Summary of Key Points
This news article highlights a growing trend: extreme weather events such as typhoons, heavy rains, high temperatures, and sudden snowfalls are no longer occasional accidents but have become a regular threat. These phenomena not only turn tourists' vacations from enjoyable experiences into frightening or even dangerous situations but also severely impact key industries in the tourism sector, including attractions and homestays. As a result, the entire tourism industry is forced to undergo profound changes in both its response strategies and customer preferences.
Tourists: Traveling Is No Longer About Relaxation, but Rather about Avoiding Disasters and Seeking Safety
In the past, encountering bad weather during a trip might have been considered bad luck, but now it has become the norm. Jiao Yan's family has experienced three out of four trips with heavy rains and two typhoons; Wang Xuehua's 160,000-yuan cruise on the Danube turned into a daily ordeal due to low water levels caused by drought in Europe, with elderly passengers taking heart medicine and children falling ill. Zhang Li had a car accident while driving in Hulunbuir when clear weather suddenly turned to torrential rain, nearly causing a loss of control; in Hotan, Xinjiang, it even rained in the desert, where tourists like Li Feifei saw what resembled a sea. These incidents are not isolated cases: someone was awakened by a homestay owner in Zhenyuan, Guizhou, to evacuate due to flooding; 25 people were killed in a mountain flood while camping in Gansu; and others waited for hours under a rainstorm at Sanqingshan for an umbrella. Extreme weather has turned traveling from an enjoyable expense into a source of distress, even posing a threat to life.
Attractions: Years of Effort Destroyed in Seconds, Survival Becomes a Long-Term Battle
The impact of extreme weather on attractions is devastating. The 1,500-acre rainforest cultivated by the Hainan Tropical Wildlife Park over 28 years was destroyed by a typhoon, with 99% of it being wiped out, and it will take ten years to recover; the Shidu scenic area in Beijing was completely destroyed by a flood in 2023 and took three years to rebuild; a water park in Qingyuan, Guangdong, was washed away by rain within three days of opening, resulting in a loss of 30 million yuan; the Guigang Zoo in Guangxi lost three lions and hundreds of animals due to typhoons and floods, with daily feed costs amounting to 30,000 yuan, and reconstruction seems far off. The situation is even more dire when multiple extreme events strike in quick succession. From 2023 to 2025, the number of typhoons hitting China increased from six to ten, with three typhoons hitting Guangdong within 16 days, causing a loss of 3 million yuan at the Hailing Island scenic area alone. Some attractions cannot withstand such events and are forced to close (such as Salihu in Liaoning) or even go bankrupt and restructure (as in Shuidonggou in Ningxia, the first 5A-rated attraction to fail in the northwest).
Attractions' Self-Defense: Moving from Passive Response to Proactive Prevention
In the face of increasingly frequent extreme weather, attractions are taking steps to survive:
- Technology for Protection: Pingyu Village in Beijing installed eight solar cameras, allowing village officials to monitor the mountain flood situation in real time and warn tourists to stay away from danger via mobile phones.
- Proactive Closure: The Wulaofeng scenic area in Shanxi simply closes during the flood season (August 1 to October 1), preferring to lose revenue than risk safety.
- Cancelling Reservations: Wang Yuan, a homestay owner in Pinggu, Beijing, cancelled a dinner reservation for 130 people upon receiving a rainstorm warning, preferring to lose money rather than put guests at risk.
- Strengthening Facilities: Pingyu Village built a wall over 60 meters long to prevent landslides. Although these measures result in short-term losses, they can prevent more severe disasters.
Tourists' Changing Travel Preferences: Safety and Comfort Become Priorities
Extreme weather has completely changed the way tourists make travel decisions:
- Avoiding Risks: According to Booking data, 74% of people consider extreme weather risks when planning their trips, and 31% adjust their itineraries due to weather (with higher figures in the Asia-Pacific region, at 44%). During the heatwave in Dunhuang, some tourists who managed to secure tickets to the Mogao Caves still chose to cancel their bookings.
- Turning to Cooler Destinations: Searches for cave tours have increased by 100% (with temperatures typically between 12-18°C), and bookings for lesser-known summer destinations like Liupanshui and Shennongjia have doubled. Northern Europe (Norway, Iceland) has become new favorites for European travelers.
- Preferring Indoor Activities: Searches for indoor ice skating in Shanghai have increased by 105%, and those for indoor skiing by 111%. Parents prefer to take their children to indoor venues to skate in down jackets rather than endure 40°C heat outdoors.
The Future of the Tourism Industry: Adapt or Disappear
Extreme weather is not a temporary phenomenon but a consequence of global warming. Attractions have two options:
- Learn to Coexist: By using technology for early warnings, strengthening facilities, and adjusting operating hours (e.g., avoiding flood seasons).
- Be Eliminated: Those attractions that do not prepare or respond slowly may be completely destroyed by a single extreme event.
For tourists, having umbrellas and thick coats in their luggage has become the norm. They no longer ask if it will rain but think about what to do if it does. This is the impact of extreme weather on our travel habits.
This summer, typhoons and heavy rains will continue, but the tourism industry is already undergoing a silent transformation: safety and adaptation to climate have become the new rules of the game. The essence of this news is that extreme weather is changing the way we travel and even the entire tourism ecosystem. Each of us is being forced to adapt to this increasingly unstable world.