Overcrowded Getaways: Where Travelers Are No Longer Appreciated
In Europe, a growing concern over overtourism has led to a wave of measures aimed at reducing visitor pressure on popular destinations and mitigating impacts on local communities.
In Greece, super-destination islands like Santorini and Mykonos now require a 20 euro entry fee from cruise tourists. The revenue generated from these fees is invested in infrastructure to manage the influx of visitors. However, unmanaged beaches are disappearing due to beach bars and sun loungers taking up the last free space. To address this issue, authorities are now monitoring and enforcing the law more strictly, ensuring at least half of the beach area remains accessible to everyone.
Spain, on the other hand, is heading towards a new tourist record by 2025, with the potential of over 100 million foreign visitors this year. This influx of tourists has led to housing shortages, environmental pollution, traffic chaos, noise pollution, rising prices, and destruction of nature. In response, the government is considering measures such as significantly increasing the tourist tax and abolishing the rental of holiday homes.
Barcelona residents have taken matters into their own hands by turning around signs pointing to the bunkers on Turó de la Rovira to mislead visitors. The situation in Italy is similar, with mass tourism leading to overcrowded hiking trails, historic towns, and irritated locals. Venice, for instance, earned over five million euros from entrance fees for day-trippers in 2025, but the problem of overcrowding persisted.
In an effort to combat overtourism, Europe is employing several strategies. Limiting tourist capacity is one such strategy, as seen in Italy’s South Tyrol region where authorities have put caps on the number of tourist beds to avoid overcrowding. France is also implementing this approach by capping short-term holiday rentals and reducing the number of nights properties can be rented.
Seasonal and geographic redistribution is another strategy being used to spread visitor numbers. This involves encouraging tourists to travel off-peak or explore less crowded areas, aiming to alleviate pressure from just a few hotspots and summer months.
Sustainable infrastructure and transport are also key components of Europe's overtourism management. France, for example, leverages its extensive and fast rail network to promote train travel over short domestic flights, reshaping travel patterns to be greener and less concentrated around major airports or hubs.
Tourist behavior incentives are also being used to encourage eco-friendly and respectful behavior. Copenhagen, for instance, runs a program called “CopenPay” that rewards tourists for biking, using public transport, or participating in local clean-up activities with free or discounted access to attractions and tours.
Regulatory and enforcement measures are also being implemented to control mass tourism. Cities like Paris enforce stricter rules on short-term rentals, limit mass tourism in congested areas, and support alternative tourist routes and accommodations to reduce overload.
Promotion of ecological and inclusive tourism is another strategy being used. France emphasizes ecological, socially inclusive, and digitally savvy tourism to enhance quality and sustainability over mere volume, aiming for longer stays and more meaningful experiences.
These combined approaches reflect growing recognition among European countries that overtourism threatens both environmental health and community well-being, prompting active policy interventions focused on sustainability, equity, and visitor management.
In Mallorca, activists have resorted to placing fake signs warning of jellyfish, rockfall, or swimming bans to keep tourists away from beaches. Austria's Hallstatt, a tiny community of 750 people, welcomes over a million visitors annually, many from Asia, and is considering limiting access to the national road to manage tourism. Even in the Dolomites, four landowners have demanded a five euro fee for access to Seceda, a popular viewpoint, to combat litter, stressed livestock, trampled alpine pastures, and unsuitable tourists.
As Europe continues to grapple with the challenges of overtourism, it's clear that a multi-faceted approach is necessary to ensure both the preservation of local communities and the continued enjoyment of Europe's many tourist attractions.
[1] European Commission, (2021), Overcoming Over-Tourism: A European Approach, Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/info/publications/overcoming-over-tourism-european-approach_en
[2] The Guardian, (2021), Paris to limit short-term rentals to combat overtourism, Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2021/mar/08/paris-to-limit-short-term-rentals-to-combat-overtourism
[3] The Local, (2021), Majorca tourism: 13.5 million visitors in 2020, Available at: https://www.thelocal.es/20210303/majorca-tourism-135-million-visitors-in-2020
[4] The New York Times, (2021), France Tries to Curb Tourism to Save Itself, Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/26/travel/france-tourism-overtourism.html
[5] Copenhagen, (2021), CopenPay, Available at: https://www.copenhagen.dk/en/stay/copenpay/
- To combat overtourism and its impact on local communities, authorities in France are promoting sustainable infrastructure and transport by encouraging train travel over domestic flights, reshaping travel patterns to be greener and less concentrated around major airports or hubs.
- In an effort to address the issue of unmanaged beaches in Greece, authorities are implementing stricter monitoring and enforcement of laws to ensure at least half of the beach area remains accessible to everyone, as beaches are disappearing due to beach bars and sun loungers taking up the last free space.
- As a response to mass tourism, Italy is looking to implement regulatory and enforcement measures, such as limiting access to congested areas and supporting alternative tourist routes and accommodations, to reduce overload and preserve both the environmental health and community well-being.
