When climatologists look back at the summer of 2023, they’ll see a three-month stretch of weather extremes: unrelenting heat, unprecedented wildfires, and record-setting storms. 

These shifting—and worsening—weather patterns are also shifting tourists’ vacation habits, with more people looking for new summer escapes as they find old vacation haunts increasingly uncomfortable and northern locations more welcoming, travel industry experts say.

Climatologists and travel professionals don’t anticipate seeing the shift in new destinations abating.

“Unlike people, climate change doesn’t take a holiday,” says Robert Wilson, associate professor of geography and the environment. “In coming years, tourists will need to prepare to evacuate from vacation spots, often with little notice. Some of the worst wildfires in recent years, such as on Maui and near Lake Tahoe, California, have forced tourists as well as residents to flee.”

Read more in the Boston Globe article, “Climate change is altering more than the weather. It’s also disrupting tourism as we know it.”