Record wildfire season doesn't cool Brits' appetite for European holidays, industry experts say

Greece, Spain and Portugal – all popular tourist destinations – saw large areas of their countries decimated by raging fires over a sweltering summer in 2025.

EU data showed at least 1,028,000 hectares of land - an area bigger than Cyprus - was scorched throughout Europe, with meteorologists labelling it the worst wildfire season in years.

Read more: Record wildfires stretch fire services as firefighter numbers fall to 17-year low

But Sean Tipton, from leading travel agent association ABTA, said these alarming numbers have not impacted Briton's summer travel plans for 2026.

"Climate change is certainly having an impact on Europe, but it’s not impacting on people’s holiday choices,” he claimed," he told LBC.

"Wildfires are a fact of life around southern Europe every year. Countries are very well used to dealing with them. They generally get things under control very quickly.

"From a tourism perspective, they see that and when they do occur its often in quite remote parts of the country, certainly not where tourists are travelling."

The latest ABTA study – released every October - revealed that six out of every 10 UK holidaymakers were either “extremely confident” or “somewhat confident” about going overseas.

Just two out of 10 people told researchers they were "not at all confident" or "less confident".

But while many are happy to continue jetting off around Europe, meteorologists warn the number of wildfires will continue to increase as the planet gets hotter.

Scientists warn climate change is exacerbating the frequency and intensity of heat and dryness, making parts of Europe more vulnerable to wildfires.

Stacey New, Senior Climate Scientist at the Met Office, told LBC: "We are seeing climate change driving the change in intensity. The length of the season and the fuel is becoming drier. We have seen repeated heatwaves and a lack of rainfall this summer.

“Warmer and wetter winters and the hotter, drier summers will lead to 'high fire' danger levels happen more often during the summer.

"We are going to see a fivefold increase if we have four degree warming, with a higher frequency of intense wild fires happening globally because of global warming and climate change."

But the sweltering temperatures on the continent – which reached highs of 40°C this summer – have not stopped Brits from travelling, Mr Tipton said.

"For a lot of people this sun has got to last all year,” he added.

Mr Tipton admitted that there were trends showing people travelling earlier and later in the year – but this was due to the cost of travelling during peak times.

"Summer is the most expensive time to travel outside of Christmas. That would be the driving factor rather than temperatures, and also the fact that it is less crowded.”

The ABTA research findings are good news for the British travel industry, which employs hundreds of thousands of people and pours billions into the nation’s economy.

The sector is still recovering four years after the global Covid-19 pandemic, when travel was severely restricted, with the number of overseas visitors still not back to pre-pandemic levels.