Europe's plan to fix over tourism crisis

[GON]

BBC article on Europe's plan to fix over tourism crisis.

Tourism is important to the European economy, yet a growing number of locals are resenting the ever increasing number of tourists.

Article discusses ways to keep the locals happy while keeping the tourists dollars flowing.

https://bbc.com/travel/article/20250613-can-europe-beat-the-overtourism-crisis

 

[edyvw]

It has been going on for a long time. WHo has not been in these hot spots during peak season, does not understand how bad this is.
My hometown is some 2 1/2hrs from Dubrovnik, and I know city in and out. But one June hits and until September, it is a nightmare. The number of cruise ships that dock and the number of tourists (especially since Game of Thrones) is absolutely insane.
Airbnb is also a big issue. It drove real estate prices through the roof and made places like Barcelona unaffordable to locals. Kind of like places here in Colorado, just on a much bigger scale.
Off-season is the way to go. When my wife and I grab some free time, we go to these hot spots off-season, except Croatia. I know my way around to know what to avoid and where to go in the summer. But Paris in March? While cloudy, is not crowded, cheaper, cheaper tickets etc. Same with Barcelona, Madrid etc.

 

[PandaBear]

I hate to say but the only way to fix overtourism (in any country not just in Europe) is the destination being high standard of living and high crime rate.

 

[BISCUT]

The Canary Island portion was surprising to me. I was in Tenirefe in February. Fantastic island and we really had a great time. We drove over 800km in a Hyundai 6speed manual that week and saw most of the island. We don't do tours and choose to explore on our own to see and meet local culture(s). The locals were very friendly and we learned there are few American's who visit. Largely European visitors and a big percentage are British. There were no signs of any anti-tourist agenda.

In May, I visited several Italian and Spanish cities. Napoli, Florence, and Rome in Italy and Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca in Spain. Napoli was rather congested but once out of the immediate area where cruise ships dock it was tolerable. We walked about 14km and the farther out you got the lower the congestion. Florence was frustrating for me. Simply too congested and as beautiful as the architecture is, I felt like I was on Madison $ 5th in NYC. Very overpriced. I didn't think Rome would be for me. It was! Clean, friendly, solid volume of people but wasn't overly congested. I could live there! Wasn't anywhere near as expensive as NYC either.

Spain had much lower volumes of people and did not feel overcrowded in Barcelona or Mallorca. Pricing for food and drink were reasonable and to me, surprisingly low cost in Mallorca. Loved the vibe in Mallorca so much we spent over 2 and a half hours drinking wine and eating cured meats and various cheeses, watching time go by at a local cafe. Spain really surprised me with how comfortable it was and how accommodating the average Spaniard was.

 

[Klutch9]

When did the overtourism thing start? After Covid? My wife and I went to Europe for the first time in August 2015, peak season I'd imagine. We went to a number of places in Croatia and Italy. It honestly wasn't that busy. Even a lot of the famous spots around Rome weren't super crowded.

May of 2023 we took a cruise from Civitavecchia (Rome) to a number of places in Italy, Greece, France, etc. It was super busy everywhere, and it wasn't even peak season yet. It was pretty night and day.

 

[SC Maintenance]

Its no different than here. I have lived in 3 different tourist spots, and tourism does not help the locals at all - unless you count a seasonal minimum wage job as helping.

The solution is simple - make short term rentals illegal and crank up your occupancy taxes, sales taxes on fixed meals, etc to the moon. Yes, make it unaffordable to visit. Of course no politician wants to do this. They want to enlarge their "empire", not help the locals.

 

[Pablo]

Juneau AK says, here, hold my beer.

 

[GON]

When did the overtourism thing start?

Can't tell you when it started. I can tell you that hotels are jam packed worldwide. I live hotels. I needed to make all my reservations through August 2026, just to make sure rooms would be available where I need to be. Years ago, I never had to make a reservation in advance.

Times have changed.

 

[Donald]

Istanbul built a nice new cruise ship terminal that can handle many cruise ships at once.

The locals now complain of too many tourists.

The locals also complain about Princess Cruise ships playing the "Love Boat" theme on ship's horns as they leave port. It echoes all over Istanbul.

Quite honestly in a city of 25M I am not sure how one notices a few thousand extra tourists.

 

[Astro14]

Can't tell you when it started. I can tell you that hotels are jam packed worldwide. I live hotels. I needed to make all my reservations through August 2026, just to make sure rooms would be available where I need to be. Years ago, I never had to make a reservation in advance.

Times have changed.

Travel soared after Covid restrictions were lifted. Denying people something made it that much more desirable.

There were many who predicted travel was dead and would never recover.

They could not have been more wrong. By 2023, airlines were carrying more passengers than they had before the pandemic.

 

[Bailes1992]

The Canary Island portion was surprising to me. I was in Tenirefe in February. Fantastic island and we really had a great time. We drove over 800km in a Hyundai 6speed manual that week and saw most of the island. We don't do tours and choose to explore on our own to see and meet local culture(s). The locals were very friendly and we learned there are few American's who visit. Largely European visitors and a big percentage are British. There were no signs of any anti-tourist agenda.

Tourism accounts for 35% of the Canary islands economy alone. They'd be stupid to try kick up a fuss about it in my opinion.

I'd also argue the same for certain areas of Spain.

 

[Cropduster172]

Its no different than here. I have lived in 3 different tourist spots, and tourism does not help the locals at all - unless you count a seasonal minimum wage job as helping.

The solution is simple - make short term rentals illegal and crank up your occupancy taxes, sales taxes on fixed meals, etc to the moon. Yes, make it unaffordable to visit. Of course no politician wants to do this. They want to enlarge their "empire", not help the locals.

Unless the businesses in a tourist town are owned by large corporations, tourism is often the only source of income for locals.
In Cape May County, NJ tourism is the economy. Summers are hot in NJ, PA and NY. People flock to beach towns as a result.
Local restaurants are packed...so are hotels and B&Bs so are fishing charters, kids sports camps, grocery stores, convenience stores. The population in the town our beach house is in increases from 1200- 50,000 from Memorial Day to Labor Day.

Older homes are torn down and newer, bigger homes built constantly. Local contractors work year round to meet the demand for new homes. Local realtors make bank on rentals and sales.
If it weren't for tourism, the locals couldn't survive.

 

[Pablo]

Whole thread on HI.

 

[edyvw]

When did the overtourism thing start? After Covid? My wife and I went to Europe for the first time in August 2015, peak season I'd imagine. We went to a number of places in Croatia and Italy. It honestly wasn't that busy. Even a lot of the famous spots around Rome weren't super crowded.

May of 2023 we took a cruise from Civitavecchia (Rome) to a number of places in Italy, Greece, France, etc. It was super busy everywhere, and it wasn't even peak season yet. It was pretty night and day.

Airbnb really screwed things up, so COVID and later. Also, take into consideration that Chinese have largest middle class now!

 

[SC Maintenance]

Unless the businesses in a tourist town are owned by large corporations, tourism is often the only source of income for locals.

I lived full time on Hilton Head for several years. Live near Charleston now. I lived in one other Tourist town briefly. This statement is patently false. Your assuming a few wealthy business owners that provide minimum wage seasonal jobs to some kids is useful. A lot of those business owners don't live there at all, whether there corporate or not. Most of the restaurants on HHI are owned by a couple different individuals that don't even live in the state. The hotels are all corporate. The house rentals are mostly owned by property management type companies / investors not locals.

No real economy can develop because the place is over-run. Possibly the original residents don't care to have those kinds of jobs and are forced out. You can't afford to live in any of these places on a seasonal income - at least anymore.

I live now in Charleston. There trying, to some degree successfully, to get out from under the "tourism" thing which was never really needed here anyway.

 

[edyvw]

Its no different than here. I have lived in 3 different tourist spots, and tourism does not help the locals at all - unless you count a seasonal minimum wage job as helping.

The solution is simple - make short term rentals illegal and crank up your occupancy taxes, sales taxes on fixed meals, etc to the moon. Yes, make it unaffordable to visit. Of course no politician wants to do this. They want to enlarge their "empire", not help the locals.

It depends on the country. Many small towns in Europe only survive on seasonal tourism. Literally there is no other option, tourism or emigration.

 

[SC Maintenance]

It depends on the country. Many small towns in Europe only survive on seasonal tourism. Literally there is no other option, tourism or emigration.

Each place needs to manage it themselves of course. Only the locals get to vote on local things. In the end they should be free to choose which they want.

The issue is it can start out being well managed and run by locals. But the locals get bought out by corporates and the whole thing turns into a tizzy - see HHI. It starts out some local opens an airbnb for rental income, or maybe a restuarant. Then they and 50 other locals sell to some company that turns them all into rentals and the profit money leaves the local economy. How do you turn back time?

Choose wisely as they say.

 

[edyvw]

Each place needs to manage it themselves of course. Only the locals get to vote on local things. In the end they should be free to choose which they want.

Sure, but problems are different between big industrial, port cities and small towns that have for example, 5,000 residents (if so). Barcelona can restrict Airbnb. However, some small towns on the Mediterranean absolutely cannot. Then, when governments pass laws, rarely do those laws, regardless of where, satisfy everyone. I think trying to restrict things might create the opposite effect for many family businesses. As you said, it should be left to local governments, but that rarely happens.

But really big issue, compared to let's say 20yrs ago, is huge Chinese middle class. They have money, and they travel, and European cities are still as small as they were before. Then add other South Asian countries whose GDP skyrocketed over the last 20 years, and their population is not small. Last time I was in Dubrovnik during the season, the cruise people were primarily Asian.

 

[Bailes1992]

I lived full time on Hilton Head for several years. Live near Charleston now. I lived in one other Tourist town briefly. This statement is patently false. Your assuming a few wealthy business owners that provide minimum wage seasonal jobs to some kids is useful. A lot of those business owners don't live there at all, whether there corporate or not. Most of the restaurants on HHI are owned by a couple different individuals that don't even live in the state. The hotels are all corporate. The house rentals are mostly owned by property management type companies / investors not locals.

No real economy can develop because the place is over-run. Possibly the original residents don't care to have those kinds of jobs and are forced out. You can't afford to live in any of these places on a seasonal income - at least anymore.

I live now in Charleston. There trying, to some degree successfully, to get out from under the "tourism" thing which was never really needed here anyway.

I feel like it's nowhere near that simple.

More tourism means more people. Those 'more people' need somewhere to sleep so you need more hotels. Those 'more hotels' need to have reception staff, the rooms they stay in need cleaning so you have cleaning stuff, then the bedding and towels will need laundry staff. Who maintains the hotel? Electricians? Plumbers? Decorators? All of the above?

And then 'more people' have to eat somewhere...

 

[SC Maintenance]

I feel like it's nowhere near that simple.

More tourism means more people. Those 'more people' need somewhere to sleep so you need more hotels. Those 'more hotels' need to have reception staff, the rooms they stay in need cleaning so you have cleaning stuff, then the bedding and towels will need laundry staff. Who maintains the hotel? Electricians? Plumbers? Decorators? All of the above?

And then 'more people' have to eat somewhere...

Are you saying more is good?

My experience is all those jobs can't afford to live there. The commute in.

Like I said, IMHO from having lived there the locals would be better off without it. You know what they say about opinions.