Success comes at a cost. It is not difficult to imagine why every year millions of tourists flock to the sunny coast of Barcelona or get lost in the maze of alleys and canals of
, but big fame also brings big challenges. While overcrowding is one of the most pressing issues for popular destinations, there are many aspects that should be considered when thinking of overtourism, a phenomenon that is becoming increasingly important to tackle in Europe, the
How many tourists are too many tourists?
Since there is no magic figure that can be determined to avoid turning popularity into overcrowding, destinations should rather look at different metrics and set priorities according to their specific needs. For instance, based on the
number of tourist arrivals per inhabitant in European cities in 2023, Lloret de Mar, Dubrovnik, and Venice reported much higher tourism intensity than other travel hotspots like Lisbon or Seville. Meanwhile, Budapest, Barcelona, and Prague recorded sharper
compound annual growth rates of domestic overnight stays than Amsterdam or Madrid from 2019 to 2023, whereas Paris and Florence had far more
Airbnb listings per 1,000 residents than Rome and London in 2024. While none of these individual metrics themselves are conclusive evidence of overtourism, they point to a growing trend of a city's popularity outgrowing its means.
What do Europeans think of overtourism?
Mass tourism is certainly not a recent problem in Europe. However, the thousands of people who took to the streets in 2024 in cities like Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca, where the
share of inbound visitors out of total arrivals exceeds 80 percent, gave new attention to this phenomenon. Rather than protesting against tourism itself, a valuable economic source in the Mediterranean, residents demanded a more sustainable model, as soaring house prices and overcrowded places triggered frustration and anger among locals. As the demonstrations against overtourism were particularly well attended in Spain, it was no surprise that in a 2024 survey exploring the
opinions of Europeans on inbound tourists in their local area, Spaniards showed the most unfavorable attitude. Similarly, 54 percent of Spanish respondents supported the initiative of
introducing a tourist tax fee to enter popular cities, while less than half of surveyed Italians backed that idea.
How can the challenges of overtourism be addressed?
Overall, with the number of international tourist arrivals surpassing pre-pandemic levels in France, Spain, and other
leading travel markets in Europe in 2023, overtourism will remain a central issue for the most renowned cities in the region. While coping with an excessive number of inbound visitors would be paramount for certain destinations, managing an increase in domestic tourists and same-day travelers or better regulating the
short-term rental market would be equally important for others. That said, there is one aspect that is key to all destinations when it comes to overtourism, regardless of their individual context: the residents’ perspective, as involving locals in finding the right solutions for their community is what really matters. After all, what is the city but the people?
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