Rahul Jacob: Climate change has begun to warp the travel calendar

Mint

2 days ago

There is arguably no catastrophe that the world has collectively faced as severe as the effects of global warming, besides the threat of nuclear war. Amid floods in the Himalayas and forest fires in California and Spain, and the attendant droughts and displacement of people, it is hard to find any good news.
This summer, the distressing headlines of flash floods and inclement weather in and around Himalayan destinations have been like a chronicle foretold of the worst of climate change. But last week, a survey of 6,000 travellers by the European Travel Commission found that 75% of those surveyed said climate change had made them alter the way they travel.
The silver lining is that it might yet lead to less congested airports and roads—and happier holidays. It could conceivably reduce the hostility towards tourists overwhelming cities such as Barcelona and Venice.
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Among the changes people are making in Europe is to travel in autumn all the way till November to places like Greece and Crete. Others are opting for what travel companies are inelegantly marketing as 'coolcations" in places such as Norway. American travellers' visits to Norway are up by more than a third in the past year over the previous one.
An equally important change is reflected in the occupancy rates of hotels, which now have more guests in the so-called shoulder season—that is, off their busy-time peak, which traditionally occurs during summer in Europe and winter in most parts of Asia, including India. From the perspective of reducing greenhouse gases, the sensible thing would be to travel less, of course, but spreading the effects, good and bad, of mass tourism across the calendar at least means fewer traffic jams and less crowded beaches.
Some months ago, the owner of a couple of mid-sized boutique hotels in Rajasthan told me that the state had become so expensive during peak season thanks to countless large Indian weddings that European travellers were defecting to Vietnam and Thailand. Emily Fitzroy, who heads an Italy- focused travel firm that does bespoke itineraries, confirms that travel patterns to that country have radically changed, with September and October now busy and August relatively quiet along the Amalfi coast.
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As someone with no children whose holidays are not governed by the timing of school holidays, I have long travelled off peak to destinations like Kottayam in Kerala and Jodhpur in Rajasthan. Visiting Mehrangarh fort in Jodhpur and Ahhichatragarh Fort, about 140km away, at the height of summer remains one of the most memorable trips of my life. To have these fortresses mostly to yourself is the height of luxury. As for the 45° Celsius heat, the ubiquity of air-conditioning from cars to hotels means that we were not exposed to the sun's full ferocity for longer than an hour.
At Ahhichatragarh, at dawn, I let myself into the palace complex the hotel is part of. I was congratulating myself on having it to myself, an off-season traveller's habitual boast. Minutes later, I nearly screamed in fright as I saw large shadows looming across one of the rooms; one of the attendants' wives was venerating the royalty of centuries ago in an impromptu puja.
I'm also keen on Delhi in the season between summer and the monsoon because friends seem to have more time to meet up for lazy dinners. Similarly, in Europe, there are few trips I recall as vividly as one to Palermo in late autumn over 15 years ago. One had the sense of living among locals rather than, as in Florence, say, being a Lilliputian about to be squashed by large tour buses.
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I returned from Palermo to declare it my favourite city in Europe, but that exuberant state of mind might not have been the same had I been there in high summer.
The former journalist-turned-hotelier of the small hotel we were staying at surprised a friend and me at breakfast by saying she didn't want us to leave. But part of a wedding party was arriving that day, we protested; there was literally no room at her inn. She led us to a secret door that opened into a palazzo owned by an architect friend. She gave us two rooms for a nominal €100 per night each. It was one of the most beautiful homes I have seen anywhere. We happily forfeited our payments at another hotel and invited the wedding party to enjoy our vast living room.
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The extreme seclusion of the covid pandemic has made me the most predictable of travellers. I now return to familiar places such as London, Delhi and Colombo to visit friends rather than see the sights in a destination I have never been to. All I can say is familiarity breeds contentment.
In London, I split my time between the homes of indulgent friends who overlook that I will almost always be late for dinner parties because of my obsession with the tennis at Wimbledon. Last Sunday, I co-hosted a drinks party in Colombo to celebrate two gifted classical musicians and the Chamber Music Society there. The heavy lifting was done by a close friend, an able restaurateur who made serving oysters on ice and canapes with wine look easy. Another friend's golden retriever in Colombo habitually gnaws at my wrist in his excitement at seeing me again.
Returning to a city to be with friends who are family is for me the best holiday of all.
The writer is the author of 'Right of Passage,' a collection of travel essays.