River holidays along the Danube and the Rhine are increasingly under threat as fears grow that Europe’s major waterways will be troubled by drought for years to come.
Weeks of dry weather and extreme heat across the Continent have caused water levels to fall to a record low in the Danube at Budapest, while ships are struggling to transport goods and passengers down long stretches of the Rhine.
The drought has made the rivers increasingly challenging for cruise ships to navigate and has led to fears that hotter summers will cause significant disruption for holidaymakers seeking relaxation.
Viking, the world’s biggest river tour operator, warned this week that more than half its bookings between July and mid-August had been impacted by low water issues in Europe, leading to curtailed trips and coach transfers between ships.
Analysts are now warning that if low water levels persist, demand for river cruises could slump as tourists choose more predictable holidays.
S&P Global, the financial ratings agency, said: “Low water levels pose a risk to river cruise operators and could affect future river cruises, resulting in vouchers, cancellations, and higher costs.
“If low water conditions are prolonged or become more volatile over future years, this could affect future bookings and overall demand for river cruises if customers become wary of the certainty of river conditions.”
Long stretches of the Danube have seen water levels fall to 30-year lows, making them impassable to larger vessels. The shallow waters have led to the discoveries of sunken Nazi warships in Serbia and a 700kg unexploded British bomb near Virt, Slovakia.
The low water levels have left some cruise customers complaining that large chunks of their European river tour have been replaced by gruelling bus transfers.
Viking said this week it had not called off any cruises, but between 10pc and 12pc of guests who had booked a trip along the Danube and Rhine had opted to cancel, with the company offering future cruise vouchers to them instead.
The low water levels have made normal tour operations increasingly challenging for Viking, with two cruise ships running aground.
Bulgarian police evacuated 186 passengers from the Viking Ullur last month after the ship came into contact with the sandbank along the Danube.
Viking Einar ran aground with around 190 passengers on board on the Rhine River in Cologne, Germany, at the end of June as it attempted to dock.
In a statement, Viking insisted it was “uniquely positioned to manage water-level situations such as these”.
It said it had a network of “sister ships” along its routes to allow for “ship swaps” where guests can “transfer to their exact same stateroom on an identical sister ship on the other side of the affected section of river”.
Several other cruise businesses have also reported travel disruption because of the low water levels.
Riviera Cruises has cancelled three of its cruises along the Danube River this week and six trips scheduled to begin later this month are currently under review. A number of its ships are also travelling with revised itineraries because of the low water levels.
Emerald Cruises and Tours also warned passengers that low water levels were causing challenges for ships along the Danube, Rhine and Main rivers.
Viking Cruises, Riviera Cruises and Emerald Cruise and Tours were contacted for comment.