Overtourism: Too much of a good thing?

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We are bombarded, lured, oregon both, arsenic hotels, airlines, societal media influencers, cruise companies, and our ain friends curate, station and tempt america to travel. What's often cropped retired are the crowds and agelong lines – the frustrations that tin travel with vacationing today, oregon surviving successful a abrogation destination.

"Where we spot neighborhoods starting to service tourists much than residents, that's wherever we commencement to spot problems," said Paris-based writer Paige McClanahan. "And that's wherever we commencement to spot pushbacks, similar we've seen immoderate anti-tourism protests successful places similar Barcelona."

McClanahan, who has covered question and tourism for decades, says tourism is simply a immense economical force. "Globally, tourism is 10% of the planetary economy," she said. "It's astir 1 successful 10 jobs astir the world."

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In her book, "The New Tourist," McClanahan traces however guidebooks, low-cost airlines, and present societal media are fueling a surge successful travel. In 1950, determination were 25 cardinal tourer arrivals astir the world. Today there's more than 1.5 billion.

One spot connected galore tourists' checklists: The Louvre successful Paris. It's the world's most-visited museum. "It's evidently an iconic spot," McClanahan said. "It's besides a spot that truly epitomizes immoderate of the pressures that we've been talking about."

In June 2025, Louvre employees went connected strike due to the fact that of its inability to header with the crowds.

"It feels similar tourism is having a coming-of-age moment, wherever destinations are truly waking up to the information that tourism is thing that needs regulation, it needs taxes, it needs municipality readying laws, it needs carnal infrastructure," said McClanahan. "At the aforesaid time, tourists, we travelers, are besides waking up to the interaction of our beingness successful places."

Mona Lisa relocated successful the Louvre's Salle des Etats successful Paris, France connected April 06th, 2005.

So, has societal media been bully oregon atrocious for travel? "Yes!" McClanahan replied. "Yes to both."

Consider this: A canyon successful Iceland had to beryllium closed aft a Justin Bieber euphony video attracted excessively galore tourists. A husbandman successful Italy's Dolomites protested crowds by installing a turnstile to complaint to get to Instagrammable spots.

Then, there's this fragile city...

A flood of tourists successful Venice

Each twelvemonth astir 30 cardinal visitors travel to Venice – that's astir 600 times the section population. In 2024 the metropolis implemented a interest for daytrippers of 5 to 10 Euros astatine highest times – 1 mode to combat the crush of tourists.

Venice has besides tried banning monolithic cruise ships – but tourists inactive come. Portofino, connected Italy's different coast, added caller rules to negociate the behaviour of those already there.

Police commandant Chiarello Giuseppina got caller duties this past summertime erstwhile Portofino banned drinking intoxicant oregon sitting connected the crushed successful main streets and squares. Also off-limits successful highest times: being barefoot oregon shirtless. There's an up to 500 Euro fine.

Does she ever perceive complaints from visitors? "No, we person nary complaints," Giuseppina said. "In general, radical understand. We explicate that we are, yes, connected the sea, but we are successful a precise celebrated center, and it's close to respect and bask the town."

Across Europe, countries are trying to modulate tourism. Spain started removing tens of thousands of amerciable Airbnbs, and introduced taxes which alteration implicit clip to promote longer stays.

Asked what tourer destinations and cities should do, McClanahan said, "It's not the sexiest taxable really, but 1 truly absorbing instrumentality is simply a tourism tax, and we're seeing that successful Amsterdam. They've upped the tourer taxation to 12.5%, which is presently the highest successful Europe."

Amsterdam: Venice of the North

Amsterdam is known for its canals, and much and much its crowds. Home to less than 1 cardinal residents, it saw a grounds 23 cardinal tourists successful 2024. "At a definite point, residents started to rise their voices," said Anouschka Trauschke, who utilized to negociate what she calls a "typical" circuit company. But she says she had an interior conflict: "You consciousness similar an ambassador of the city. But connected the different side, you were feeling that you were portion of a problem."

Trauschke organizes assemblage sessions to brainstorm solutions to overtourism, and started Tours That Matter, which tailors visits, often touring less-trafficked spots, similar taking the ferry to North Amsterdam, wherever a erstwhile shipyard is connected 1 of her tours.

But is it conscionable a driblet successful the bucket, considering the much than 20 cardinal tourists that travel to the city? "That's what you would think," she said, "but with Tours That Matter, we've been precise overmuch portion of a pioneer movement. And past we inactive person this large, ample tourism that is conscionable asking for transition."

Edwin Scholvinck is pushing for that transition. For 33 years he's lived successful the city's world-famous red-light district, known for its windows and enactment workers. But helium says his friends won't travel sojourn anymore. Why? "Because determination are excessively galore tourists," helium said.

Lately, helium has been capable to find a small much bid astatine home. Guided tours are nary longer allowed successful the often-noisy neighborhood, and bars indispensable adjacent earlier. He's besides joined a assemblage run called We Live Here. "The thought is to amusement the visitors to this country that there's not lone party, but there's besides a residential area," helium said.

We Live Here is 1 of respective antithetic efforts underway. Economist Jasper van Dijk says, "I deliberation those efforts are great. It's great, but it's not enough."

Van Dijk is portion of a radical trying to writer the metropolis of Amsterdam for not adhering to an agreed-upon headdress of 20 cardinal tourists. "The metropolis decidedly took measures," helium said, "and I deliberation we're besides 1 of the front-runners successful Europe. But we're saying it's rather a small excessively late. We tin bash mode more." He thinks adjacent higher tourer taxes would chopped down connected the numbers.

"Sunday Morning" had plentifulness of questions for the City of Amsterdam, but could not get anyone to speech with us. The Mayor, the Deputy Mayor progressive successful tourism, adjacent the selling bureau moving with the metropolis each declined our petition to beryllium interviewed.

The irony is that 10 years ago, the metropolis had truthful overmuch occurrence with its selling campaign, I amsterdam, that it aboriginal launched different run encouraging rowdy visitors to enactment away. Paige McClanahan said, "In excessively galore cases you person to get to benignant of a breaking constituent earlier the metropolis wakes up and realizes they request to put similar this."

She says solutions request to beryllium catered to each community, but immoderate of the work lies connected those of america travelling. "Whether tourism is going to beryllium much of a unit for bully successful the satellite oregon much of a destructive force, a challenging force, is truly up to america to decide," McClanahan said. "If we each travel unneurotic and dainty tourism with the respect and the scrutiny and the work that it deserves, past we tin usage our powerfulness to crook tourism into a constructive unit for humanity."

READ AN EXCERPT: "The New Tourist" by Paige McClanahan

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