Airfares
There are several factors at play. From 2027, airlines in 126 member states will be required offset growth in carbon dioxide emissions. Some airlines are getting in there early. Qantas Airways and its sister carrier Jetstar Airways have already raised fuel surcharges on international flights and introduced additional “carbon-levy” style costs (for example, an additional $7 for return flights to London/Frankfurt) tied to higher fuel/carbon costs.
Airlines are also more likely to have to stump up costs due to increased disrupted flights or cancellations. Weather incidents will cost passengers more, too. “Extreme weather events are creating more frequent flight cancellations and delays, which [also] drives up costs for travellers through additional accommodation, rebooking fees, and extended trips,” says Jacob Wedderburn-Day, who is CEO and co-founder of luggage storage company Stasher and has a professional background in climate change issues.
Peak-season prices
“Shorter and less predictable tourist seasons are driving up peak prices,” says Nardia Sullivan, head of sustainable travel at Wild Frontiers. As optimal weather conditions shrink, peak season prices will increase, as the period once considered peak season becomes shorter and travelers clamor to align vacations with a smaller window of ideal weather.
What’s more, travelers who attempt to save money by vacationing during shoulder or off-peak seasons will almost certainly see an increase in those prices, too. “Even vacations taken during low-cost shoulder seasons, the traditionally cheaper periods between peak and off-peak, are becoming more expensive as travelers adjust their plans to avoid extreme weather,” says Sullivan.
Hotel rates
Climate change isn’t just hammering our low-lying islands and wildlife reserves. It’s also hammering hotels, which are facing huge additional costs wreaked by unpredictable weather patterns. “Behind the scenes, destinations are having to invest heavily in climate resilience, whether that’s strengthening infrastructure or improving water and energy management, and these costs ultimately feed through to travellers,” says Sullivan at Wild Frontiers.
Hotels are also facing hikes in insurance costs due to the increasing number of weather-related claims such as from flooding or tornadoes. The good news? If travelers can weather this investment period, prices will eventually decrease, say experts at Sustainable Hospitality Alliance, which estimates that hotels which prioritize sustainability can reduce their operating costs by up to 30%.
Entry fees
Climate change will push up entry fees to certain landmarks and tourist attractions, and once again, remote locations are most likely to be affected.
“In South America, and especially in Peru, the effects of climate change are already having economic repercussions on tourism,” says Hedder Quispe Puente de la Vega, founder of Machu Travel Peru. “In Andean regions such as the Sacred Valley, irregular rainfall is affecting the maintenance of roads, trekking routes, and archaeological sites, forcing authorities and operators to allocate more resources to conservation and safety. In the Amazon, higher temperatures and unpredictable rains have increased spending on river transport, infrastructure, and sanitary measures.” And these are all costs which will, inevitably, be passed onto vacationers or even affect their safety.
Getting to far-flung destinations
If all this doom and gloom has you dreaming of a vacation on a remote island, be warned. The world’s more remote locations will, in many ways, be impacted the most, whether by limited transport routes for supplies like building materials or by staff shortages as worker bases relocate to places less prone to weather-related catastrophes. Bear in mind sea levels rises are projected to increase by around 0.8–0.9m (2.6–2.95 feet) by 2100.
The ideal travel windows to these places are also growing shorter due to the fact that many properties (picture an eco-lodge on a remote low-lying island prone to sea level rise) will be less equipped to cope with climate-related emergencies than a swanky, corporate-funded Hilton in a city center.
Travel insurance
Comparison shopping for travel insurance is more important than ever at a time when premiums are likely to rise due to more claims being filed as storms scupper more holiday plans and cancel more flights.
Hotels, resorts, and tour operators are facing higher insurance costs too. “Insurance premiums for tourism businesses are rising steeply due to the greater risk of storms, droughts, and fires,” says Professor Xavier Font, an expert in sustainable tourism at the United Kingdom’s University of Surrey. “Some destinations are becoming uninsurable, which will make travel there rarer and more expensive.”
Increased tourist taxes
Climate change is prompting more destinations to introduce new taxes or increase additional ones. “Travellers are likely to face new climate-linked taxes or levies,” warns Font. “Many destinations are starting to use tourist taxes to fund climate adaptation, such as protecting coastlines or managing water scarcity.”
Destinations already increasing visitor fees include Greece, which turned its overnight stay tax into a Climate Crisis Resilience Fee (starting around €3/US $3.50 a night), and New Zealand, where an International Visitor Levy, which supports conservation efforts and sustainable tourism infrastructure, was introduced in 2019 but has since tripled to around NZD $100/US $131.
"Green" travel
Ironically, the growing popularity of green travel is likely to make vacations more expensive, too. Take Great Britain, where railway companies are having to spend more on infrastructure repair work due to climate change-related incidents such as flooding. Rail fares there increased by 5.1% in 2025 compared to a 3.2% increase the year before. Yet as more travelers choose rail for environmental reasons, the number of rail journeys in the UK rose by 16% between April 2023 and March 2024, suggesting there’s more costly wear and tear coming down the track.
“As travelers become more aware of climate risk and policy, demand could shift,” says Professor Christian Brand, Emeritus Professor in Transport, Energy & Climate Change at the University of Oxford’s Transport Studies Unit and Environmental Change Institute. “People might avoid high-emission flights, choosing ‘greener’ travel such as trains, but this can push up prices of the greener options simply because demand is higher.”
So how can we save money on our vacations?
Do your research. Taking a wider range of factors into account will become increasingly important. Is rainy season in South East Asia really too rainy for you, or are we talking about a few short, sharp showers? How much will your travel insurance cost?
Whatever you do, don’t make the mistake of ditching travel insurance because of high insurance premiums in remote locations, either—it’s worth bearing in mind that in destinations such as Nepal or more isolated areas of the French Alps, even a short medivac flight would cost uninsured travellers around $10,000. Being insured is still important.
Embrace sustainable travel. This is somewhat of a long game, but opting for greener travel and choosing sustainable hotels and destinations will help keep travel viable for the wider world by reducing demand (and thereby the ability to hike fees) for properties in destinations where the priority is cold, hard cash, not combatting climate change.
“The solution lies in investing in sustainability,” says Sullivan at Wild Frontiers. “By sharing responsibility across the industry, we can help keep travel both viable and responsible in a changing climate.”
Stay local. It might not be what you want to hear, but traveling to far-flung destinations isn’t just looking like it’ll be worse for the environment—but it’s also increasingly likely to be bad for your wallet too.
“The most effective step is to travel less often and less far, as research from the Travel Foundation’s Envision 2030 report showed that distance travelled has the greatest impact on emissions,” says Jeremy C. Smith, a writer, speaker, and sustainable tourism consultant. “When people do travel, choosing destinations and businesses investing in genuine climate action, biodiversity restoration, and community benefit helps ensure that our individual choices support and reinforce collective progress.”