Barcelona, Venice and Amsterdam are among Europe’s favourite travel destinations and benefit greatly from tourism. However, the massive influx of visitors places a considerable burden on the cities and their inhabitants.

To counteract the negative effects of overtourism, these cities are taking decisive action. Following public protests, no new hotels may be built in Venice and cruise ships will have to use other moorings in future. Amsterdam has banned guided tours of its famous red light district in order to protect local residents. Paris is planning to ban coaches from the city centre in order to improve the quality of life. Other overcrowded cities are also trying to control the situation through various methods.

Do you think that overtourism is a serious problem in Europe?

Sources: National Statistics Offices, Statista, Le Monde, Forbes

  • @[email protected]English
    11•5 months ago

    Quality over quantity. A good start would be a ban on cruise ships and flights within the EU, which can be done with trains.

    Honestly I am often shocked how many go to museums, look at old buildings and go to amazing landscapes when on a vacation in another country, but never consider the sights close to home. The great part about those is, that you do not need a hotel and there are no crowds blocking the good views. They for the most part, will not be world famous, but they are quite literally closer to home.

    • @daddy32English
      2•5 months ago

      I call it “let’s play tourists at home!” There are still many places we haven’t “used” this way yet.

      Anyway, are you really suggesting to ban flights within EU? That is ridiculous. Or do you mean “cruise flights”, a strange thing I have never heard of before?

      • @[email protected]English
        1•5 months ago

        I want to ban flights between destinations, which can easily be travelled by train. There are quite a lot of those, thanks to high speed trains.

        • @daddy32English
          2•5 months ago

          Alright, but… That would probably be win from ecological point of view, but wouldn’t help in this case? If they can be “easily traveled by train”, they can be easily (mis)used by tourists. If the train is somehow less enticing in this case, my original point still stands… It would limit a business travel for example, which is a no-go…