Climate and health: alarm from the 2025 Lancet Countdown.
The new Lancet Countdown 2025 Report sends a clear message: the climate crisis is turning into a global health crisis.
For the tourism sector, this means managing an increasing number of critical issues during travel.
Among the most relevant data for tourism:
- Since the 1990s, heat-related deaths have increased by +23%: the most vulnerable are the elderly, children, and travelers with health fragilities.
- In 2023, 124 million people were affected by drought and food insecurity, with direct impacts on water availability and essential services in many destinations.
- In 2024, 640 billion working hours were lost due to heat, resulting in operational disruptions, delays, and cancellations.
- Extreme events are steadily increasing: heatwaves, wildfires, sudden rainfall, and floods require faster response actions.
Fortunately, the international health sector is strengthening: 60% of countries have developed a climate–health adaptation plan, and clean energy production is creating more resilient systems, including in tourist destinations.
For tourism operators, all this means: more exposed travellers, more complex itineraries, more detailed assistance requests.
This is where Argos Assistance’s experience becomes an added value, with services dedicated to tourism professionals:
- 24/7 international medical assistance, essential in cases of heatstroke, dehydration, infections, or conditions worsened by extreme temperatures.
- Monitoring and management of environmental emergencies with logistical support for itinerary changes, early returns, or evacuations in areas affected by fires, floods, or heatwaves.
- Teleconsultation and coordination with local facilities to ensure timely treatment even in destinations with stressed health systems.
- Technical assistance to support customers in cases of delays, cancellations, or disruptions caused by extreme weather events.
- Claims management dedicated to tour operators, OTAs, and insurance companies, with digital, fast, and transparent processes.
- International legal assistance, increasingly important when unexpected events involve transport, local suppliers, or emergency situations.
With a global network of over 580,000 providers and proprietary technologies for real-time case management, Argos offers operators scalable, reliable support ready to face the new challenges posed by climate change.
Discover how Argos can become your operational partner.
