mass tourism in europe

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Entrance fees, visitor zones and taxes: how Europe’s biggest cities are tackling overtourism

From Seville to Venice to Amsterdam, Europe is learning to improve locals’ lives by curbing tourists’ enthusiasm

O riginally built for the grand Ibero-American Exposition of 1929, Seville’s ­flamboyant neo-Moorish Plaza de España has for nearly a ­century been one of the city’s major ­attractions, an ornate ­showcase for Spanish architecture and ­decorative tiling.

But the several thousand visitors from around the world who throng the plaza every day, on foot or in horse-drawn carriages, may soon have to pay for the privilege, with proceeds from a planned entry fee going towards its upkeep.

“We are planning to close the Plaza de España and charge ­tourists to finance its conservation and ensure its safety,” Seville’s mayor, José Luis Sanz, announced on X last week, posting a video showing missing tiles and damaged facades.

Sanz made clear local ­residents and visitors from Andalucía ­province would not have to cough up to visit the plaza, which served as a backdrop in a Star Wars film, and is used regularly for concerts, fashion shows and theatrical performances.

Many residents objected to the scheme nonetheless – but their ­criticism was mostly that it would be complicated to administer and not very effective. Far better, many locals said, would be a hefty tourism tax on all visitors to Seville.

“Mass tourism,” said one, “is destroying our city.”

It’s a refrain heard in historic ­cities across Europe , from Prague to Barcelona, Athens to Amsterdam. Mass tourism, promoted by cash-hungry councils since the 2008 crash and fuelled by cheap flights and online room rentals, has become a monster.

After plummeting during Covid, tourism numbers are soaring again and set to exceed pre-pandemic ­levels this summer. The number of low-cost airline seats in Europe, which rose 10% annually from 2010 and hit 500m in 2019, could pass 800m in 2024.

Before lockdown, Airbnb, the ­biggest but far from only ­platform for short lets, saw triple-digit growth in some European ­cities. The net result is that the most ­popular city break destinations now annually host 20 or more visitors for each local.

What to do about it, though, is no easy question. Delicate ­balances need to be struck between the much-needed revenues and jobs generated by tourism, and the ­quality of life of residents; between managing tourism and ­discouraging it.

One strategy that Seville – 3 million tourists a year for 700,000 inhabitants – may adopt is to charge for the big attractions. Since January, foreign visitors to Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia, which gets about 3.5m ­visits a year, have been paying €25 for the privilege.

Venice is so overrun by visitors it has introduced what amounts to an entrance fee for the entire city, ranging from €3 to €10. Paris has almost trebled its tourist tax rates, from – depending on area and accommodation type – €0.25-€5 to €0.65-€14.95.

Other cities are relying on better management – Athens, for example, last summer introduced a time-slot system for visits to the Acropolis, while summer access to Marseille’s Calanques is now regulated through a free reservation scheme.

Some places are launching ­information campaigns aiming to reshape tourist flows. France, where 80% of visits are concentrated in 20% of the country, will this spring roll out a €1m campaign urging domestic and foreign tourists to head more off the beaten track .

From Mont Saint-Michel and the ­seaside resort of Étretat in Normandy to the Atlantic beaches of the south-west and the Riviera, ­peak-season influxes now threaten the environment, locals’ quality of life and the visitor experience, authorities say.

They are also setting up a tourism observatory to accurately measure flows and identify possible overloads. “France is the world’s biggest tourist destination, but we have a serious lack of data to help manage the crowds,” the government said.

Some anti-tourism ­measures, however, turn out to be just rumours. Last summer, the walled Croatian town of Dubrovnik, said to be the most over-visited ­destination in Europe, with 36 ­visitors per resident, was widely reported to have banned wheelie suitcases.

In fact, as part of a Respect the City campaign urging visitors to dress appropriately in the historic centre and avoid climbing on monuments , the town hall had just asked them to carry their bags over cobblestones to reduce the noise level for locals.

The Netherlands

In the capital of the country that coined the term overtoerisme , ­tourist might be a dirty word – but Amsterdam is also increasingly ­desperate for visitors’ cash.

A plan last March to dissuade partying young British men with “stay away” videos warning of fines, hospital and criminal records made headlines worldwide. It’s unclear what effect it had, though, as Amsterdam’s overnight tourist numbers last year hit almost pre-pandemic levels at 9 million – 21% more than in 2022.

A soft-soap Renew your View campaign highlighting positive aspects off the beaten track (rather than sex and drugs) launched in November. Meanwhile the city is expected to expand its stay-away campaign to dissuade nuisance tourists from Germany, France, Spain and Italy after the summer.

Since last spring there has been a ban on smoking cannabis in ­public space in the red light district, while bar closures at 2am instead of 4am have reduced street numbers by between 30% and 60%. However, after complaints about safety, sex-worker brothel windows are open until 6am again rather than 3am.

Amsterdam is reducing the number of licensed B&B premises by 30%, has voted to close a city centre cruise terminal and is trialling tougher licensing measures to remove “rogue” tourist businesses such as candy shops suspected of being criminal fronts.

The council says it is monitoring tourist numbers to try to maintain a balance. But multimillion budget shortfalls and a bill of billions to repair crumbling canalsides mean tourism is essential for Amsterdam: this year, the tourist tax rose from 7% to 12.5%, the highest in Europe , with a day tax of €14 a head for visiting cruise ships. Senay Boztas

Spain received 85 million ­tourists in 2023, nearly 2% up on pre-­pandemic 2019 – and in a country where ­tourism generates 13% of GDP, after the economic ­devastation of the Covid years, voices ­calling for curbs on numbers have been ­virtually silenced.

The hospitality business, however, continues to chant the mantra of quality over quantity – nowhere more so than in the Balearic Islands, where a new law is being drafted to crack down on drunk tourists.

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Last year about 15 ­million ­people visited the Balearics (­population 2 million), more than half British and German, with a ­significant percentage coming for what the regional government calls “tourism of excess”: a week-long drinking binge.

The new law to crack down on booze tourism is expected to be in force when the season kicks off at Easter. Under a 2020 law, areas such as Magaluf in Mallorca and Sant Antoni in Ibiza were named as ­trouble spots.

Heavy fines were imposed for “balconing” (leaping into a pool from a balcony), shops were banned from selling alcohol after 9.30pm, and organised pub crawls, beach parties, party boats and two-for-one happy hours outlawed, Local businesses faced fines of up to €600,000.

But after areas such as Magaluf complained of being stigmatised, the new law will focus more on ­individuals. Among the planned measures are deportation for antisocial behaviour and a blacklist of people banned from visiting the islands.

Lawyers warn that this would infringe the EU’s principle of ­freedom of movement, although as the UK is no longer a member, rowdy Brits – who are among the worst offenders – could soon find themselves personae non gratae . Stephen Burgen

After years of talk, Venice is the first major tourist hotspot in Italy to introduce an entrance fee for day trippers. The measure kicks off at the start of peak season on 25 April, and in a first experimental phase will apply only on certain days until 14 July.

The €5 tickets have been bookable online since mid-January. Time will tell whether the controversial initiative works, but with visitor numbers back to pre-pandemic levels – an average of 40,000 day trippers on peak days – and the perennial threat of the fragile lagoon city losing its Unesco heritage status, authorities were forced to act. The city is also poised to limit tourist groups to 25 people from June and to ban the use of loudspeakers because they “generate confusion and disturbances”, Venice council said in late December.

Florence has long suffered from similar overtourism woes and an exodus of residents from its historic centre, prompting the council in October last year to ban new short-term lets in the historic centre from Airbnb and similar platforms.

The city’s mayor, Dario Nardella, said that while the initiative was not a “panacea”, it was a “concrete step” for tackling the issue in a city with a population of about 720,000 that records, on average, more than 16 miilion overnight visitor stays a year.

Elsewhere in Italy, drivers along the Amalfi coast will again be hit by a measure aimed at ­preventing a perpetual jam along the ­winding 35km coastal road described as “a nightmare” by locals. Cars with number plates ending in an odd number are allowed to use the road one day, and those ending in an even number the next.

In Cinque Terre, another Unesco site, local authorities are also pondering how to manage overtourism. “We don’t want fewer tourists, but we want to be able to manage [tourism] in a sustainable way,” Donatella Bianchi, president of Cinque Terre national park, said last month. Angela Giuffrida

In Greece, one of the most ­visited places in the world, soaring ­tourist numbers are not only ­straining infrastructure on island idylls but increasingly stretching ­capacity in Athens, where residents, as ­elsewhere, are up in arms.

Once a stopover for travellers en route to isles, the Greek ­metropolis is now a “must-see” destination in its own right, drawing more than 7 million tourists – an all-time record – in 2023, with Americans and Britons topping arrivals.

To cope with an influx that is only expected to grow when the Asian market rebounds, Greek authorities have announced that crowd control policies – implemented in pilot form at the Acropolis in September – will be expanded to other archaeological sites next month.

Last year, at the height of the ­season, more than 20,000 ­tourists a day climbed the hill to see the fifth-century BC site. “We got to the point of as many as 23,000 a day,” the Greek culture ­minister, Lina Mendoni, said. “Tourism is ­obviously desirable for the country, for all of us, but we have to ensure overtourism doesn’t harm the monument.”

The visitor zone scheme, in ­operation from 8am to 8pm, aims to ease congestion, with authorities introducing a time-slot system, ­electronic ticketing and fast-lane entry points for organised groups. “It will help ensure the safety of the monument and those who work there, and improve the experience of visitors,” Mendoni said.

Museums will also cap visitor numbers from April.

The spectre of the country enjoying another bumper year of tourism has been met with mounting fears among environmentalists on islands where communities have increasingly struggled with waste management, water scarcity, insufficient public services and illegal construction.

In the face of local disgruntlement the government has been forced to step in. On Santorini, where complaints of ­oversaturation have grown steadily over the years, a berth-allocation system for cruise ships was introduced, with the number of disembarkations in any 24-hour period being limited to 8,000 passengers.

On Mykonos – like Santorini, one of the most popular islands in the Cycladic chain – authorities have clamped down on illicit construction, bulldozing illegally built bars and eateries in prime sites. Helena Smith

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Tourists are packing European hotspots, boosted by Americans

Atop the Acropolis ancient hill, tourists visit the Parthenon temple, background, in Athens, Greece, Tuesday, July 4, 2023. Crowds are packing the Colosseum, the Louvre, the Acropolis and other major attractions as tourism exceeds 2019 records in some of Europe’s most popular destinations. While European tourists helped the industry on the road to recovery last year, the upswing this summer is led largely by Americans, who are lifted by a strong dollar and in some cases pandemic savings. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

Tourists on a boat sail the Seine River in Paris, France, Tuesday, July 4, 2023. Crowds are packing the Colosseum, the Louvre, the Acropolis and other major attractions as tourism exceeds 2019 records in some of Europe’s most popular destinations. While European tourists helped the industry on the road to recovery last year, the upswing this summer is led largely by Americans, who are lifted by a strong dollar and in some cases pandemic savings. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

With Big Ben in the background, tourists take snapshots on Westminster Bridge in London, Thursday, July 6, 2023. Crowds are packing the Colosseum, the Louvre, the Acropolis and other major attractions as tourism exceeds 2019 records in some of Europe’s most popular destinations. While European tourists helped the industry on the road to recovery last year, the upswing this summer is led largely by Americans, who are lifted by a strong dollar and in some cases pandemic savings. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

Revellers, mostly tourists, look on from balconies at the running of the bulls during the San Fermín fiestas in Pamplona, Spain, Saturday, July 8, 2023. Crowds are packing the Colosseum, the Louvre, the Acropolis and other major attractions as tourism exceeds 2019 records in some of Europe’s most popular destinations. While European tourists helped the industry on the road to recovery last year, the upswing this summer is led largely by Americans, who are lifted by a strong dollar and in some cases pandemic savings. (AP Photo/Alvaro Barrientos)

Tourists on a bicycle tour watch the Eiffel Tower during a stop at a bridge atop the Seine River in Paris, Tuesday, July 4, 2023. Crowds are packing the Colosseum, the Louvre, the Acropolis and other major attractions as tourism exceeds 2019 records in some of Europe’s most popular destinations. While European tourists helped the industry on the road to recovery last year, the upswing this summer is led largely by Americans, who are lifted by a strong dollar and in some cases pandemic savings. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

Tourists visit the Acropolis ancient hill, in Athens, Greece, Tuesday, July 4, 2023. Crowds are packing the Colosseum, the Louvre, the Acropolis and other major attractions as tourism exceeds 2019 records in some of Europe’s most popular destinations. While European tourists helped the industry on the road to recovery last year, the upswing this summer is led largely by Americans, who are lifted by a strong dollar and in some cases pandemic savings. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

A pack of tourists walk during a guided tour in Prague, Czech Republic, Wednesday, July 5, 2023. Crowds are packing the Colosseum, the Louvre, the Acropolis and other major attractions as tourism exceeds 2019 records in some of Europe’s most popular destinations. While European tourists helped the industry on the road to recovery last year, the upswing this summer is led largely by Americans, who are lifted by a strong dollar and in some cases pandemic savings. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

Tourists stabd behind a fence, visit the Hagia Sophia mosque in Istanbul, Turkey, Tuesday, July 4, 2023. Crowds are packing the Colosseum, the Louvre, the Acropolis and other major attractions as tourism exceeds 2019 records in some of Europe’s most popular destinations. While European tourists helped the industry on the road to recovery last year, the upswing this summer is led largely by Americans, who are lifted by a strong dollar and in some cases pandemic savings. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Tourists visit the Trevi Fountain in Rome, Friday, June 30, 2023. Crowds are packing the Colosseum, the Louvre, the Acropolis and other major attractions as tourism exceeds 2019 records in some of Europe’s most popular destinations. While European tourists helped the industry on the road to recovery last year, the upswing this summer is led largely by Americans, who are lifted by a strong dollar and in some cases pandemic savings. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Tourists gather in front of the popular ‘My God, Help Me to Survive This Deadly Love’ painting by Dmitri Vrubel, at the East Side Gallery, of what remains of the Berlin Wall, in Berlin, Germany, Monday, July 3, 2023. Crowds are packing the Colosseum, the Louvre, the Acropolis and other major attractions as tourism exceeds 2019 records in some of Europe’s most popular destinations. While European tourists helped the industry on the road to recovery last year, the upswing this summer is led largely by Americans, who are lifted by a strong dollar and in some cases pandemic savings. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

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VENICE, Italy (AP) — Tourists are waiting more than two hours to visit the Acropolis in Athens. Taxi lines at Rome’s main train station are running just as long. And so many visitors are concentrating around St. Mark’s Square in Venice that crowds get backed up crossing bridges — even on weekdays.

After three years of pandemic limitations, tourism is expected to exceed 2019 records in some of Europe’s most popular destinations this summer, from Barcelona and Rome, Athens and Venice to the scenic islands of Santorini in Greece, Capri in Italy and Mallorca in Spain.

While European tourists edged the industry toward recovery last year, the upswing this summer is led largely by Americans , boosted by a strong dollar and in some cases pandemic savings. Many arrive motivated by “revenge tourism” — so eager to explore again that they’re undaunted by higher airfares and hotel costs.

Lauren Gonzalez, 25, landed in Rome this week with four high school and college friends for a 16-day romp through the Italian capital, Florence and the seaside after three years of U.S. vacations. They aren’t concerned about the high prices and the crowds.

“We kind of saved up, and we know this is a trip that is meaningful,” said Gonzalez, who works at a marketing agency. “We are all in our mid-20s. It’s a (moment of) change in our lives. ... This is something special. The crowds don’t deter us. We live in Florida. We have all been to Disney World in the heat. We are all good.”

Americans appear equally unperturbed by recent riots in Paris and other French cities. There was a small drop in flight bookings, but it was mainly for domestic travel.

“Some of my friends said, ‘It’s a little crazy there right now,’ but we thought summer is really a good time for us to go, so we’ll just take precautions,” Joanne Titus, a 38-year-old from Maryland, said while strolling the iconic Champs-Elysees shopping boulevard.

The return of mass tourism is a boon to hotels and restaurants, which suffered under COVID-19 restrictions. But there is a downside, too, as pledges to rethink tourism to make it more sustainable have largely gone unheeded.

“The pandemic should have taught us a lesson,” said Alessandra Priante, director of the regional department for Europe at the U.N. World Tourism Organization.

Instead, she said, the mindset “is about recuperating the cash. Everything is about revenue, about the here and now.”

“We have to see what is going to happen in two or three years’ time because the prices at the moment are unsustainable,” she said.

The mayor of Florence is stopping new short-term apartment rentals from proliferating in the historic center, which is protected as a UNESCO heritage site, as mayors of Italy’s other art cities call for a nationwide law to manage the sector.

Elsewhere, the anti-mass tourism movements that were active before the pandemic have not reappeared, but the battle lines are still being drawn: graffiti misdirected tourists in Barcelona away from — instead of toward — the Gaudi-designed Park Guell.

Despite predictable pockets of overtourism, travel to and within Europe overall is still down 10% from 2019, according to the World Tourism Organization. That is partly due to fewer people visiting countries close to the war in Ukraine , including Lithuania, Finland, Moldova and Poland.

In addition, Chinese visitors have not fully returned, with flights from China and other Asia-Pacific countries down 45% from 2019, according to travel data company ForwardKeys.

Tourism-dependent Greece expects 30 million visitors this year, still shy of 2019’s 34 million record. Still, the number of flights are up so far, and tourist hotspots are taking the brunt.

The Culture Ministry will introduce a new ticketing system for the Acropolis this month, providing hourly slots for visitors to even out crowds. But no remedy is being discussed for the parking line of cruise ships on the islands of Mykonos and Santorini on busy mornings.

Spain’s tourism minister, Héctor Gómez, called it “a historic summer for tourism,” with 8.2 million tourists arriving in May alone, breaking records for a second straight month. Still, some hotel groups say reservations slowed in the first weeks of summer, owing to the steep rise in prices for flights and rooms.

Costs are growing as flights from the U.S. to Europe are up 2% from 2019 levels, according to ForwardKeys.

“The rising appetite for long-haul travel from America is the continued result of the ‘revenge travel’ boom caused by the pandemic lockdowns,” said Tim Hentschel, CEO of HotelPlanner, a booking site. “Big cities within these popular European countries are certainly going to be busy during the summer.”

Americans have pushed arrivals in Italian bucket-list destinations like Rome, Florence, Venice and Capri above pre-pandemic levels, according to Italy’s hotel association, Federalberghi.

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They bring a lot of pent-up buying power: U.S. tourists in Italy spent 74% more in tax-free indulgences in the first three months of the year, compared with same period of 2019.

“Then there is the rest of Italy that lives from Italian and European tourism, and at the moment, it is still under 2019 levels,” Federalberghi president Bernabo Bocca said.

He expects it will take another year for an across-the-board recovery. An economic slowdown discouraged German arrivals, while Italians “are less prone to spending this year,” he said.

And wallets will be stretched. Lodging costs in Florence rose 53% over last year, while Venice saw a 25% increase and Rome a 21% hike, according to the Italian consumer group Codacons.

Even gelato will cost a premium 21% over last year, due to higher sugar and milk prices .

Perhaps nothing has encouraged the rise in tourism in key spots more than a surge in short-term apartment rentals. With hotel room numbers constant, Bocca of Federalberghi blames the surge for the huge crowds in Rome, inflating taxi lines and crowding crosswalks so that city buses cannot continue their routes.

In Rome and Florence, “walking down the street, out of every building door, emerges a tourist with a suitcase,” he said.

While Florence’s mayor is limiting the number of short-term rentals in the historic center to 8,000, no action has been taken in Venice. The canal-lined city counts 49,432 residents in its historic center and 49,272 tourist beds, nearly half of those being apartments available for short-term rental.

Inconveniences are “daily,” said Giacomo Salerno, a researcher at Venice’s Ca’ Foscari University focusing on tourism.

It difficult to walk down streets clogged with visitors or take public water buses “saturated with tourists with their suitcases,” he said.

Students cannot find affordable housing because owners prefer to cash in with vacation rentals. The dwindling number of residents means a dearth of services, including a lack of family doctors largely due to the high cost of living, driven up by tourist demand.

Venice has delayed plans to charge day-trippers a tax to enter the city, meant to curb arrivals. But activists like Salerno say that will do little to resolve the issue of a declining population and encroaching tourists, instead cementing Venice’s fate as “an amusement park.”

“It would be like saying the only use for the city is touristic,’’ Salerno said.

AP reporters Aritz Parra in Rome, Derek Gatopoulos in Athens, Ciaran Gilles in Madrid, Angela Charlton in Paris and Kelvin Chan in London contributed.

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Overtourism in European destinations - Statistics & Facts

Many destinations in Europe are experiencing a tourism boom and although economically the industry is making a positive contribution , there have been rising concerns surrounding the impact mass tourism has on the environment and the need to curb so called ‘overtourism’. Cities such as Barcelona, Amsterdam and Venice are among the worst destinations for overtourism , with local authorities forced to deal with pressure from residents unhappy with the disruption from the influx of visitors. In Barcelona protests have been held by locals frustrated with the increasing number of tourists . In Amsterdam an increase in tourist taxes is already being implemented, along with marketing campaigns for outer city destinations, in an effort to reduce the number of stopover travelers and prevent overcrowding in popular areas. Locals in smaller destinations in particular have felt the effect of increasing tourism. Almost half of residents in the picturesque Belgian town of Bruges for instance, believed that tourism has caused it to become overcrowded . In Venice, the situation has become more critical, prompting the city to actively implement strategies to combat increasing tourist numbers that are said to be pushing the local population out of the city. With less than one million inhabitants, Venice still received 3.9 million foreign visitors in 2015 and recorded 1.6 million cruise passengers in 2016. These large-scale tourist numbers have led to calls for a ban on giant cruise ships, which aside from dwarfing the city have been known to damage Venice’s lagoon. Similar concerns have been raised around the number of cruise ships in other Mediterranean destinations such as Dubrovnik, where local authorities plan to limit visitor numbers inside the city walls. Many natural destinations also recognize the potential damage overtourism can have on the natural environment. According to a survey in 2016, 79 percent of Icelanders believed tourist pressure on Icelandic nature was too high. A large proportion also felt that the most popular natural attractions, such as the geysers, had too many visitors in the summer. However despite their concerns, only 18 percent of Icelanders agreed that there should be a cap on tourist numbers . Similarly in Bruges, despite the displeasure of overcrowding, most residents still recognize tourism’s contribution to the income and standard of living in the city. Sustainable practices appear to be key in managing the balance between the advantages and disadvantages of tourism; 2017 was announced as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism, developed by the United Nations to help combat issues of overtourism and promote sustainable methods within the industry. In regards to the responsible parties for sustainable tourism practices , a survey of UK holidaymakers suggested it was up to the local government of the destination to ensure environmental standards and acceptable working conditions were met. It also showed that only 17 percent of travelers in 2017 planned to research the impact of tourism on their next destination. This text provides general information. Statista assumes no liability for the information given being complete or correct. Due to varying update cycles, statistics can display more up-to-date data than referenced in the text. Show more Published by Statista Research Department , Mar 1, 2024

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Paradise lost: How overtourism is changing Europe's holiday destinations

By Valeriya Safronova

Valeriya Safronova is a Vienna-based reporter covering the arts, gender and news

29 Jun 2023

The pleasure boat is packed with tourists. As it glides across the calm waters, most take out their phones and cameras and aim them at the mountains towering over the lake and the colourful houses dotting its shores. With clouds wisping around the peaks and just a hint of sunlight bouncing off the water, the landscape looks magical.    The onlookers are on their way to Hallstatt in the Salzkammergut region of central Austria. Over the last 15 years or so, the small town of 740 residents has become a top tourist destination, with 1.2 million visitors in 2019, according to official records. And numbers are expected to be back up to pre-pandemic levels this year.  

Tourists are drawn by various claims to fame: the town was listed as a UNESCO world heritage site in 1997; it was featured in a 2006 South Korean romantic drama series; and there are rumours that it inspired the design of Arendelle, the mythical kingdom in Disney’s Frozen. 

Hallstatt’s famous landscape has been reproduced many times on social media. Today, there are more than 836,000 posts on Instagram with the #Hallstatt tag, and on TikTok, videos about Hallstatt have nearly 7 million views. The town is so popular that, in 2012, a company in China spent hundreds of millions of euros replicating parts of Hallstatt for a residential development in Guangdong.  

In some ways, the tourism explosion has been a boon, bringing funding for social projects and supporting the growth of local businesses. At the same time, locals are frustrated by the amount of litter visitors leave behind; the increased traffic from cars and tourist buses; the drones tourists fly that invade residents’ privacy; and the skyrocketing prices of goods and property.  

“People think some of these houses are part of a museum,” Bernadette Krenn, a nursing student who moved to Hallstatt a year ago, tells The Parliament. “They don’t realise people live here. They try to go in.” 

All over Europe, cities and towns like Hallstatt have begun to rebel against the painful effects of overtourism, including degradation of nature, overburdened infrastructure, litter, property destruction, and frustrated residents.  

So far, overtourism has not entered the policymaking stage at the EU level. According to a 2018 policy paper requested by the European Parliament’s Committee on Transport and Tourism (TRAN), most current references to overtourism began cropping up in literature only as recently as 2017, though there were some studies published in the 1970s.  

Covid-19 stalled tourism, and only recently have EU Member States begun to bounce back. In the first three months of this year, international arrivals in Europe reached 90 per cent of pre-pandemic levels, according to the World Tourism Organisation.  

Just in time for this return to almost-normal, the European Tourism Agenda 2030 , published last December, underscored the importance of sustainability in travel and called on Member States to share best practices and examples of comprehensive tourism strategies by 2025. 

Though policymakers are only beginning to wrestle with the concept, it is clear that “the effects of overtourism are potentially severe”, the report’s authors write.  

On average, the report says, tourists are visiting places for shorter periods of time and are choosing them based on rankings of “top destinations”, which causes significant build-up at certain locations during peak periods. Social media is certainly a culprit here, driving tourists to locations deemed Instagram or TikTok-worthy. 

The TRAN report found that many tourist destinations are focused on growth with little consideration for their actual capacity, which has led to a rising anti-tourism sentiment across Europe.  

“While visitors initially may be welcomed by the resident population because of the income they generate, as visitor numbers increase, local people may feel that their quality of life is threatened and become less welcoming to tourists,” the study claims.  

With a lack of policies from the top, many European cities and towns have taken steps to fight overtourism on their own.  

Since the summer of 2022, tourists in Marseilles who want to visit the Calanques National Park must make a reservation. The new system is considered such a success that local authorities have decided to keep it in place for the next four years.  

In the Amalfi region of Italy, during high-peak periods, non-residents can only drive along the coastal road on certain days. According to the system , which was devised in 2019, cars with licence plates ending in an even number must stay away on even-numbered days, and cars with licence plates ending in an odd number are vetoed on odd-numbered days.  

In northern Italy, the medieval village of Corenno Plinio on Lake Como has been charging visitors a €4 entry fee since 2020, effectively turning it into an open-air museum.  

In 2021, after years of protests and concerns that Venice could be placed on the World Heritage endangered list, Italian authorities banned large cruise ships weighing more than 25,000 tonnes from docking. Venice authorities have also contemplated imposing a reservation and ticketing system ; encouraged guests to see other islands in the lagoon with a “detourism” campaign ; and levied a small surcharge on travellers departing from Marco Polo di Tessera, the nearest airport to Venice. 

Along with all of this, in recent years, Venice has taken to punishing ‘improper’ tourist behaviour . Visitors have been fined and kicked out of the city for misdemeanours including making coffee on the steps of the Rialto Bridge; taking a topless photo on a war memorial; and assembling a picnic on a 300-year-old landmark.  

Amsterdam may be following suit, although the city wants to take pre-emptive action rather than reactive. Last spring, in a new online campaign , Amsterdam delivered a “stay away” message to young male British tourists looking for a “messy night”. 

Though much of the focus on overtourism has been placed on larger places such as Venice, Marseilles and Amsterdam, “the most vulnerable destinations are not necessarily cities, but rather coastal, islands and rural heritage sites”, according to the TRAN report.  

Consider this: each year, Hallstatt hosts 196 overnight tourists per resident. That number soars to 1,600 with the addition of day visitors. For comparison, Venice receives about 21 tourists per resident.  

A normal Friday in peak season will see the centre of Hallstatt thronging with tourists. Signs in English, Mandarin and Korean warn them to be “quiet please!” and beware of pickpockets. 

 Every so often, residents wearing traditional Austrian clothing such as a dirndl or lederhosen will venture on to the crowded streets. Against the branded sportswear favoured by modern globetrotters, the locals’ outfits seem like costumes. The result is less 'functioning Alpine town’, more ‘Disneyland simulation’.  

Perhaps that is why some tourists do not seem to understand the town is real, say locals. They report instances of visitors brazenly entering homes on the main street, under the mistaken belief they are part of the town’s decorations.  

“It has changed dramatically,” observes a 62-year-old man who was born in Hallstatt and has lived in the town his entire life. “Now it’s like living in a zoo,” he says, referring to visitors’ habit of photographing everyone and everything.  

But, he adds, tourism has been good for the local economy. “Otherwise, Hallstatt would be a dying [town],” he says. “Without tourism, there would be no jobs.” The man declines to give his name because of the tense “political situation” around tourism. “There are two different kinds of people: those who are profiting from the tourism, and those who aren’t. And they fight,” he says.    

Christian Schirlbauer, the director of tourism of the Dachstein Salzkammergut region where Hallstatt is located, agrees: “If people are not working with tourism, they’re a bit angry that there are so many tourists coming to Hallstatt,” he says. “Hallstatt is really crowded, but you need to recognise that 85 per cent of people in Hallstatt live off tourism. Not just restaurants and hotels, but also bakeries, carpentry workshops, and more.” 

In 2015, some Hallstatt citizens formed a new association – Citizens for Hallstatt. One of the group’s main concerns is mass tourism, as they explain on their website : “We are not against tourism across the board – just against its excesses and against its glorification as the sole employer in town.”  

The group wants the town to establish a cap on tourist numbers. They are particularly against daytrippers. “What we definitely don’t want are tourists who park for free, eat the snacks they brought with them, leave the rubbish with us, and leave again after 15 minutes,” they state on their website.    In May, in a concession to residents who have been complaining about overcrowding on the main thoroughfare for years, Mayor Alexander Scheutz and members of the municipality’s building committee set up an experiment. They erected tall fences in the spot where many tourists stop to take photos, partially blocking an iconic view of Lake Hallstatt, the mountains and the town. It was an “illustrative model”, he said. 

Locals quickly responded by saying they did not like the barriers and, after two days, the fences were removed. In their place, the town has put up banners that ask visitors to “enjoy the beautiful view in peace, without loud shouting or music”.  

When it comes to being for or against tourism, the town has “a 50-50 split”, according to Nadine Scholz, a receptionist at a local pension who has worked in Hallstatt for five years, but lives in nearby Bad Goisern. “I have no problem with the tourists because I don’t live here. But that’s why I don’t live here. The tourists do whatever they want: they go in your house, they go in your toilet, they sit in your garden.”  

Mayor Scheutz points to the economic advantages of tourism. Years ago, he insists, Hallstatt was struggling to attract anyone, in part because of its geographical isolation. The town is in a valley surrounded by mountains and, until the late 19th century, it was only possible to reach it by boat or via narrow trails. 

According to Scheutz, income from tourism has allowed the town to finance an all-day pre-school with lunch; afternoon care for primary schoolchildren; social housing; and the construction of a modern practice for the community doctor.  

He also says that the flow of tourists has created an incentive for entrepreneurs to open year-round businesses from which locals also benefit, including a bakery, petrol station, grocery store, and a branch of Erste Bank.  

Nevertheless, the 20,000 or so tourist coaches that arrive each year in Hallstatt aggravate residents. “These visitors come in large groups and cause a lot of noise and disturbance because they only briefly visit the town centre to get their pictures and then rush back to the bus terminal,” Scheutz concedes.    

A few years ago, the town hired a traffic planner and developed ideas to improve traffic flow. Then, with the help of funding from the EU, authorities introduced a system in which tour operators must book a time slot for their coach’s arrival in advance and, once they are in Hallstatt, remain there for at least two and a half hours.  

Additionally, visitors are no longer allowed to park in the centre of Hallstatt; those who plan to stay overnight can take advantage of a free shuttle service from the parking lots to their hotels. Whenever the 450 parking spaces in Hallstatt are full, electronic noticeboards encourage tourists to visit other nearby towns or sites.  

After all, Hallstatt is not the only place in the region to have received World Heritage status – Bad Goisern, Gosau and Obertraun were also included in the designation. And there are other charming towns close at hand, such as Bad Aussee, a charming town that hosted artists and nobles from Vienna in centuries past and is a 15-minute train ride east of Hallstatt, is a charming town that hosted artists and nobles from Vienna in centuries past. Today, it is a great spot from which to begin hikes, and is close to the beautiful Grundl Lake and the Altaus Lake. A weekend flea market offers many antique discoveries, including jewellery, furniture, and pottery ware.  

Anyone keen to explore the Austrian Alps  without negotiating large crowds or contributing to degradation caused by overtourism will find plenty of options besides Hallstatt.   “There are so many places in the surrounding area you can visit,” says Schirlbauer. “It’s easier than everybody going to Hallstatt at the same time.” 

Read the most recent articles written by Valeriya Safronova - "Green Border": A politically charged film about Poland’s migrant crisis

Tourists flock to the Mediterranean as if the climate crisis isn’t happening. This year’s heat and fire will force change

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Thousands of people on the beach. Children reportedly falling off evacuation boats. Panic. People fleeing with the clothes on their backs. It felt like “the end of the world”, according to one tourist .

The fires sweeping through the Greek islands of Rhodes and Corfu are showing us favourite holiday destinations are no longer safe as climate change intensifies.

For decades, tourists have flocked to the Mediterranean for the northern summer. Australians, Scandinavians, Brits, Russians all arrive seeking warmer weather. After COVID, many of us have been keen to travel once again.

But this year, the intense heatwaves have claimed hundreds of lives in Spain alone. Major tourist drawcards such as the Acropolis in Athens have been closed. Climate scientists are “stunned by the ferocity” of the heat .

This year is likely to force a rethink for tourists and for tourism operators. Expect to see more trips taken during shoulder seasons, avoiding the increasingly intense July to August summer. And expect temperate countries to become more popular tourist destinations. Warm-weather tourist destinations will have to radically change.

What will climate change do to mass tourism?

Weather is a major factor in tourism. In Europe and North America, people tend to go from northern countries to southern regions. Chinese tourists, like Australians, often head to Southeast Asian beaches.

In Europe, the north-south flow is almost hardwired. When Australians go overseas, they often choose Mediterranean summers. Over the last decade, hotter summers haven’t been a dealbreaker.

But this year is likely to drive change. You can already see that in the growing popularity of shoulder seasons (June or September) in the traditional Northern Hemisphere summer destinations.

Many of us are shifting how we think about hot weather holidays from something we seek to something we fear. This comes on top of consumer shifts such as those related to sustainability and flight shame .

Read more: European heatwave: what’s causing it and is climate change to blame?

What about disaster tourism? While thrillseekers may be flocking to Death Valley to experience temperatures over 50°C, it’s hard to imagine this type of tourism going mainstream.

What we’re more likely to see is more people seeking “ last-chance ” experiences, with tourists flocking to highly vulnerable sites such as the Great Barrier Reef. Of course, this type of tourism isn’t sustainable long-term.

What does this mean for countries reliant on tourism?

The crisis in Rhodes shows us the perils of the just-in-time model of tourism, where you bring in tourists and everything they need –food, water, wine – as they need it.

The system is geared to efficiency. But that means there’s little space for contingencies. Rhodes wasn’t able to easily evacuate 19,000 tourists. This approach will have to change to a just-in-case approach, as in other supply chains .

For emergency services , tourists pose a particular challenge. Locals have a better understanding than tourists of risks and escape routes. Plus tourists don’t speak the language. That makes them much harder to help compared to locals.

Climate change poses immense challenges in other ways, too. Pacific atoll nations like Kiribati or Tuvalu would love more tourists to visit. The problem there is water. Sourcing enough water for locals is getting harder. And tourists use a lot of water – drinking it, showering in it, swimming in it. Careful planning will be required to ensure local carrying capacities are not exceeded by tourism.

So does this spell the end of mass tourism? Not entirely. But it will certainly accelerate the trend in countries like Spain away from mass tourism, or “overtourism”. In super-popular tourist destinations like Spain’s Balearic Islands, there’s been an increasing pushback from locals against overtourism in favour of specialised tourism with smaller numbers spread out over the year.

Is this year a wake-up call? Yes. The intensifying climate crisis means many of us are now more focused on what we can do to stave off the worst of it by, say, avoiding flights. The pressure for change is growing too. Delta Airlines is being sued over its announcement to go carbon neutral by using offsets , for instance.

Mountains not beaches: future tourism may look a lot different

You can already see efforts to adapt to the changes in many countries. In Italy, for instance, domestic mountain tourism is growing , enticing people from hot and humid Milan and Rome up where the air is cooler – even if the snow is disappearing.

China, which doesn’t do things by halves, is investing in mountain resorts. The goal here is to offer cooler alternatives like northern China’s Jilin province to beach holidays for sweltering residents of megacities such as Beijing and Shanghai.

Some mountainous countries are unlikely to seize the opportunity because they don’t want to draw more tourists. Norway is considering a tourist tax .

Forward-thinking countries will be better prepared. But there are limits to preparation and adaptation. Mediterranean summer holidays will be less and less appealing, as the region is a heating hotspot , warming 20% faster than the world average. Italy and Spain are still in the grip of a record-breaking drought, threatening food and water supplies. The future of tourism is going to be very different.

Read more: We're in the era of overtourism but there is a more sustainable way forward

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Encyclopedia of Tourism pp 1–3 Cite as

Mass Tourism

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Mass tourism is a worldwide phenomenon closely linked with the history of the industry. Often associated with sun, sand, and sea experiences, this particular form of tourism has long been considered as the dominant feature of international tourism. Mass tourism refers to the movement of a large number of organized tourists to popular leisure destinations and purposefully built holiday villages and resorts for recreational purposes. It is a phenomenon which is characterized by the use of standardized package products and mass consumption. Conceptually, this type of tourism features standardized leisure products and experiences packaged for mass tourists and sold by travel wholesalers (Harrison and Sharpley 2017 ). However, the conceptual nature of mass tourism has evolved over time to include the changing dynamics of tourists’ consumption and behavior, and the rise of postmodern independent travelers.

History and Development

The birth of mass tourism dates back to 1851 when Thomas Cook...

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Butcher, Jim. 2020. Constructing mass tourism. International Journal of Cultural Studies 23 (6): 898–915.

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Hall, Derek, Melanie Smith, and Barbara Marciszewska. 2006. Tourism in the new Europe: The challenges and opportunities of EU enlargement . Wallingford: CABI.

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Harrison, David, and Richard Sharpley. 2017. Introduction: Mass tourism in a small world. In Mass tourism in a small world , ed. David Harrison and Richard Sharpley, 1–15. Wallinford: CABI.

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Manera, Carles, Luciano Segreto, and Manfried Pohl. 2009. The Mediterranean as a tourist destination: Past, present, and future of the first mass tourism resort area. In Europe at the seaside: The economic history of mass tourism in the Mediterranean , ed. Luciano Segreto, Carles Manera, and Manfried Pohl, 1–11. Oxford: Berghahn.

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Milano, Claudio, Joseph Cheer, and Marina Novelli. 2019. Overtourism: Excesses, discontents and measures in travel and tourism . Walligford: CABI.

Robinson, Peter, Michael Lück, and Stephen L.J. Smith. 2020. Tourism . 2nd ed. Wallingford: CABI.

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Naumov, N. (2022). Mass Tourism. In: Jafari, J., Xiao, H. (eds) Encyclopedia of Tourism. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-01669-6_378-2

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The mass tourism industry EXPLAINED

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Mass tourism is a prominent part of the tourism industry. Associated with the traditional package holiday, well-known holiday resorts and famous tourist attractions, many areas both benefit and suffer at the hands of mass tourism. But what exactly is mass tourism and how does it impact the wider tourism industry?

In this article I will explain what mass tourism is, with some useful definitions. I will then outline the characteristics of mass tourism, the evolution of mass tourism and the positive and negative impacts of mass tourism. Lastly, I will provide some examples off destinations that are known for their mass tourism industries.

What is mass tourism?

Mass tourism definitions, extreme concentration of tourists, saturation of a destination, organised groups, accessibility, media and promotion, the stage of consolidation, psychocentric tourists, how did mass tourism evolve, enclave tourism, beach holidays, theme parks, major tourist attractions, mountain climbing, positive impacts of mass tourism, negative impacts of mass tourism, how can we manage mass tourism in a sustainable way, mass tourism destinations, mass tourism: conclusion, further reading.

Well, the clue is in the title!

Mass tourism is essentially tourism that involves ‘the masses’.

So, what is a mass? Well, this is not exactly clear. But lets just say its usually a lot- like thousands or tens of thousands or more.

Mass tourism can occur in a variety of tourism situations. It could be a coastal resort, such as Benidorm. It could be an area that is home to a major tourist attractions, such as the Great Wall of China . It could be a picturesque village or remote island.

Wherever mass tourism occurs, it relies on the same concept- there are large amounts of tourists , often filling or exceeding capacity, in a given location at one time.

For decades, mass tourism has been a widely used term in tourism literature as well as in wider society. Yet, to this day there has never been a clearly agreed definition and content.

According to Poon (1993), mass tourism refers to the movement of a large number of organised tourists to popular holiday destinations for recreational purposes. It is a phenomenon which is characterised by the use of standardised package products and mass consumption. Conceptually, this type of tourism features standardized leisure products and experiences packaged for mass tourists.

Hilallali (2003) describes mass tourism as ‘an offspring of industrialisation and democracy, good student of consumption and globalisation .

As noted by Dehoorne et Theng in 2015, Mass tourism is the epitome of aggressively large-scale sold standardized packages stands in stark opposition to elite or luxury tourism.

Naumov and Green (2016) state that mass tourism refers to the movement of a large number of organised tourists to popular holiday destinations for recreational purposes.

Whilst these definitions are useful, I personally feel that they are all missing some important detail. These definitions quite rightly acknowledge the fact that organised packaged tourism products are significant facilitators of mass tourism. But they fail to acknowledge the growing dynamic independent tourist.

In today’s world, consumers are more independent than ever. We can find a cheaper deal online ourselves than what the travel agent is offering. We can plan our own itinerary using the information presented by travel blogs. We don’t need a guide when we can download the information we need on our phones. But just because we are not part of a mass organised group, does not mean that we are not mass tourists.

Thousands of tourists flock to Santorini’s picturesque white streets each July. Thousands of people line the streets of Shanghai to get a look at the light show on the Bund each evening. People struggle to get a photo without the crowds of tourists behind them at the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt. Are all of these people on an organised package holiday? I very much doubt it.

In reality, most attempts to define the concept of mass tourism are indeed outdated, failing to take into account post-modern tourist motivations and behaviours. In light of this, I have developed my own definition of mass tourism below…

Mass tourism can be defined as ‘extreme concentrations of tourists in any one place, resulting in saturation of the place’. Mass tourism cannot be characterised by specific numbers or values, because every destination has different carrying capacities. Rather, mass tourism occurs when there are too many tourists for a destination to comfortably accommodate.

Characteristics of mass tourism

OK, so now we have defined mass tourism, what are the identifying characteristics? The most notable characteristics of mass tourism include: extreme concentrations of tourists; the saturation of a destination, travel in organised groups, good accessibility to a destination, media influence, the stage of consolidation and tourists who are described as psychocentric.

I will explain what each of these means below.

The most obviously characteristic of mass tourism is that there are a lot of tourists. What is a lot, I hear you say? Well, I can’t quite answer that question-sorry.

Each type of tourist destination is different. Some places are big, others are small. In fact, what is a destination? Well, this isn’t entirely clear either.

In the context of mass tourism, a destination could be a city, a holiday resort or the area surrounding a popular tourist attraction. The size of the destination doesn’t actually matter though. The important fact is that there are more tourists that come to the area at a given time than the destination can comfortably cope with.

OK, so here comes another subjective term- what does ‘comfortably cope’ mean? Well, what I mean by this, is that if the tourism has adverse effects as a result of the visitor numbers, it is no longer ‘comfortably coping’. This could include environmental degradation, gentrification or adverse social impacts, for example.

So the major characteristic associated with mass tourism is that there are too many tourists in a given area, big or small.

Having too many tourists leads to saturation of a tourist destination.

If a tourist destination is saturated, there are likely to be more tourists than members of the local community. Revenue from tourism-related activities is likely to dominate the economy. Many of the negative economic , environmental and social impacts of tourism are notable.

Mass tourism is generally associated with the concept of overtourism . Overtourism refers to the issue of having too many visitors in a given time in a given place, which impacts negatively on the tourist experience, the host community and environment.

Overtourism is a growing problem that can only be resolved by adopting principles of sustainable tourism management.

Mass tourism is associated with organised and packaged tourism.

Whilst not all mass tourists are package tourists, there is definitely a linear relationship between the two.

By default, group organised holidays bring large amounts of tourists to a destination at the same time. Whether this by via a coach tour, a day trip or through a tour operator, travel in organised groups brings large amounts of tourists together in one place at one time.

Group tourism is usually organised in a place because it has some particular value to the tourist. For example, there are many tours to visit the famous Abu Simbel attraction in Aswan, Egypt. Likewise, Sharm el Sheikh is a popular destination for package holidays and enclave tourism .

Mass tourism is directly associated with good accessibility.

The advent of the low cost airline largely fuelled the growth of the mass tourism industry. Airlines such as easyJet and Wizz Air put new tourist destinations on the map and helped to transport more tourists to existing tourist destinations than areas could [can] comfortable cope with.

Cheap flights has meant that many areas have become saturated with tourism. Cheap flights means that more people can afford to go on holiday, more often.

But accessibility isn’t just about price. The past two decades have seen the number of available flights increase exponentially. This has meant that destinations are more accessible to tourists.

Likewise, many destinations have become more accessible because they have developed their transport infrastructure. New airports, new roadways and improved rail infrastructure has meant that more tourists can reach more destinations around the world than ever before.

If we don’t know about a place then we don’t go to a place.

The media has placed a significant role in the growth of tourism to particular areas. From episodes of Karl Pilkington’s Idiot Abroad to Travel Man, starring Richard Ayoade , to Leonardo Dicaprio’s famous film, The Beach , there are plenty of places that have made their way to fame through the media.

One of the most notable developments in the promotion of tourist destinations is the development of social media. Have you ever heard of Insta tourism ? Yep- it’s a an actual type of tourism !

Social media platforms have raised awareness of many tourist destinations around the world that had previously featured only deep in our guidebooks.

In particular, Instagram’s geotagging function enables social media influencers to display the exact location of where their photographs were taken. This has resulted in tourists flocking to areas around the world that had previously experienced little or no tourism.

Butler, in his Tourism Area Life Cycle model , outlines the way in which a destination grows and evolves. In his model, there is a clear point at which tourist numbers are at their highest. This is the time when tourism is fully developed and is starting to the negative experience impacts associated with overtourism .

When tourism reaches the stage of consolidation in a destination, it is likely that it is also experiencing the concept of mass tourism.

Similarly to Butler, Plog looked at tourist motivations, mapping them to particular times during a destination’s development in his model of allocentricity and psychocentricity .

Plog demonstrated in his typological assessment, that when a tourist is classified as a psychometric tourist, they are likely to pertain to mass tourism as their primary choice of holiday type.

Psychocentric tourists typically travel in organised groups. Their holidays are typically organised for them by their  travel agent . These travellers seek the familiar. They are happy in the knowledge that their holiday resort will provide them with their home comforts. These tourists enjoy holiday resorts and  all inclusive packages . They are components of  enclave tourism , meaning that they are likely to stay put in their hotel for the majority of the duration of their holiday. These are often repeat tourists, who choose to visit the same destination year-on-year.

The history of tourism is a long one and mass tourism plays a key role in the growth and development of the tourism industry .

The origins of mass tourism can be traced back to 1851, when Thomas Cook led his first organised group of tourists to the Great Exhibition in London. While his business model did change and adapt over the years, the concept remained the same- organised group travel.

Over time, more and more people were able to travel. After World War ii, people began to have more disposable income and new legislation was brought in to ensure that workers had paid holidays each year.

At the same time, destinations became more developed. They developed their transport infrastructure, promoted their destination for tourism and built the facilities and amenities that tourists required.

Mass tourism notably developed in Western societies since the 1950s. This was the result of a period of strong economic growth. Mass tourism was first seen in Western Europe, North America and Japan as these countries had strong economies and thus the general public were wealthier overall.

Globalisation has also fuelled the mass tourism industry. People can find the familiar on their travels. There are less surprises than there once was. We can research our trip on the Internet and watch travel shows to familiarise ourselves before we travel.

The mass tourism industry really started to boom with the advent of the low cost carrier . The average UK outbound tourist went from having one two week holiday per year to taking a big holiday and a couple of short breaks. People who couldn’t afford to go on holiday before, were now being brought into the market.

Types of mass tourism

Although many people associate mass tourism predominantly with the traditional package holiday model, there are in fact many different types of mass tourism.

Examples of enclave tourism destinations : Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt ; Kusadasi, Turkey; Costa Blanca, Spain.

Mass tourism is commonly associated with enclave tourism .

Enclave tourism is essentially tourism that takes place in a space that is segregated from the community outside. It is in its own ‘bubble’, so to speak.

Enclave tourism implies a conscious decision to segregate tourists from the general population . This is usually in the context of an all-inclusive environment such as a cruise ship, hotel or resort complex.

Enclaves are enclosed and self-contained physically, socially, and economically. This means that tourists have hardly any reasons to leave the enclave.

Examples of mass tourism beach destinations: Benidorm, Spain; Phuket, Thailand; Kuta, Bali .

There are many beach areas where the destinations have become overdeveloped. These are most commonly located in Western Europe, although they are found all around the world. It is these overdeveloped beach areas that are most commonly associated with mass tourism.

Mass tourism beach holidays have traditionally been the bread and butter for travel agents . Up until this day, high street travel agents are filled with holidays brochures boasting photo after photo of beautiful beaches and swimming pools.

With the lack of British sunshine and seemingly endless rainy days, it is no surprise that Brits, amongst other nationalities, seek warmer climes. Thomas Cook’s products were among the first to provide British holiday makers with the typical sun, sea and sand experience, but there have since been many more players enter the market.

Examples of mass ski destinations: Andorra, Italy ; Chamonix, France; Breckonridge, USA.

There are many ski resorts that have developed to such a stage that they can now be classified as mass tourism destinations.

Popular throughout the winter months, many tourists flock to ski destinations for their holiday. This is especially popular in the Alps in Europe and the Rockies in the USA and Canada.

Ski holidays are also often sold as a packaged product by travel agents, composing of flights, transfers, accommodation and ski rental/lessons.

Examples of mass tourism in theme parks: Universal Studios Florida , USA; Alton Towers, UK; Disney Shanghai, China.

Theme parks attract large amounts of tourists.

Disney Land, Paris attracts around 15 million tourists each year, Disney Land in Tokyo has approximately 18 million visitors and Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney Florida has more than 20 million tourists each year! Wow, that’s a lot!

People who visit theme parks also often provide a tourism boost for local areas too. People may choose to eat at nearby restaurants or stay in nearby hotels.

Mass tourism events: Hogmonay, Edinburgh, UK; Rio Carnival, Brazil; San Fermin , Spain.

Mass tourism occurs when large numbers of people undertake tourism-related activities in the same place at the same time. This is often the case with major events.

From the Olympics to the Day of the Dead Festival in Mexico, events attract tourists all over the world.

Mass tourism caused from events can out a strain on locals areas, which may not be equipped to deal with the influx of visitors.

Examples of major tourist attractions attracting the masses: The Eiffel Tower, France ; The Pyramids of Giza, Egypt; The Great Wall, China.

Many tourists will travel to an area to visit a particular tourist attraction. Whether this is a museum in Paris, a war memorial in Washington or an underground cave in Jeju , South Korea, tourist attractions are often the main appeal of a tourist destination .

Major tourist attractions can attract masses of tourists, who then spend time in the surrounding area, thus making the area a mass tourism destination.

Examples of mass tourism cruise areas: The Caribbean; the Mediterranean.

Cruise tourism is one of the most popular types of tourism .

Cruises come in all shapes and sizes and the smaller ones are obviously not examples of mass tourism. However, some cruise ships are so big that they are the size of a small city!

The largest cruise ships in the world have a capacity of more than 5000 tourists. These tourists will disembark en mass when the ship docks at various locations, causing an influx of tourists to said destinations over a short period of time.

Examples of mountain climbing where tourist numbers exceed capacity: Mount Everest; Mount Kilimanjaro.

Mass tourism when climbing a mountain? Surely not? Well actually- yes.

OK so you are not getting thousands of tourists like you might on a cruise ship or in a beach resort, but like I explained earlier, mass tourism is not about specific numbers- it is when the numbers exceed capacity.

Sadly, there have been many stories in recent years of capacity issues when climbing mountains. The most notable is on Mount Everest, where tourists have dies as a result of queuing at high altitude.

Whilst mass tourism is most commonly discussed because of its negative impacts, there are actually some positive impacts of mass tourism too.

Mass tourism makes money. That’s the number one motivator for all destinations who allow areas to evolve into mass tourism destinations (not sure what I mean? Take a look at Butler’s Tourism Area Life Cycle model ). After all, money is what makes the world go round, right?

Mass tourism brings lots of tourists. Lots of tourists spend lots of money. This supports economic growth in the local area and enables the destination to spend or reinvest the money that is made in a way that is appropriate for that particular area. Some destinations may build more hotels. Other may make financial investments. Some may spend more money on public health services or education.

However they choose to spend their money, it is money which is the motivation for tourism development.

Mass tourism creates many jobs. This also helps to boost the local economy as well as supporting livelihoods. Jobs can be directly related to tourism (i.e. a hotel waiter or a holiday representative) or they can be indirectly related to tourism (i.e. the fisherman who supplies fish to the hotels).

You can read more about the positive economic impacts of tourism here .

Mass tourism has gained a pretty bad reputation in recent years. If you Google the term ‘mass tourism’ you will be largely greeted with articles that discuss the negative impacts on the environment and society.

Mass tourism creates intense environmental pressures due to the fact that such activity involves a large number of tourists in small areas. The environmental impacts of tourism include aspects such as littering, erosion, displacement of animals, damage to flora and fauna and reduction in air quality, to name but a few.

Mass tourism can also cause significant social impacts . Gentrification, increases in crime, loss of culture and authenticity and cultural ignorance are just some of the ways that large amount of tourists in a given area can negatively effect the local society.

The other major problem is economic leakage . Whilst mass tourism creates significant revenue, not all of this money remains in the destination. In fact, because mass tourism is closely associated with all inclusive holidays and enclave tourism, it experiences more economic leakage than other areas of the tourism industry.

Economic leakage is when the money raised leaks out of the area. This is largely due to multinational chains operating within the tourism system .

If you eat McDonalds, most of your money goes back to America.

If you buy a can of Coke, most of your money goes back to America.

If you stay in a Hilton Hotel, most of your money goes back to America.

Get the picture?

The key to managing mass tourism in a sustainable way is to minimise visitor numbers. OK, so that sounds counterintuitive, right? Wrong.

Yes, mass tourism is great because it brings in lots of money. BUT the problem is that it is not sustainable. Destinations cannot continue to exceed their capacity indefinitely.

As I explained above, there are generally more negative impacts associated with mass tourism than there are positive. But that doesn’t mean that mass tourism doesn’t have to stop altogether. There are many methods to manage tourism destinations in a more sustainable manner.

One way to manage mass tourism better is to provide incentives to help distribute tourists evenly throughout the year and to avoid the peaks and troughs that come with seasonality. Instead of having the majority of tourists arrive in July and August, for example, a destination could put caps on visitor numbers during this time and instead offer discounted rates at other times of the year.

A destination could temporarily close to allow for some of the environmental damage caused by mass tourism to be repaired. This has been done at Maya Bay in Thailand and on the island of Borocay in the Philippines in recent years, with positive outcomes.

Another way to manage mass tourism in a more sustainable way is to introduce smart tourism techniques. These can help to better manage tourist flows, monitor tourist activity and accurately analyse tourist patterns and behaviours. This allows tourism stakeholders to more easily and more accurately implement sustainable tourism principles where possible.

Ultimately, however, sustainable tourism and mass tourism are contradictory terms. Mass tourism is generally viewed as the antithesis of sustainability, due to the large amount of negative impacts that are widely known and documented. That isn’t to say that sustainable mass tourism is impossible, it just requires some very careful tourism planning and management.

There are many destinations around the world that are classed at mass tourism destinations. Some are resorts, others are major tourist attractions. Some destinations have suffered at the hands of the mass tourism industry for many years and others are new to the scene. In some cases, Governments have [are] implementing changes to better manage tourism or to remove themselves from the mass tourism market.

As much as I would love to discuss each of the mass tourism destinations below, this article is already almost 4000 words long, and I don’t want to bore you! Instead, I will provide a list of mass tourism destinations and if you are interested, you can research these more yourself!

Mass tourism destinations include:

• Eifell Tower
• Val-d’Isere
• Côte d’Azur
• Mont St Michael
• San Sebastian
• Vatican City
• Coloseum, Rome
• Cinque Terre
• Neuschwanstein, Germany
• Hallstatt, Austria
• Oktoberfest, Munich
• Stonehenge, UK
• Lake Lucerne, Switzerland
• Great Wall of China
• The Bund, Shanghai
• Terracotta Warriors, Xian
• Islands of Thailand
• Mount Everest
• Great Barrier Reef
• Macchu Picchu
• Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica
• The Caribbean islands
• Several US National Parks
• Pyramids of Giza, Cairo

Mass tourism is big business, quite literally. Mass tourism isn’t new, but our awareness of many of the negative impacts that it causes is relatively new. It is only in recent years that we have really started to understand the impacts of our actions and think in a more sustainable way.

As you can see, there are many mass tourism destinations all over the world. Are these destinations and the practices that they are adopting sustainable? Probably not.

It is imperative that we plan and manage our tourism industries in order to keep them alive. To learn more about how we can do this and about the importance of the mass tourism industry, I suggest that you consult the texts below.

• Overtourism – This book examines the evolution of the phenomenon and explores the genesis of overtourism and the system dynamics underlining it.
• Overtourism: Tourism Management and Solutions – Questioning the causes of this phenomenon, such as increased prosperity and mobility, technological development, issues of security and stigma for certain parts of the world and so on, this book supposes that better visitor management strategies and distribution of tourists can offset the negative impacts of ‘overtourism’.
• The Challenge of Overtourism – Working paper outlining the concept by Harold Goodwin.
• How to be a highly Sustainable Tourist: A Guidebook for the Conscientious Traveller – a great guide with tips on how to travel sustainably
• The Intrepid Traveler: The ultimate guide to responsible, ecological, and personal-growth travel and tourism – Leading travel expert Adam Rogers draws upon 40 years of experience exploring more than 130 countries in every region on Earth to share the smartest ways to travel in this tip-filled guide
• Outdoor Recreation: Environmental Impacts and Management – an academic text discussing the sustainability of outdoor pursuits
• Sustainable and Responsible Tourism: Trends, Practices and Cases – Sustainable tourism case studies from around the world
• Responsible Tourism: Using tourism for sustainable development – a textbook addressing the concept of sustainability in terms in development

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What Has Mass Tourism Done to Europe? A Novelist Digs In.

Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer’s “Grand Hotel Europa” combines a comedy of manners with cultural commentary.

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By Rand Richards Cooper

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GRAND HOTEL EUROPA, by Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer | Translated by Michele Hutchison

A middle-aged Dutch writer checks into a hotel in an unnamed Italian city, seeking to rebound from a failed love affair and “regain control over my thoughts.” So begins “Grand Hotel Europa,” the sprawling new autofiction by Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer, a Dutch novelist, poet and scholar who has long resided in Italy.

The narrator, also named Ilja Pfeijffer, has arrived at the “sumptuous … and once magnificent hotel” to try to alchemize his affair with Clio — an art historian from an aristocratic family — into a novel. The hotel’s cast of eccentric characters includes a North African bellboy with a painful refugee past; an erudite and philosophizing scholar; a “militant feminist” poet; the new Chinese owner, bent on modernizing the place for Asian tourists; and the mysterious, Miss Havisham-like former owner, ensconced in a room Ilja cannot find, “alone with her art and her memories.”

The hotel evokes the mannerliness and beauty of premodern European life, its gilt frames and Chesterfield armchairs moving the narrator to swoony retrospection. But his enchantment is undercut by his great preoccupation and bugbear — “the phenomenon of mass tourism,” in all its manifold awfulness. “Grand Hotel Europa” depicts a Europe overrun by hordes of visitors consuming a travesty of the past and turning the continent into their “fantastic historical park.” The narrator himself is an inveterate traveler, but his peregrinations are presented as a push toward enlightenment; in contrast, the tourist’s ceaseless quest for unique experience — and impressive social media posts — leads to obscenity and farce, as when a tour operator touts night orienteering in Cambodia and asks Ilja if he’s looking for “Vietnam, napalm, Tour of Duty, that kind of thing.”

One can’t help being impressed by how many narrative balls Pfeijffer keeps in the air. The novel combines a comedy of manners with travel journalism, political and cultural commentary, and reflections on European identity. Oh, plus an art-heist mystery (centering on the final days and paintings of Caravaggio). And that love story. Pfeijffer’s prose, bravely translated by Michele Hutchison, is as multifarious as the novel itself — now elegant and baroque, now blandly reportorial, now bawdy (some readers may cringe at his lusty descriptions of sexual encounters). What to make of a style that calls to mind Nabokov, Tom Wolfe, Baudrillard, Umberto Eco, Wes Anderson and a UNESCO position paper? The novel wantonly mingles the erotic and the esoteric, the hilarious and the hectoring, the antic and the academic.

Pfeijffer’s characters tend to spout lectures: on immigration policy, on the inequities caused by Airbnb and the sharing economy, on George Steiner’s concept of Europeanness. The occasional longueur is relieved by a lively, even virtuoso invective, cued by tourists who “blubber along in all their idleness … like cholesterol inhibiting the city’s circulation and causing infarctions.” A merry misanthropy animates the novel’s academic reflections, as Ilja entertains florid fantasies of alleviating the tourist glut via terror attacks or medieval torture methods — and at one point, hurls a German tourist off the Rialto and into the Grand Canal in Venice.

Pfeijffer’s autofictional gambits begin with a scene of the narrator promising his publisher a novel about tourism, then incorporate the author’s own itineraries, such as his jaunt to Skopje, Macedonia, for a literary festival. A conference Clio organizes, on the future of museums, features the real-life art historians Eike Schmidt and Jean Clair. Pfeijffer melds these workaday realities with the fictional and fantastical. Clio, of course, is the muse of history; as for the identity of the hotel’s mystery ex-proprietress, that comes clear in a spectacular denouement involving what one could call a funeral for Europe.

There is a higgledy-piggledy quality to the novel that suggests a writer taking all the oddments on his desk and sewing them together with metafictional and autofictional threads. Not everything works, but in the end, “Grand Hotel Europa” is like its garrulous narrator, whose flaws and excesses you readily forgive because you enjoy his company. Not even the book’s caustic and at times dismal take on contemporary European realities can dampen its incorrigible high spirits.

Rand Richards Cooper is the author of two works of fiction and a contributing editor for Commonweal.

GRAND HOTEL EUROPA | By Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer | Translated by Michele Hutchison | 560 pp. | Farrar, Straus and Giroux | $30

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