Overtourism in Europe: Statistics, Problems, Conclusion

In 2022-2023 based on Eurostat (the chief European statistics body) report, the 10 most popular European destinations consistently included:

• Mallorca
• Barcelona
• Tenerife
• Alicante
• Paris
• Venice
• Bolzano
• Rome

However, if we look a closer look at the top 10 most popular destinations over the last few years, we see that 4 out of 10 were located in Spain, and 3 out of 10 were in Italy:

1. Mallorca - Spain
2. Paris - France
3. Barcelona - Spain
4. Tirol - Austria
5. Venice - Italy
6. Bolzano - Italy
7. Tenerife - Spain
8. Roma - Italy
9. Alicante- Spain
10. Istria - Croatia

The newest data reveals a huge growth in the popularity of Spanish destinations. According to the most recent Eurostat data, Spain holds 7 out of the 10 most popular tourist destinations:

1. Spain - Mallorca (51.1 million)
2. France - Paris (43.9 million)
3. Italy - Roma (41.1 million)
4. Spain - Barcelona (39.7 million)
5. Italy - Venice (38.1 million)
6. Italy - Bolzano-Bozen (36.1 million)
7. Spain - Tenerife (34.3 million)
8. Spain - Alicante/Alacant (31.9 million)
9. Spain - Madrid (30.2 million)
10. Spain - Málaga (29.6 million)

But before looking at a more detailed report on overtourism in Spain and other countries, let's dive into the European tourist market in general.

Eurostat reports a staggering 3.05 billion tourists on the continent. Out of those 3 billion, roughly two-thirds were domestic tourists from other regions or countries of Europe, while a third — nearly 1.3 billion — came from outside the continent.

Compared to Europe’s population of 473.7 million (according to Worldometer), that means the region hosts nearly three times as many tourists as it has residents.

More than half (60%, to be precise) of these tourists end up booking their vacation in one of these countries:

• Spain (483.8 million)
• France (461.6 million)
• Italy (443.3 million)
• Germany (432.6 million)

It’s clear from the numbers that these top four countries host far more tourists than they have residents.

It's becoming increasingly common for locals in heavily visited cities to feel a sense of displacement, with some expressing concern that their hometowns no longer feel like home. In some areas, this has led to public demonstrations and calls for change. Residents often cite rising prices at local businesses like cafés and restaurants, along with growing pressure on the housing market.

The housing impact is partly due to the popularity of short-term rentals, which can be more profitable for property owners. This shift has contributed to a limited housing supply and rising rents in certain cities.

The disruption of normal life for locals by tourists has resulted in a series of anti-tourism protests all over Europe. Here are a couple of examples:

Protests in Mallorca, Canary Islands, and Barcelona in February 2025 where residents demanded higher tax rates and limitations for foreign investors to decrease the housing prices in these cities.

A large wave of complaints by residents of Venice and Rome resulted in a tourist tax to enter the city or specific historical monuments inside them.

Protests in Amsterdam ended up with the city officials limiting boat tours, freezing new hotel construction, and halting active marketing campaigns of the city abroad.
Demands by Greek residents for higher wages and fewer working hours both of which they claim are the result of overtourism in the country.

While many national and local governments have begun addressing the challenges of overtourism, progress tends to be gradual. It's a complex issue that will likely require long-term solutions and sustained effort.

The problem of overtourism is especially relevant to Spain. The reason is simple, tourists overwhelmingly prefer adding Spanish cities to their travel plans and stay there longer than in other places. Eurostat reports that 70% of the most popular cities among tourists in Europe are in Spain. Here’s what the top 10 looks like (by hotel nights booked):

1. Mallorca, Spain - 51.1 million
2. Paris, France - 43.0 million
3. Rome, Italy - 41.1 million
4. Barcelona, Spain - 39.7 million
5. Venice, Italy - 38.1 m
6. Bolzano, Italy - 36.1 million
7. Tenerife, Spain - -34.3 million
8. Alicante, Spain - 31.9 million
9. Madrid, Spain - 30.2 million
10. Malaga, Spain - 29.6 million

broad.

While having so many tourists has boosted the Spanish economy, we can see that there’s a sharp unequal distribution among cities and regions when it comes to the number of tourists hosted. Specifically, the following five regions have become hotspots for hosting visitors from other EU countries and abroad.

So these five regions total 79% of all hotel nights booked in Spain, leaving the remaining 12 regions of Spain to have only about 21% combined:

1. Castile and León
2. Basque Country
3. Aragon
4. Asturias
5. Cantabria
6. Murcia
7. Navarre
8. Castilla
9. La Mancha
10. Extremadura
11. La Rioja
12. Melilla

So tourists in Spain tend to cluster around major destinations, while smaller towns and regions are often overlooked.

To make things even more challenging for Spanish locals, sometimes the tourist high season coincides with other local problems too. Barcelona, for instance, had to battle a flood first which then quickly turned into a major drought - creating further economic and quality-of-life stress on its residents.

Unlike Spain, tourist visits in Italy are more evenly spread across a wider range of regions. Around 79% of tourists visiting Italy end up booking their vacation at one of these 9 regions:

As we can see from the statistics here, despite having an inflow of tourists comparable to Spain, the majority of them (almost 80%) are distributed among nine regions instead of only five.

The most popular destination for tourists visiting Italy is Venice which gets 16% of all hotel nights booked. This share is slightly lower than the Canary Islands for Spain which hold 20% of the share.

While Italy sees a more even distribution of visitors compared to Spain, several cities still face challenges related to overtourism.

These include the rising costs of daily essentials like groceries and dining out, as well as increased pressure on the housing market.

The rise of rental costs is such a large problem in Italy, that Florence ended up banning short-term rentals altogether from its historic center in 2023 to try countering it. The reason behind this decision was the staggering 41% increase in monthly rent prices in the city.

Other significant government action aimed at battling overtourism includes the idea for tourists to pay to enter Venice. The Venice tourist tax costs 5-10 euros for anyone planning to visit the city on designated days of the year. Visitors will need to purchase the entry permit in advance and hold the QR code that comes with it with them all the time while visiting the city. City authorities will be able to stop anyone at any moment and ask for their QR code.

In terms of the distribution of the large inflow of tourists among its regions and cities, France stands somewhere between Italy and Spain. While Spain had the majority of its tourists visiting 5 regions, and Italy sees the majority of tourists visits spread across 9 different regions, France stands at 7.

So, the vast majority (around 80%) of its tourists book their trips in these regions:

While tourist visits are more evenly spread amongst its various regions, France faces overtourism too. The problems are the same — increased service and housing prices.

Unlike the other two, however, France has been taking a more long-term and strategic approach to combating the issue of overtourism.

Back in 2023, the French government announced its long-term plan to decrease this problem by taking the following steps:

1. Better data analytics: The French government realized that they needed better data on the days and locations that tourists visit to be able to map the specific locations and days of the year when overtourism is happening.
2. Influencer marketing: The French government plans to work with travel influencers to market destinations that are usually below the radar and largely ignored by tourists. This way, they would decrease the number of visitors in tourist hotspots (hence, lowering housing costs) and increase them in small towns and regions (hence, contributing to their economies).
3. Marketing during the low season: Instead of advertising French destinations on holidays and the high season, the French government planned for more aggressive marketing during periods when tourist inflow is generally low.

By adopting a systematic and long-term approach, the French government is among the most likely to fully solve the problem of overtourism in the long run.

Europe’s gorgeous architecture, amazing historical monuments, sunny beaches, and rich cuisine are attracting people from all over the world. Despite the huge economic boost that European countries get from the large inflow of tourists, they also face challenges on the local level regarding a reduced quality of life for residents in popular tourist areas.

Luckily, major European countries like Italy and France have acknowledged the issue and have started implementing national and local-level policies to combat this issue and make sure that the lives of local residents are not affected by the inflow of tourists.