Surging Travel In Europe Spikes Over Tourism's Drawbacks

Europe faces obstacles due to a surge in tourism. Famous destinations like Barcelona and Venice are struggling with overcrowding, which strains housing and resources. Protests have erupted in Spain. Authorities are implementing measures. These include regulating rentals, deposits, and fees. They also encourage visits to less crowded locations. The goal is to manage tourists' impact on local communities.

Suitcases rattle against cobblestones, selfie snappers jostle for the same shot, and ice cream shops are everywhere. Europe has been called the world's museum, but its record numbers of visitors have also made it ground zero for concerns about over-tourism. Last year, 747 million international travellers visited the continent, far outnumbering any other region worldwide, as per the UN World Tourism Barometer. Southern and Western Europe invited more than 70% of them.

As the growing number of travellers strains housing, water, and the region's most Instagrammable hotspots, protests and measures to lessen the effects of overtourism have proliferated.

Here is a look at the issue in some of Europe's most visited destinations, among factors driving planning using artificial intelligence and what UN tourism officials call a strong economic outlook for many rich countries that attract tourists despite some geopolitical and economic tensions.

Citizens of countries like the US, Japan, China, and the UK generate the most international trips, especially to popular destinations such as Barcelona in Spain and Venice in Italy. They swarm these places seasonally, creating uneven demand for housing and resources such as water. Despite the widespread backlash against the crowds, some tourism officials believe they can be managed with the proper infrastructure.

Italy's Tourism Minister Daniela Santanche said she thinks tourism flows at crowded sites such as Florence's Uffizi Galleries, which house some of the world's most famous artworks, could be better managed with AI. To prevent surges, tourists could buy their tickets when they book their travel, even months in advance.

She pushed back against the idea that Italy, like all its Southern European neighbours, welcomed more international visitors in 2024 than its entire population, has a problem with too many tourists, adding that most visits are within just 4 % of the country's territory.

"It's a phenomenon that can be managed," Santacnhe told the Associated Press in an interview in her office on Friday. "Tourism must be an opportunity, not a threat, even for local communities. That's why we are focusing on organising flows." Countries in the Mediterranean are at the forefront. Olympics host France, the biggest international destination last year, received 100 million international visitors while second-place Spain received almost 94 million, nearly double its population.

Protests have erupted across Spain over the past two years. In Barcelona, the water gun symbolises the city's anti-tourism movement after marching protests have sprayed unsuspecting tourists while carrying signs saying: "One more tourist, one less resident!"

The pressure on infrastructure has been particularly acute on Spain's Canary and Balearic Islands, which have a combined population of less than 5 million. Each archipelago saw upwards of 15 million visitors last year. In Europe, tourism overcrowding has vexed Italy's most popular sites, including Venice, Capri, and Verona, where Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" was set. On the popular Amalfi Coast, ride-hailing app Uber offers private helicopters and boat rides in the summer to beat the crowds. Greece, which saw nearly four times as many tourists as its population last year, has struggled with the strain on water, housing, and energy in the summer months, especially on popular islands such as Santorini, Mykonos and others.

In Spain, anti-tourism activists, academics, and the government say that over-tourism is driving up housing costs in city centres and other locations due to the proliferation of short-term rentals that cater to visitors. Others bemoan changes to the very character of city neighbourhoods that drew tourists in the first place. In Barcelona and elsewhere, activists and academics have said that neighbourhoods popular with tourists have seen local shops replaced with souvenir vendors, international chains, and trendy eateries. Tourism has overlapped with water scarcity on some of Greece's most visited islands as drought grips the Mediterranean country of 10.4 million. In France, the Louvre, the world's most visited museum, shut down this week when its staff warned that the facility was crumbling beneath the weight of over-tourism, stranding thousands of ticketed visitors lined up under the baking sun. Angelos Varvarousi, a Barcelona and Athens-based academic and urban planner who studies the industry, said that over-tourism risks imposing a monoculture on many of Europe's hotspots.

"It is combined with the gradual loss and displacement of their social and economic activities," Varvarousis said. Spain's government want to tackle what officials call the country's biggest governance challenge: its housing crunch. Last month, Spain's government ordered Airbnb to take down almost 66,000 properties, which it said violated local rules. At the same time, Barcelona announced a plan the previous year to phase out all of the 10,000 apartments licensed in the city as short-term rentals by 2028. Officials said the measure was to safeguard the housing supply for full-time residents. Elsewhere, authorities have tried to regulate tourist flows by cracking down on overnight stays or imposing fees for those visiting via cruises. Starting July 1, a cruise tax will be levied in Greece on island visits at 20 euros for famous destinations like Mykonos and 5 euros for less-visited islands like Samos.

The government has also encouraged visitors to seek quieter locations. To alleviate water problems, water tankers from mainland Greece have helped parched islands. The islands have also used desalination technology, which separates salts from ocean water to make it drinkable and boost their drinking water. Other measures have included staggered visiting hours at the Acropolis. Meanwhile, Venice brought back an entry fee piloted last year on day tippers, who must pay between 5 and 10 euros to enter the city during the peak season.

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