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Mark Footer

So, “coolcations” (for want of a less awful word) are a trend.
Again.
It is hardly surprising that holidaymakers are having second thoughts about beach breaks and crowded city tours as the mercury soars around the globe and the effects of climate breakdown become ever more acute.
Extreme early summer heat and record temperatures are being endured across the northern hemisphere this month, following what was the warmest May on record globally, with an average surface air temperature 0.65 degrees Celsius above the 1991-2020 average, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service.
May was the 12th consecutive month for which the global average temperature set a new record.

In Athens, authorities had to close the Acropolis, the city’s most visited tourist attraction, on the afternoons of June 12 and 13 as the Greek capital sizzled.
The deaths of several tourists have been reported elsewhere in Greece after the country suffered its earliest heatwave – temper­atures exceeding 38 degrees Celsius (100 Fahrenheit) for at least three days – on record.

In Saudi Arabia, hundreds died as vast crowds of religious visitors undertaking the haj (which ended on June 19) gathered for hours in temperatures of up to 51.8 degrees Celsius, having tried to sleep through night-time minimums of 34 degrees.
This summer’s Olympics in Paris are forecast to be the hottest ever.
Since 1924, when the French capital last hosted the Games, annual temperatures in the city have warmed by 1.8 degrees Celsius and there are 23 more “hot” days (with temperatures above 25 degrees Celsius), on average, and nine more “scorching” (30+ degrees) days a year.
Meanwhile, in Thailand, June records have been broken in the cities of Surin (39.6 degrees Celsius), Laem Chabang (38.9 degrees) and Yala (38.3 degrees), which helps explain why some international holidaymakers are considering instead higher latitude destinations such as Hokkaido, Japan.
Nikkei Asia has done the research, so Destinations Known doesn’t have to: “Data from Google Trends shows a 100 per cent global increase in the search term ‘cooler holidays’ over the 12 months to May 8.
“Travel website Booking.com also says that 2024 will be a year of travel to cooler climates, while the US-based luxury travel network Virtuoso notes that 82 per cent of its customers are considering cooler destinations this year.”
Favourite holiday spots for Asians looking to chill out include Banff, in Canada; Queenstown, on New Zealand’s South Island; and Norway, reports Nikkei Asia.
“Hiking, kayaking, snowshoeing and wildlife spotting are becoming vacation activities for many Asians, while some coolcations also offer water-centric activities such [as] wild swimming and cold-water plunges.”

Condé Nast Traveller lists “Five coolcations to plan this summer to beat the heat”: Karadeniz, Turkey; Copenhagen, Denmark; Edinburgh, Scotland; Lake Sevan, Armenia; and Salalah, Oman.
It also commendably reminds readers that the processes that govern our weather are unpredictable by including some factoids under the heading “Climate change” for each recommendation.
For Copenhagen, for example, Condé Nast Traveller advises, “Denmark has been getting wetter in recent years […] On the other hand, the country posted a freak summer high of 35 degrees Celsius in July 2022.
“The country is also one of the most forward in terms of climate adaption, with Copenhagen in particular leading on rainwater management for decades.”
Some publications dub this clamour for cooler climes a “new” trend, but the desire to beat the heat is as old as the hills.
Steamy Asia is dotted with hill stations that were developed in colonial times for those who could afford to decamp for the cooler climate and health and restorative benefits of a high-altitude sojourn.

Shimla, Manali and Darjeeling, in India, are all examples, as are the Cameron and Genting highlands, in Malaysia; Bokor, in Cambodia; and Sa Pa, in Vietnam. (Likewise, The Peak in Hong Kong initially offered an escape from the mugginess below in the days before air conditioning.)
Many of those places have long traded on their historical associations with leisure breaks taken for climatic reasons – and it seems their time has come again, alongside some new peers.
Eco-friendly movement
Precious few of the giant leaps needed to slow climate breakdown – and save ourselves from ourselves – are being made, but in their absence let us at least note the baby steps.
And electric tuk-tuks are a (silent) putt-putt in the right direction.

Raffles Grand Hotel d’Angkor, in Siem Reap, Cambodia, has introduced a fleet of electric three-wheelers in which to ferry around guests.
“Sustainability is top of mind in everything we do at Raffles Grand Hotel d’Angkor – from sourcing local ingredients in our restaurants and eliminating single-use plastics to other initiatives aimed at reducing our carbon footprint – and we are thrilled to be able to offer our guests these eco-friendly tuk-tuk passenger vehicles,” said general manager Joseph Colina, in a press release. (One presumes the hotel’s old, fossil-fuel-powered tuk-tuks were responsibly disposed of.)
The new T1 vehicles, produced by Phnom Penh-based Onion Mobility and featuring a white exterior shell, are not the first e-tuk-tuks on the streets of Siem Reap, but the hotel claims to be the first hospitality business in Cambodia to possess such vehicles.


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Asia travel

Extreme heat: cooler holidays trending as climate change’s effects felt in Europe and Asia

A tourist in Banff, Canada. Interest in “coolcations” – holidays in cooler places – is growing as climate breakdown pushes summer temperatures to record highs from Southeast Asia to Europe. Photo: Shutterstock

Tourists take pictures near the Acropolis, which was closed to visitors because of an early heatwave, in Athens in June, 2024. Photo: AFP

Muslim pilgrims pray beneath a cooling mist during the haj, in Saudi Arabia, in June, 2024. Photo: Reuters

Despite being seen as a cooler alternative to cities further south, the sun does occasionally shine in Copenhagen, Denmark. Photo: Getty Images

The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway. Darjeeling has long been a holiday destination for Indians wanting to escape the heat. Photo: Shutterstock

Electric tuk-tuks at the Raffles Grand Hotel d’Angkor, in Siem Reap. Photo: Raffles

Could AI save Japan from selfie taking hordes? Can travellers avoid ‘world’s worst airport’?

A tourist from Thailand poses on the Mount Fuji Dream Bridge in Fuji City, where authorities plan to erect a fence to stop visitors blocking the road to snap their dream photo. Photo: EPA-EFE

Mt Fuji is seen through a hole poked in a black screen installed to stop tourists taking photos of the mountain with a convenience store in Fujikawaguchiko in the foreground. Photo: Kyodo News/AP

Paparazzi and tourists chase a geisha in Kyoto, another tourist draw in Japan that is struggling to stop visitors behaving inconsiderately. Photo: Shutterstock

Tourists visit the Ruins of St. Paul in Macau, named one of the best destinations in Asia for attractions that can be viewed free of charge. Photo: Getty Images

Passengers crowd Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila, rated the world’s worst airport by a commentator writing for Britain’s The Times newspaper. Photo: Getty Images

For prostitutes, read parachutes: rise of ‘air sports’ shows Hainan tourism evolution

A paraglider hovers over a beach in Shimei Bay, Hainan. The island’s “low-altitude economy” is flourishing. Photo: Getty Images

A Hainan Airlines jet makes its final approach to Haikou airport in 1997. At the time the airport was in the centre of the city, and aviation officials were looking for financing to build a new one beyond the urban area. Photo: Reuters

A construction site in Haikou, Hainan, in 1999, when international hotel and resort chains were setting up on the island. Photo: AP

A paraglider hovers over a beach in Shimay Bay, on the coast of Hainan Island. Photo: Getty Images

An artists’ impression of the Marina Bay Sands expansion. Photo: Marina Bay Sands

Thailand is offering five-year visas to digital nomads and trainee Muay Thai boxers. Photo: AFP

Another deadly Everest spring climbing season – why are so many so eager to reach the summit?

Climbers and mountain guides are stranded between the South Summit and the Hillary Step of Mount Everest on May 21 after an ice collapse destroyed the fixed ropes used for climbing. The collapse was responsible for two of the eight known deaths on the peak in the spring climbing season. Photo: Getty Images

Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay on their climb to the top of Everest. In 1953 they became the first climbers confirmed to have reached the summit. Photo: Alfred Gregory/Royal Geographic Society

Junko Tabei on the summit of Everest in 1975. She was the first woman to reach the top. Photo: Getty Images

An enormous line of climbers at 7,700 metres altitude snakes up towards the summit of Mount Everest on May 20. Photo: Twitter/Everest Today

An elephant carries a tourist during a performance in Pattaya, Thailand. Petitioners are calling for an end to exploitation of the animals by the tourist trade. Photo: Getty Images

Animal welfare campaigners from World Animal Protection Thailand hand in a global petition to the Thai government demanding an end of cruel captive breeding of elephants for the country’s tourism sector. Photo: World Animal Protection

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As summer temperatures soar to new highs, interest grows in ‘coolcations’ in higher latitude and higher altitude destinations


With temperatures exceeding 38 degrees Celsius from Thailand to Greece and too little being done to slow climate breakdown, holidaymakers are looking for cooler places to visit.


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Destinations known | Extreme heat: cooler holidays trending as climate change’s effects felt in Europe and Asia

As summer temperatures soar to new highs, interest grows in ‘coolcations’ in higher latitude and higher altitude destinations