Southern Europe is experiencing extreme heatwaves and wildfires, significantly affecting tourists during the holiday season. Record-breaking temperatures have caused dangerous conditions, particularly for families in major cities. The situation has been exacerbated by pollution, and regions like the Mediterranean are most affected economically by these weather changes. Wildfires have devastated over 400,000 hectares across the continent, leading to severe consequences in various countries, with reports of fatalities and widespread evacuations. Firefighters are battling intense blazes as conditions are expected to remain extreme.
Tourists who hoped to idle on Croatian beaches this week will have instead singed their feet on scorching sand. Families on a break in Madrid will have choked on smoke from a deadly wildfire that ripped through a suburb of the Spanish capital.
The heatwave, which has been made longer and stronger by the blanket of fossil fuel pollution that smothers the Earth, has struck during the holiday season when tourist-dependent economies in the Mediterranean and the Balkans are most exposed to variations in weather.
Wildfires in Europe burned more than 400,000 hectares in the first seven months of 2025, according to data published by EU fire scientists on Tuesday. Although it is not the worst the continent has seen for this time of year, the burned area is 87% greater than the average over the last two decades.
Across the continent, black smoke is darkening blood-red skies. We are being cooked alive, said Alexandre Favaios, the mayor of Vila Real, in northern Portugal.
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