A “heat dome” is baking Europe, forcing some of the region’s top attractions to trim hours or pause operations right as peak tourist season kicks off.
Florence's Uffizi Galleries suspended ticket sales after its air conditioning system failed. The Louvre and Eiffel Tower are closing early. And the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle was called off altogether this week.
Rail operations are also melting down. Eurostar canceled some London-Paris trains, while France’s SNCF scrapped 71 intercity trains earlier this week.
Disruptions from extreme heat may be the new normal for Europe, with the UK’s Met Office saying events like this will only become more frequent.
VISIT JAMAICA + SKIFT MEETINGS
Strong growth. New pressures. Skift's latest report gives travel leaders the data to stay ahead.
EDITOR’S PICKS
Heat Wave Hits Some of Europe’s Top Tourist Attractions
June 24, 2026
Europe faces record-high temperatures just as its peak travel season ramps up.
What Albania’s Flamingo Revolution Tells Us About Sovereign Capital’s Coastline Problem
June 25, 2026
The largest tourism-real-estate deals increasingly arrive with a demand for exceptional treatment: special investor status, rewritten protections, consent bypassed. Albania is just the loudest case; the governance failure is the same everywhere.
London Climate Event on Extreme Heat Canceled Due to Extreme Heat
June 24, 2026
London and much of the UK are exposed to extreme heat, with buildings designed to retain warmth and little air conditioning. The science says it will only get worse.
AlUla Is Tripling Its Hotel Rooms to Chase 1 Million Visitors by 2030
June 23, 2026
The destination has a real demand story. The question is whether the room pipeline can keep pace.
The Saudization of Saudi Tourism
June 22, 2026
The war gave Saudi tourism the clarity it could not give itself: the durable market is domestic and regional, the leadership is Saudi, and the reset is real.
World Cup Week 1: Boosting Hotel Revenue, But Occupancy Lags
June 20, 2026
The global soccer tournament is juicing revenue per available room, even if it’s not delivering the occupancies hotels had been expecting.
UK and Australia Lift Gulf Travel Warnings, But European Airlines Await Clearance
June 18, 2026
Gulf travel advisories are moving. War-risk insurance authorization isn’t — and that’s the constraint that controls when European airlines come back.
JTB Is Expanding Out of Japan. EXO Travel Is the Latest Deal
June 18, 2026
JTB no longer seems content being Japan's travel company. With the pieces now assembled, it intends to be Asia's, and is making a case for the world's.
Cruises Carry July Fourth Travel to a Slim Record
June 17, 2026
Yes, it's another record. But strip out cruises and growth in July Fourth travel nearly evaporates.
If Only America Could Get Out of Its Own Way….
June 17, 2026
The brands lining up to buy a piece of Freddy are going to fail; it shows how little America's pull depends on marketing, and how much it depends on the country getting out of its own way.
SKIFT PODCAST NETWORK
Las Vegas air traffic is down 6%. Gordon and Jay work through what's behind it, then turn to a U.S. market headed firmly the other way.
