The European summer holiday, that near-sacred institution, is quietly becoming a luxury. Fresh analysis this week laid out an uncomfortable map of the continent: where a week away still fits a normal budget, and where it has drifted out of reach for all but the comfortable.
The squeeze is not evenly shared. Years of stubborn inflation, higher borrowing costs and rising rents have thinned the disposable income that once funded a fortnight by the sea. In some countries household earnings have gone backwards even as the wider economy grows, leaving families to trade the coast for the campsite, or to stay home altogether.
The result is a two-speed holiday season. At the top, demand for premium travel has barely flinched; the villas and business-class cabins remain full. In the middle, the calculations have grown harder, with travellers hunting shoulder-season deals, cheaper destinations and shorter trips to protect the ritual without breaking the bank.
There is a cultural cost hidden in the spreadsheet. The August escape has long been part of how Europe understands itself, a democratic pleasure available from Naples to Gothenburg. As affordability fractures along national and class lines, the question is no longer only where Europeans go on holiday, but who still gets to go at all.
