Tourists are increasingly travelling outside the summer months, transforming the Mediterranean as more people avoid extreme heat and crowds in July and August. Governments are also pushing to ease peak-season pressure. Some hotels in Greece, Spain and Italy are now recording autumn guest numbers that rival summer, as decades of sun-and-sea holiday habits shift under the influence of climate change and protests against overtourism.
The trend promises a longer stretch of earnings for hotel and restaurant owners and their staff. However, it may also deepen the Mediterranean's dependence on tourism, the core of a low-productivity economic model that some policymakers want to replace. Yannis Hatzis, president of the Hellenic Hoteliers Federation, said October is becoming a fantastic month. "Heat, crowds and prices are pushing people towards better-quality weeks," he said. In Greece, which received 43mn visitors last year, the longer season is increasingly benefiting island destinations including Crete, Rhodes, Kos, Corfu and Santorini.
Amancio López, chair of Barcelona-based Hotusa, said its Eurostars hotel in Taormina, Sicily, had higher occupancy in September than in August, and the same held for its hotels in Naples and Lisbon. He noted that milder autumns allow more time for outdoor dining and beach strolls, and warned that climate change could pose a threat to peak-season destinations as temperatures rise.
Summer remains the busiest period, but the fastest growth is in spring and autumn. In Greece, July and August accounted for 37.8 per cent of tourism receipts in 2025, down from 42.9 per cent in 2019. In Spain, foreign arrivals in May rose 9.5 per cent to 10.3mn, exceeding June's 9.7mn.
Source: Financial Times Companies · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing