As the British weather teases summer and suitcases are stuffed with suncream, new tourist taxes and ongoing overtourism protests are changing the travel landscape in Europe.
Last summer, a string of anti-tourism protests against overcrowding met holidaymakers visiting Barcelona and the Balearic Islands during peak season.
According to new research by Which?, European hotspots, including Zante, Paris and Mallorca, are among the destinations worst affected by overtourism.
The consumer champion analysed European Commission (EC) tourism numbers from 2023 to identify the places overrun with footfall and those where it’s easy to find a quiet corner.
Which? crowned Zante, also known as Zakynthos, in Greece the capital of overtourism, with the highest “tourist pressure” – number of tourists per resident – after the island of just 40,000 people welcomed six million overnight stays in 2023. That’s 150 overnight stays for every resident.
Croatia’s Istria peninsula closely followed with 133 overnight tourist stays for each person that lives in the area.
As for the destinations under the least pressure from tourists, Lille clocked just two overnight stays for every resident in the Nord region and Teleorman, Romania, recorded only 20 overnight stays per 1,000 residents in 2023.
Between overtourism protests, Spanish island Mallorca clocked 51 million overnight stays – the most in Europe – in 2023, with a population of 966,000 people.
The French capital, Paris, had around 44 million overnight stays in the same year, compared to its population of 2.1 million.
Which? found that this gave the city the most tourists per square kilometre, a huge 418,280, followed by Greece’s Athens (88,534.92) and Copenhagen in Denmark (63,943.88).
According to its analysis, Murcia is the least visited part of Spain’s Mediterranean coast, with 486 overnight stays per square km, and the Estonian seaside resort Haapsalu is another quiet alternative at around 120 overnight stays by tourists per square km.
Rory Boland, editor of Which? Travel, said: “What this data shows is that overtourism has overwhelmed some of Europe’s most popular destinations. With so many fantastic places in Europe, the truth is, you are going to have a far better holiday in a destination where there are not hundreds or even thousands more tourists than there are locals.
“Try Estonia for stunning coastlines and, yes, warm weather, during summer. Or if you want to stick with Spain, Murcia is a great option.”
Top 10 destinations with the highest tourist pressure
(tourists per 1,000 residents)
- Zante/Zakynthos (149,886.95)
- Istria, Croatia (133,466.93)
- Fuerteventura (118,720.31)
- Lanzarote (117,785.17)
- Dodecanese Islands (113,790.45)
- Tiroler Oberland, Austria (112,716.37)
- Pinzgau-Pongau, Austria (Salzburg Alps) (109,009.7)
- Cyclades (104,152.63)
- Kerkyra, Corfu (100,079.59)
- Außerfern, Austria (97,299.12)
For more travel news and advice, listen to Simon Calder’s podcast
