourism&nbsp;season as early as March 1 this year to meet demand but, like in Italy, Spain and Portugal, the season will not begin in earnest until the Easter break in April, a litmus test before the vital summer months.

Both Greece and Italy are racing to fill job shortages as the pandemic forced workers abroad for better paying jobs or into different sectors with less uncertain prospects.

In Greece, the&nbsp;tourism&nbsp;minister even appealed to refugees fleeing Ukraine, offering them residence and work permits to fill 50,000 job gaps in hospitality.

Demand for Spanish holidays was looking very strong this year, according to the vice-president of industry association Exceltur, Jose Luis Zoreda, thanks to Spain's high vaccination rates and the easing of pandemic restrictions in its big markets, the UK and Germany.

"There is a strong, accumulated travel appetite in&nbsp;Europe," Zoreda said, forecasting an "explosion" of&nbsp;tourism&nbsp;from Easter onwards, but also lower profit margins due to inflation and energy prices.

Exceltur, however, also found tourists were seeking a different experience. In 2021, campsite rentals were up 19.2%, flat rentals were up by 16%, rural homes by 11%. Hotel usage fell by 8%, a decline also driven by fewer business trips.

In January, new motorhomes and camper vans sales were up 34.1% on an annual basis, according to the Spanish Association of the Caravanning Industry and Trade (ASEICAR).

"The 'all-in-one' holiday model has been left behind," Yescapa, an online motorhomes and camper vans rental company, told Reuters.

Nico Aro, who rents out a camper van on the island of Tenerife, says he has not been able to enjoy it himself since he bought it last March because requests keep coming in from Italy, France and Belgium. His biggest problem is that he cannot find another one to buy because they are in great demand.

"I have benefited from the pandemic," he said.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/chile-creates-national-park-to-save-glaciers-459542">Chile creates national park to save glaciers</a>

The appetite for "slower"&nbsp;tourism&nbsp;has also grown in Portugal, where the sector played a crucial role in its recovery from the 2010 debt crisis.&nbsp;Tourism&nbsp;stood at about 15% of GDP in 2019 but fell to 8% in 2020.

"There's an increasing number of people looking for places with fewer people," said Helder Martins, president of Algarve's main hotel association. "I don't believe that they will return to just wanting the sun and the beach."&nbsp;

The centuries-old "schist villages", built from the stone of a mountainous region clad in pine trees, are roaring back to life after being abandoned over the years by young Portuguese seeking work elsewhere.

"This summer is filling up fast," said Sonia Cortes, who owns a small five-room hotel in the Janeiro de Cima schist village, where construction workers are rebuilding traditional houses.

"The beginning of the pandemic was really difficult for those who lived off&nbsp;tourism," she said. "(But then) those in bigger cities looked for villages like this one where they could feel safe."

There was a 30% increase in the number of night stays at schist villages from 2019 to 2020-21, said Bruno Ramos, who works for an agency promoting&nbsp;tourism&nbsp;there.

Watch |&nbsp;Gravitas: Ukraine invasion: Europe's largest nuke site was on fire

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Still, back in Greece, Merianos, the Corfu hotel owner, has a more sober view of the months ahead.

"I'll be happy if at the end of the season I don't owe my staff, I don't owe the state, I don't owe the energy provider - even if I'm left with 10 euros in my wallet," he said.

It took one electricity bill to crush Dimitris Diavatis' hopes that his Greek summer resort could bounce back to its pre-pandemic health this year, even with bookings pouring in.

It took one electricity bill to crush Dimitris Diavatis' hopes that his Greek summer resort could bounce back to its pre-pandemic health this year, even with bookings pouring in. The amount was more than double what he paid this time last year when the hotel was not even open. After two sluggish summers, the irony was not lost on him: "We won't make a profit in a good year," he said. "It'll be eaten up by inflation." Greece - like the other tourism-dependent economies on the euro zone's Mediterranean fringe – is seeing signs of a much-needed recovery in visitor numbers in 2022 after two largely lost years. As in Spain, Portugal and Italy, the sector is a huge employer and contributor to state revenues. Also read | London: Hundreds of women march in a bid to end violence and misogyny But across the region, the pandemic has changed the face of tourism. Hotels were already grappling with higher fuel bills and inflation which a further energy price surge in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine will only make worse. The dislocation of labour markets caused by COVID-19 has left entrenched staffing shortages, while Italian tourist officials concede that pandemic-era holidaying – with its emphasis on hygiene, cleanliness and space – is a big challenge for its ageing infrastructure. Meanwhile, a market for more modest, small-scale vacations is opening up: In Spain and Portugal, a reluctance among many tourists to travel far is accentuating the trend for stays in rural areas in tents, campers or motorhomes.Industry and government officials in Greece are forecasting revenues will reach 80-90% of the record seen in 2019, when 33 million tourists brought in 18 billion euros in revenues, worth a fifth of national output. Yet a bumper season is unlikely to offer much relief to struggling businesses which emerged from a decade-long financial crisis in 2018 only to have the pandemic bring global travel to a halt two years later. So acute is the problem of soaring heating oil, gas and electricity prices that the president of the Greek tourism confederation SETE, Yiannis Retsos, wrote to ministers in January urging them to provide financial support, saying it was "objectively impossible" for year-round hotels to the cover their costs, especially after the quieter winter months. The highly indebted countries of Europe's south were also bracing for the European Central Bank to remove the stimulus that has kept their borrowing costs down. Although the Ukraine war has left the interest rate outlook uncertain, the southern fringe still badly needs its tourism sectors to get back to work given the economic hit the conflict is set to deliver. Speaking a day after the invasion, which Russia calls a "special operation", Greece's Retsos said it was too early to gauge its impact on the tourism sector. Also read | Radio Free Europe, with roots in the Cold War, suspends operations in Russia More than a week into the conflict, there has been no noticeable increase in cancellations across the region. Russian tourists only make up a very small proportion of the sector in southern Europe - 2% of revenues in Greece in 2019 and around 1% of nightly hotel bookings in Portugal. Turkey - outside the European Union - is a more popular destination. But with European gas prices already at record highs, and this likely to feed into inflation globally, the concern in countries like Greece is the conflict will only worsen an already bleak outlook, further crimping guests' spending power and increasing providers' costs. NO END TO COSTS Even hotels that were shut during winter worry they will not be able to shoulder the extra burden, having already agreed prices with tour operators last summer, said Babbis Voulgaris, head of the Corfu hoteliers' association. Resort owner Diavatis, who also owns a year-round boutique hotel and a waterpark complex on the island, agreed. "This will be a real crisis for us," he said. "I won't say it's worse than the pandemic because at least we're open. But we didn't lose money then. Now we're heading towards losing money." The Greek government has spent over 42 billion euros in pandemic support measures since 2020 to keep businesses and households afloat and about 2 billion euros since September to subsidise power bills through March. For hoteliers, the support does not go far enough. "In the summer, with the air-conditioners working, the refrigerators, the kitchen, everything - I don't how when this will end," said Costas Merianos, who owns a small family-run hotel on Corfu's Ionian coast. Across the sea in Italy, lockdowns and energy prices have forced many hotels to shut for good, said Marina Lalli, president of the Federturismo industry association. And while Lalli was hopeful tourism could inch closer to 2019 levels this year, Italy faces the additional problem of being "a mature tourist destination with mature hotel structures that need to be renewed," she said. "In the post-COVID era, tourists are even more attentive to quality, they want a guarantee of cleanliness and want to feel safe." Also read | Invading Russian military forces belt-maker to weave camouflage webbing for Ukrainian troops SOMETHING DIFFERENT Greece said it was opening its tourism season as early as March 1 this year to meet demand but, like in Italy, Spain and Portugal, the season will not begin in earnest until the Easter break in April, a litmus test before the vital summer months. Both Greece and Italy are racing to fill job shortages as the pandemic forced workers abroad for better paying jobs or into different sectors with less uncertain prospects. In Greece, the tourism minister even appealed to refugees fleeing Ukraine, offering them residence and work permits to fill 50,000 job gaps in hospitality. Demand for Spanish holidays was looking very strong this year, according to the vice-president of industry association Exceltur, Jose Luis Zoreda, thanks to Spain's high vaccination rates and the easing of pandemic restrictions in its big markets, the UK and Germany. "There is a strong, accumulated travel appetite in Europe," Zoreda said, forecasting an "explosion" of tourism from Easter onwards, but also lower profit margins due to inflation and energy prices. Exceltur, however, also found tourists were seeking a different experience. In 2021, campsite rentals were up 19.2%, flat rentals were up by 16%, rural homes by 11%. Hotel usage fell by 8%, a decline also driven by fewer business trips. In January, new motorhomes and camper vans sales were up 34.1% on an annual basis, according to the Spanish Association of the Caravanning Industry and Trade (ASEICAR). "The 'all-in-one' holiday model has been left behind," Yescapa, an online motorhomes and camper vans rental company, told Reuters. Nico Aro, who rents out a camper van on the island of Tenerife, says he has not been able to enjoy it himself since he bought it last March because requests keep coming in from Italy, France and Belgium. His biggest problem is that he cannot find another one to buy because they are in great demand. "I have benefited from the pandemic," he said. Also read | Chile creates national park to save glaciers The appetite for "slower" tourism has also grown in Portugal, where the sector played a crucial role in its recovery from the 2010 debt crisis. Tourism stood at about 15% of GDP in 2019 but fell to 8% in 2020. "There's an increasing number of people looking for places with fewer people," said Helder Martins, president of Algarve's main hotel association. "I don't believe that they will return to just wanting the sun and the beach." The centuries-old "schist villages", built from the stone of a mountainous region clad in pine trees, are roaring back to life after being abandoned over the years by young Portuguese seeking work elsewhere. "This summer is filling up fast," said Sonia Cortes, who owns a small five-room hotel in the Janeiro de Cima schist village, where construction workers are rebuilding traditional houses. "The beginning of the pandemic was really difficult for those who lived off tourism," she said. "(But then) those in bigger cities looked for villages like this one where they could feel safe." There was a 30% increase in the number of night stays at schist villages from 2019 to 2020-21, said Bruno Ramos, who works for an agency promoting tourism there. Watch | Gravitas: Ukraine invasion: Europe's largest nuke site was on fire Still, back in Greece, Merianos, the Corfu hotel owner, has a more sober view of the months ahead. "I'll be happy if at the end of the season I don't owe my staff, I don't owe the state, I don't owe the energy provider - even if I'm left with 10 euros in my wallet," he said.

Southern Europe grapples with changing face of tourism

Portugal Footwear Industry is in big loss due to the pandemic, the demand for Portugal's high and leather footwear has gone down because of the COVID-19 pandemic as everyone prefer comfortable footwears nowadays.

Portugal's luxury footwear industry hit hard by COVID-19 pandemic

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Southern Europe, News on Southern Europe, stories on Southern Europe, articles on Southern Europe, Southern Europe stories at Wion, Southern Europe news, Southern Europe latest news

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Climate change to boost heat deaths in the South

Southern Europe 'turning into desert', France, Italy and Spain to face brutal summer of drought

Storms batter South and Central Europe, kills at least 12

Southern Europe grapples with changing face of tourism

Portugal's luxury footwear industry hit hard by COVID-19 pandemic