Each month the Scattered Clouds blog takes a look at the wonderful world of tourism through a data and evidence-led lens, all in pursuit of transforming tourism sector data into insight of course!
Hot - June 2026
Late last month I was prompted to devote my latest blog post to the potential impacts of one particular aspect of climate change on tourism here in Britain courtesy of two events; the publication of the latest report from the Climate Change Committee (CCC) and parts of Britain experiencing record breaking May temperatures, with six consecutive days on which temperatures topped 30 degrees Celsius – prior to this year only ten days in May in the previous 126 years had been this hot.
As regular readers will know I do love a weather stat, so we’ll begin by rummaging around in Met Office data that allows us to explore our summer temperatures (with meteorological summer being the months of June, July and August) dating all the way back to 1884.
Out of those 142 summers the mean UK temperature has only been above 20°C on eleven occasions, five of which are well within living memory (assuming your living memory dates back to 2003). The warmest (based on mean temperature) UK summer remains 1976 with an average bang on 21°C, a summer that my living memory also extends to, although I was little at the time!
What about maximum summer temperatures? The record is currently held by Coningsby in Lincolnshire where the mercury topped 40.3°C on 19th July 2022, with that also being the day seeing the highest daily minimum temperature - a balmy 26.8°C at Shirburn Model Farm, which in case you were wondering is in Oxfordshire.
I reckon that for many of Britain’s visitor attractions there is a Goldilocks summer temperature sitting within the range of 22-25°C. That’s the sort of temperature when being out and about in a t-shirt and shorts is perfectly comfortable and indoor spaces that aren’t air conditioned don’t become stiflingly hot. If the media is full of stories of temperatures soaring into the thirties many folk may decide they’ll either stay at home and relax in their garden (if they have one) or head to their nearest park or beach.
While entirely rational, the expectation (and / or reality) of very hot weather tends to be detrimental to many indoor and even some outdoor visitor attractions (perhaps with the exception of businesses whose primary source of revenue is selling the likes of ice creams and cold drinks). The number of days each year that the words “It’s too hot to go there” will be uttered is set to grow rather than diminish.
The Climate Change Committee (CCC) has regularly stated that the UK has seen limited progress on preparing ourselves for a changing climate, including the likelihood of hotter summers. It is estimated that UK temperatures exceeding 40°C is now twenty times more likely than had been the case back in the 1960s.
According to Met Office projections, by 2070 the average UK summer temperature could be up to 6°C warmer than they had typically been back in the 1990s (although this is at the top end of the projection range), as well as being as much as 60% drier. The average hottest summer day could be 7°C warmer than in 1990, or put another way, exceeding 40°C may not be especially newsworthy forty years from now. If global temperatures by 2050 are 2°C higher than their preindustrial norm, UK heatwaves could peak at 43°C.
The impacts of excessive heat (and the lack of rainfall that tends to accompany such weather) are many and varied with the health and wellbeing of the elderly and vulnerable most acute, and in this regard we need to consider the implications for indoor tourism spaces, whether that’s accommodation, visitor attractions, cultural venues or alike.
Many of the buildings in which visitors stay overnight were built many decades ago and do not have air conditioning, with it not remotely uncommon to stay in a small B&B where a portable desk fan is the only tool offered to guests looking to cool their room, with these about as much use as the proverbial chocolate teapot, succeeding only in moving hot air around the room as opposed to cooling it.
Investing in measures to keep indoor spaces cool will be essential in the years ahead, whether that’s fully-fledged air conditioning or measures such as improving ventilation and shade. The issue of hot indoor spaces isn’t just something to worry about from the perspective of the visitor experience, but also from the perspective of those who are in the employ of visitor economy businesses being asked to work in those spaces. While not suggesting a specific maximum workplace temperature, the CCC has recommended the government considers the need for such a measure.
The recent Climate Change Committee report devoted a full chapter to the impacts of a changing climate on our cultural heritage, whether that’s heritage sites and buildings, cultural landscapes, monuments, artworks, artefacts etc. The report states that our cultural heritage (vital for the prosperity of both domestic and inbound tourism) is at risk of loss from climate change, though many of these risks relate to other aspects of climate change than extreme or prolonged heat, for example flooding.
It is recommended by the CCC that those responsible for our heritage and cultural assets identify the full scope and number of assets at risk, the adaptations available to lessen the risks and the scale of investment necessary to achieve this. These measures may include protective cooling for sensitive material, limiting the volume of people within a confined space that’s prone to overheating, the digitisation of collections or relocating movable assets to a more favourable spot.
The challenges posed through high temperatures don’t relate solely to historical objects that one might encounter when visiting a National Trust or English Heritage property but extend to outdoor contemporary culture events such as music festivals. It will become increasingly important for organisers of outdoor summer events to ensure attendees have access to adequate hydration and shade, or alternatively, think about rescheduling events to times of year (or times of day) when temperatures are unlikely to pose a risk.
Most people enjoy being outdoors in the natural environment when it’s hot and sunny, but the landscape and the flora and fauna that calls it home, is at risk when there is excessive heat, for example being far more prone to wildfires. In 2025 wildfires saw 40,000 hectares burned due to both natural causes such as lightning, but more often through careless or deliberate human behaviour.
What the CCC term as enablers to lessen the risk to our heritage and culture from climate change is, as one might expect, topped by resources, both those from public and private sectors, but what is also made clear is that establishing clear plans, roles and responsibilities matters a great deal, as does the collation of data covering both the extent of risk and the effectiveness of different forms of mitigation.
Tourism relies on people being able to move around, and while most domestic trips are by car many millions are by rail, and excessive heat plays havoc with Britain’s rail infrastructure, requiring the imposition of speed limits due to the risk of buckling tracks. There are plenty of countries with far hotter climates than ours that don’t face this issue to the same extent thanks to using a range of construction techniques, but retrofitting our railways to this standard comes with a not inconsequential price tag, so given the current state of public finances it’s likely that speed restrictions will be a summer staple on our rail network for many years to come.
On a grey January day with a stiff easterly blowing we yearn for the warmth of the sun, but as the coming years unfold that wish may be granted to a greater extent than we’d like.