00:03Standing eight hours per day in an archaeological site with no shade,
00:07all leading a city tour by 30 degrees in the midst of the touristic season,
00:11and while Europe is facing record-breaking temperatures,
00:15several tourist guides wander on the front line during heat waves,
00:18and they face the consequences.
00:20Last summer, a 56-year-old guide died after collapsing
00:23while leading a visit of the Colosseum in Rome in scorching heat.
00:30On a été à Perouche, qui est une petite ville médiévale qui est au nord-est de Lyon,
00:35et il ne fait que 40 degrés au soleil, c'est assez compliqué.
00:40The French guide says, while self-employed tourist guides may ask their customers
00:44to cancel or postpone the visit because of the heat,
00:47it is often not an option for guides working for intermediaries,
00:50since the visits are sometimes booked well in advance.
00:53La plupart du temps, on travaille pour une agence, un tour opérateur, un croisiériste,
00:57ça peut être très varié, comme je disais avant,
01:00et là , c'est eux qui choisissent, très clairement,
01:02et la plupart du temps, c'est pas annulé, mais ça arrive.
01:05Instead of cancelling a visit, some of his colleagues have, for instance,
01:10asked their employers to turn a bike tour into a bus tour
01:12or to replace a walking tour of the city by a visit of an air-conditioned museum.
01:17Gabriel says this change is also in the interest of the visitors,
01:21as most of his customers are above 60 years old and some do not support the heat.
01:26Meanwhile, while the UK is set to face its hottest summer on record,
01:29the head of training for the European Federation of Tourist Guide Associations
01:33says sites should extend their opening hours
01:36to allow early and late visits during the coolest part of the day.
01:40In Greece, a lot of museums and open-air sites open very early in the morning
01:46and they remain open until 8, 9 o'clock in the evening
01:51so people can visit at times which are more comfortable
01:57rather than in the midday sun.
02:01Demis also encourages museums and sites to build covers
02:05for groups to wait in the shade while curing to enter
02:08or when stopping for explanations.
02:10Other solutions include distributing water bottles,
02:13increasing the number of public water fountains
02:15and installing misters to cool visitors down.
02:18While heat waves are set to become more intense and more frequent
02:21due to climate change, visitors could also favour a trip in May or September
02:25rather than at the height of summer.
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