Perhaps the biggest problem with overtourism is it is a sign that your tourism strategy is working.
For years destinations have been in a race to attract the most visitors and obviously the more high value, the better.
However, while attention was paid to growing tourism numbers, it seems there was limited thought given to the proper planning and regulations required to cope with the numbers that have put a strain on local resources and infrastructure.
This meant that by 2015 a number of factors began to combine which created the problem of excessive tourism numbers which is yet to be fixed, even as destinations begin to prioritise the experience tourists have upon arrival, as well as the locals who live and work there.
Trouble in Europe
Initially, the issue was first identified in Europe where travel was becoming increasingly affordable thanks to the growth of low cost carriers and the rising cruise industry which offers customers the change to visit various bucket-list destinations in a single holiday, often on a bargain budget.
While travel became increasingly affordable, social media and photo-sharing platforms made local beauty spots globally famous and heavily visited while the practice of set-jetting, travelling to film locations, became increasingly popular especially when destinations highlighted them as part of their marketing strategy.
Both of these trends were seized upon by the expanding global middle class, particularly in the emerging economies of China and India, which had a hunger to travel to these eye-catching sites and suddenly the means to do so.
But perhaps what really stirred the hornet’s nest was the proliferation of home-sharing websites that have turned previous residential areas into tourism hotspots, with Airbnb being the best known offender.
Having launched in 2008, by 2015 Airbnb had a global inventory of 1.5 million listings, nearly double the 800,000 registered in 2014, across 34,000 cities in 190 countries. By 2024 the company’s results showed it had 8 million properties in more than 150,000 cities covering almost the entire globe.
And it is this growth that has been key to the protests as the website attracted travellers not just to Europe’s tourist hotspots, but also to the previously untouched residential areas surrounding them.
This meant many local residents not only saw their rents increase and neighbourhoods change due to the influx of tourists, but also in worst case scenarios lost their homes as long-term rental properties were converted to far more lucrative short-term lets to meet the growing demand.
Barcelona was one of the destinations most impacted by these combining factors with some of the first overtourism protests beginning in the summer of 2017 with the appearance of anti-tourism graffiti on the streets while in some cases the wheels of tourist buses were slashed.
These protests spread to Mallorca in the same summer and continued to flare up in both destinations every summer until Covid shut down the global travel industry in 2020.
Nor was Spain the only European country to be impacted by the protests.
A nascent movement in Venice was emerging in 2016 as the city struggled to cope with multiple ship visits and the growing presence of Airbnb, before exploding into direct action in the summer of 2017 when 2,000 protestors gathered to make their feelings known.
But again, as in Spain, when Covid close the world’s travel industry in 2020, the problem disappeared along with the protests.
Post-pandemic problems
And while Covid offered the opportunity for destinations to rethink their strategies and re-enter the market with sustainable policies, few took it.
Instead by 2022, when most travel restrictions had been lifted, desperate travel companies and destinations dependent on visitors took advantage of pent-up demand to get people travelling again, restoring tourism numbers to pre-pandemic levels by 2024.
While destinations may not have rethought their entire tourism strategies, governments in afflicted areas are beginning to introduce policies designed to tackle some of the problems overtourism creates.
In Barcelona, a full ban on short-term tourism lets of residential property will be introduced by 2028 while its popular Park Güell now has timed entry tickets for travellers.
Venice has also introduced a ticket system to limit the number of day visitors while cruise ships no longer moor in the city centre but in a nearby port.
Elsewhere, Amsterdam is tackling the problem with a number of measures including banning coaches from entering the city via all but one route, forcing shops to meet residents’ needs rather than selling tourist tat and even telling stag and hen dos they are no longer welcome.
Scottish tourism authorities have also recently admitted that Edinburgh has a tourism problem, with VisitScotland now marketing other locations while Edinburgh Castle has a daily cap of 8,000 visitors.
While much of the problem appears to be centred in Europe, where ancient cities and towns are unable to cope with modern visitor numbers, destinations around the world are seeing the problem emerge and are taking action to tackle it even if protests have not yet erupted.
In Japan’s Kyoto a new rule in 2024 banned travellers from certain private alleys to stop them demanding pictures of and selfies with geishas.
Meanwhile, Balinese authorities have introduced visitor levies and stricter permits and are enforcing behaviour rules as well as bans or moratoria on building new hotels or restaurants in certain zones.
Thailand has also proved to be effective in solving the problem after becoming one of the first victims of set-jetting in the 21st century when Maya Bay beach on Koh Phi Phi Leh island was made famous by the international smash film The Beach released in 2000.
By 2018, the beach was attracting up to 5,000 visitors travelling on 200 boats a day and who caused environmental damage to the delicate flora and fauna with up to 80 per cent of its coral reefs affected.
As a result, Thai authorities closed the beach to tourist for four years before reopening it with a serious cap on the number of visitors allowed.
And while the action might seem draconian, it worked. Whether or not other destinations choose to introduce similar measures to tackle the problem remains to be seen.