[Article] Tourism-related short-term migration for heat adaptation

What if, during the next extreme heatwave, staying in the city is no longer the safest option?

We usually think about heat adaptation as something we do to cities: plant trees, add shade, create cooling centers, redesign streets, improve buildings, or install air conditioning. But people adapt too. Sometimes, they leave. Our study in Human Settlements and Sustainability explores an emerging response to extreme urban heat: tourism-related short-term migration to cooler places.

In Chongqing, one of China's hottest megacities, escaping summer heat for nearby mountains is becoming more than tourism. For some people, it is a form of climate adaptation. And this raises a deeply human question: When a city becomes unbearably hot, who has the freedom to leave, and who has to stay?

We surveyed 768 residents of Chongqing. More than 70% reported severe impacts on outdoor activities, 68% on transportation, and heat also substantially disrupted work, sleep, and diet. The results reveal something striking:

• 41.4% had migrated to cooler areas for heat relief. Among those migrating, 241 traveled within Chongqing and 176 traveled to other provinces.

• Heat itself was not the whole story. Perceived heat severity and emotional responses did not significantly explain migration decisions.

• Instead, the ability to escape heat was strongly shaped by gender, age, education, income, job flexibility, access to information, and adaptation awareness and knowledge.

• Income buys options. Job flexibility buys time. Higher income provided stronger financial support for migration, while flexible work enabled people to travel farther in search of cooler environments.

This is where the study goes beyond tourism. The freedom to escape extreme heat is itself becoming a dimension of climate inequality. Two people can experience the same heatwave but have completely different adaptation possibilities. One can work remotely, afford transportation and accommodation, and spend several weeks in the mountains. Another may have a fixed job, limited income, family responsibilities, or no realistic possibility of leaving. Climate vulnerability is therefore not only about how hot your neighborhood becomes. It is also about how many choices you have when it becomes too hot.

There is another side to this story. If millions of urban residents increasingly seek temporary refuge in cooler regions, those destinations must be prepared. Responsible "cool tourism" requires transportation, electricity, water, accommodation, food, healthcare, and services, while protecting the very natural cooling resources that attract people there in the first place. Perhaps climate adaptation in a warming world will not only mean making hot cities more resilient. It may also mean creating networks of climate refuges, places that can temporarily receive people safely, affordably, and responsibly during periods of extreme heat.

Congratulations to Bao-Jie He, Jinda Qi, Ali Cheshmehzangi, Deo Prasad, Leila Mohaghegh Zahed, Yao Mao, Junqing Tang, Andreas Matzarakis, Zhengxuan Liu, and all collaborators on this thought-provoking work.

A question for urban planners, climate scientists, tourism researchers, employers, and policymakers:

If temporary migration becomes a legitimate heat-adaptation strategy, how do we make sure the right to escape extreme heat does not become a privilege reserved for those who can afford it?

📘 Full article: https://orbi.uliege.be/handle/2268/336460

📚 Learn more about our research: https://www.sbd.uliege.be/

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