The other side of mass tourism: countries tired of travellers

Spain

The share of the tourism sector in Spain’s GDP, according to the National Statistics Institute for 2023, was about 12%. In addition, about 11.6% of the working population is employed in this sector, meaning tourism provides 2.5 million jobs. At the same time, since 2020, the share of tourism in GDP has only grown, and the number of foreign travellers broke the record in 2024 — about 94 million people.

However, despite such a serious dependence of the country on vacationers, many local residents advocate limiting the tourist flow. In May 2025, thousands of Spanish residents took to the streets of the Canary Islands, Barcelona, ​​Valencia and Madrid to protest against overtourism. They were outraged that because of the tourists coming to vacation, local residents are unable to rent housing, the cost of which is becoming unaffordable, the burden on infrastructure and nature is increasing. In addition, the behavior of foreigners was condemned — excessive consumption of alcohol and drugs often provokes conflicts.

On June 15, 2025, more protests against mass tourism took place in Barcelona, ​​Granada, San Sebastian, Palma de Mallorca and Ibiza. The action was part of coordinated protests that simultaneously took place in a number of cities in Southern Europe, including Venice, Lisbon, Palermo and other major tourist centers.

The latest demonstrations are nothing new for this country: in the summer of 2024, similar demonstrations took place in many tourist cities in Spain. In particular, then locals used toy water pistols, from which they sprayed tourists, sometimes surrounded hotels and even set fire to and smashed rented cars — about 20 of them, according to local police.

In May 2025, in response to the protests, the Spanish authorities demanded that the short-term rental platform Airbnb remove about 66 thousand listings due to violations of rental rules.

In Barcelona, ​​the mayor of the city also announced an increase in the tourist tax for those who stay in the city for less than 12 hours — a measure aimed at travellers from cruise ships calling at the city.

Italy

Another European country that is heavily dependent on tourism is Italy. The share of tourism in the national GDP reaches about 10%, but, according to analysts, by 2034 this share will exceed 12%.

As in Spain, many locals are against the mass flow of foreign travellers to some regions. In February 2025, graffiti with the inscription “too much” appeared under the ski lift at the Alpe di Siusi ski resort in the Dolomites. Locals thus express dissatisfaction with the growing flow of vacationers in the winter and demand to limit their influx.

The last major protest took place on June 15, 2025 in Venice, Naples, Genoa, Palermo and Milan. In Venice, participants opposed the construction of two new hotels designed for 1.5 thousand people. The scale of the protests is said to be one of the reasons why the wedding of Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos with Lauren Sanchez was postponed to a later date.

Previously, protests took place, for example, in Milan in August 2024. Then a group of protesters pasted stickers around the city and damaged key safes, which are usually installed at the entrance to apartments rented out for short periods.

Traditionally, the main city whose residents have been in favor of tourism restrictions has been Venice. The city, where about 50 thousand people live, is visited by about 20 million tourists annually, and most of them simply spend a few hours in the city, without even staying overnight.

In order to reduce the burden on the city, in 2024, the local authorities introduced an additional fee of €5 for visiting the historic center. Tourists must pay this tax only on certain days, mainly on weekends, when there is the largest flow of travellers: a total of 29 days between April 25 and July 14.

However, the innovation caused protests not from tourists, but from the city residents themselves. According to the protesters, this measure contradicts the Italian Constitution, which guarantees everyone the right to free movement, and in general, this decision will not solve the problem of excessive tourist flows.

Netherlands

The Netherlands is far behind Spain and Italy in terms of the number of tourists, but nevertheless, the country is among the top 10 most popular travel destinations in Europe. In 2023, the number of visits from foreign tourists reached 20.3 million, which was a record over the past ten years of observations. The main city receiving the most visitors is the capital of the country, Amsterdam.

In 2024, the number of overnight stays by tourists in Amsterdam (one of the metrics for analyzing the popularity of tourist destinations) reached 22.9 million nights, exceeding the city’s limit of 20 million. This is 3% more than the previous year, and even more tourists are expected to come to the city.

The city authorities are taking measures to curb the flow of tourists. For example, officials have increased the tourist tax from 7 to 12.5% ​​of the cost of housing rent — the highest percentage among all European countries. In addition, there are plans to reduce the number of sea liners calling at the port from 190 to 100 per year. In the coming years, the number of hotel beds will increase by 6%, but the construction of new hotels is prohibited.

Deputy Mayor Sofyan Mbarki said he would present a new package of measures to reduce the tourist load by December 1, 2025. In total, according to city officials, more than 75 measures have been taken in recent years to combat the negative consequences of excessive tourism: from introducing rules regulating the capacity of boarding houses and holiday homes to postponing and reducing sea and river cruises and banning buses in the city center.