Fancy a trip to Belgium or Poland next year? How Brits could choose to sunbathe on the Baltic coast...
Sun-seeking Brits could soon turn to or the Nordic coast for their summer getaways, Europe's biggest travel agents has predicted, as traditional holiday hotspots in the Mediterranean and Algarve continue to be plagued by wildfires. Sebastian Ebel, chief executive of , said European destinations like the Nordics, Belgium and Poland could become the next holiday meccas for British tourists seeking to steer clear of areas recently ravaged by extreme heat and infernos. The travel boss insisted and rising global temperatures could force families into seeking new holiday locations - with Tui The company is rolling out new tour packages covering the north of the continent, including Scandinavia, the and Belgium, with a particular emphasis on taking bookings in the spring and autumn. Mr Ebel also believes that already-popular destinations with more moderate climates, such as the Canary Islands, will experience a boom in popularity as countries such as , and Portugal swelter and deal with a rising number of wildfire incidents at the peak of summer. Last month saw 8,000 holidaymakers being evacuated by Tui from the Greek island of Rhodes after it was engulfed in a huge wildfire. The disruption cost the travel giant about 21milllion. However, destinations around the Mediterranean are likely to benefit from a longer holiday season too, with Tui mulling over whether to extend the season for hotter countries to include more spring and autumn months. 'There will be changes,' Mr Ebel said of the German firm's future package offerings, reports the . 'The Canary Islands...will benefit from a more moderate climate. We will [also] focus on new destinations like the Nordics, Belgium and Holland.' Tui believes that more cautious tourists may opt for lesser-visited destinations in the wake of terrifying wildfires that wreaked havoc in southern Europe this summer. However, Mr Ebel does not believe that everyone will be put off. 'Is that [change to our business] a threat to the business around the Mediterranean? No, it gives us more opportunities for growth,' he said. 'We will go into Greece to the middle of November,' he said, adding that Tui could even take bookings 'until or after Christmas'. 'It gives us more opportunities for growth,' he insisted. His comments came after apocalyptic scenes continued to play out in Spain and Portugal as fresh wildfires sprouted weeks after as blazes spread close to holiday hotspots. The company says it could face 25 million (21.5m) of costs following the fires on Rhodes, where a days-long state of emergency was declared by the Greek government. Tui splashed out to evacuate 8,000 customers from the island as flames drew dangerously close to tourist hotspots. It maintains that 80 percent of its guests on the island were unaffected by the fires, but admitted that it had seen a slight decline in bookings following the terrifying scenes of burning forests and Mr Ebel added: 'We had a small slip during the wildfires and the heat. This has now normalised again. 'We are looking very positive into the winter and [the rest of] the summer despite the consumer climate.' The company reported pre-tax earnings of 169.4m (146.2m) in the three months to the end of June, up from a loss of 27m (23.3m) for the same period last year. It is TUI's first profitable early summer quarter since before the Covid-19 pandemic, suggesting a return to normality for holidaymakers. Other European nations are continuing to contend with wildfires of their own amid record temperatures. 1.5C warmer than the average between 1850 and 1900. as more than thousands of acres of woodland were destroyed. Hundreds of tourists have been forced to flee resorts in the Alentejo region after the fire took hold, but fire chiefs have since said that the fire is now under control, reports Reuters. Spanish weather services have warned that temperatures were expected to top 44C on Wednesday, prompting fears of further wildfires 'This will probably be the hottest five August days in 73 years,' AEMET, the state meteorological agency, told the AFP news agency. Almost the entire country remains on a red weather alert.