What is the answer to overtourism? – DW – 06/03/2025

DW

03-06-2025

Many popular holiday destinations are struggling from the environmental impact of huge visitor numbers. How can it be tackled?
Tourism is booming all over the world. Last year there were around 1.5 billion holiday makers, setting the second highest ever record after 2019.
From Gran Canaria, to Mallorca and Rome, many population destinations are now overcrowded with visitors.
Overtourism describes the excessive, and often simultaneous, rush of vacationers to one place. According to the UN World Tourism Organization it is usually defined as the point at which locals or visitors feel tourism has negatively impacted the quality of life in a region to an unacceptable degree.
All of this applies to the seven Canary Islands. The archipelago in the Atlantic, home to 2.2 million locals, hosted a total of 15.2 million visitors last year — and a new record is expected this year.
While tourism accounts for more than a third of the islands' economy, it is mainly large investors that profit, according to local groups. Rents are exploding, the environment is suffering and living space for the local population is becoming scarce as property owners capitalize on lucrative short-term rentals.
How does overtourism impact the environment?
Overtourism magnifies the existing problems of heavy tourism and often stretches infrastructure and local resources to their limit.
Noise, littering, drones flying through the air to take holiday snaps, and traffic jams are just a few of the less pleasant aspects of surges in visitors.
Landscapes are often altered by additional footpaths or new parking lots catering to visitors, disrupting the local flora and fauna.
Tourism threatens water resources, especially on islands and in warm regions as vacationers, especially those that are wealthy, generally consume more water than locals.
Waste water is also often a problem. For example, the wastewater discharged into the sea off the popular Spanish Balearic island of Majorca has caused underwater seagrass beds, important helpers against the climate crisis, to shrink considerably.
In May, 2025, locals on Tenerife protested overtourism on the Canary Islands Image: Andres Gutierrez/Anadolu/picture alliance
Is overtourism fueling the climate crisis?
Emissions from tourism increased by 65% between 1995 and 2019 and it is today responsible for 8-10% of all global greenhouse gas emissions.
Air travel is the main driver of its growing climate impact. While flying accounts for a quarter of all vacation trips, it is responsible for three quarters of tourism emissions.
Added to this are emissions from local transportation, accommodation and leisure activities. The general rise in travel often leads to overtourism: if more people are traveling, particularly popular destinations become more crowded.
Short trips are becoming more popular. Last year, Germans alone took around 94 million short trips — an increase of almost a quarter compared to the previous year. This type of travel is particularly damaging to the climate, as the largest proportion of tourists' CO2 emissions comes from the journey to and from a destination. More short trips equals more arrivals and departures, and this means more emissions.
What causes overtourism?
According to the Swiss non-profit organization fairunterwegs, air travel has a particularly influential role in driving overtourism. They say the existence of nearby airports, particularly if they are served by low-cost airlines, encourages the emergence of overtourism. Mallorca, for example, would probably not be as popular if people had to travel there by ship.
However cruise ships are also criticized for exacerbating the problem. Cruise ship tourists tend to go ashore for only a few hours, putting a strain on local infrastructure and contributing relatively little to the local economy, as they are usually fully catered for on board.
Visitors to Hallstatt, Austria, have boomed since it was featured in popular TV series Image: JFK/EXPA/picturedesk.com/picture alliance
And then there is the phenomenon of so-called set-jetting. The film locations of popular TV series often lead to a huge spike in visitor numbers. On Maui and Sicily, the filming locations for the US series "The White Lotus", the number of guests has risen by 20% on both islands.
Dubrovnik in Croatia, where much of Game of Thrones was filmed, is also suffering from overtourism. In Hallstatt, Austria, a local initiative is fighting against the impact of a tourism surge, likely driven by the picturesque town being featured in the South Korean Netflix series "Spring Waltz".
Can overtourism be prevented?
Some cities and regions are trying to limit the number of travelers at certain times or altogether.
In Venice, day tourists have to pay up to €10 and Lisbon charges cruise ship operators €2 for every disembarking passenger. Tenerife is restricting access to the summit of the Pico del Teide volcano to 300 visitors per day.
Paris has moved to limit the number of days per year locals can rent out their main residence via platforms such as Airbnb, while Thailand is closing the popular Similan and Surin Islands this year until autumn to allow local ecosystems to recover and is planning to charge entrance fees in future.
In addition to access restrictions and higher taxes on overnight stays, visitor flows are also being managed through digital booking systems that help avoid queues in front of monuments or museums. Some tourism hotspots are also promoting attractions outside city centers.
Copenhagen is trying a different approach by instead rewarding more climate-friendly travellers, with those arriving by train able to access free rental bikes, yoga lessons, guided tours and reduced admission prices.
This article was first published in German.