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Climate change is affecting the vacation schedules of Italians, resulting in varying impacts on tourist destinations. Seaside resorts are notably affected by the heat, while mountain resorts are less exposed, and spring and autumn are favored by milder temperatures. Extreme heat in Italy’s tourist destinations has increased by more than two-thirds. In the 1990s, a summer averaged 18 days with a perceived temperature of at least 33 degrees Celsius, out of 62 days in July and August. In the recent decade, this figure has climbed to 30, accounting for nearly one out of every two summer days. Between 2027 and 2036, this figure is predicted to increase to around 35. This heat would lose Italian tourism up to 3.7 million overnight stays in a normal summer today, compared to 2.3% of summers with the same climate in the 1990s. The financial impact could reach €214 million in lost tourist spending each year. This is the difference between the €294 million that the heat would cost in the summer and the €80 million that the milder spring and fall would recover. Southern Italy would pay the highest price: with fewer than a quarter of summer visitors, it would account for 36% of the losses. This is what the Demoskopika Institute's report "The Impact of Climate on Italian Tourism. Visitors, Spending, and Seasonality. Analysis 1990-2036" reveals, which cross-referenced over thirty years of ISTAT data on tourist flows with over 3 billion Copernicus climate data, covering all 7,896 Italian municipalities and 103 tourist destinations that, from July to August 2024, accounted for more than 40% of national visitors.
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