Overtourism is a constant theme in the travel world, and it has been growing since the pandemic. Destinations that had received large numbers of tourists enjoyed a well-deserved break from the congestion during lockdowns and travel bans.
Then they suddenly experienced large waves of tourists returning once the world reopened.
Much has been written about overtourism, highlighting how different places are creating laws to target specific problems that overtourism creates, such as strain on fragile local environments or historic sites, higher housing costs associated with too many short-term vacation rentals and overcrowding.
Overtourism also creates new trends for travellers, like detour destinations and destination dupes, which focus on more affordable and less-known places that provide similar experiences to other, more crowded destinations.
Here’s a big-pictures look at the changes, in particular those made at places that have been reported about in the past year or so.
Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Amsterdam is one of the significant destinations creating the most laws restricting or curbing overtourism in recent years.
It gained global headlines last year when it banned new hotel construction in the city and announced a plan to halve the number of cruise ships docking in Amsterdam by 2028.
In July 2024, it announced it would halve the number of mega cruise ships docking in the city by 2026 and eliminate its Veemkade port by 2035.
Amsterdam residents took to the streets in protest this past December, complaining that the number of tourists makes parts of their city unlivable and drives up housing prices.
Nice, France
On Jan 24, 2025, the mayor of the French city of Nice signed an order banning all cruise ships with over 900 passengers from visiting the city, a move that will likely begin this July.
The mayor also wants to convert the city’s ports to allow smaller ships to plug into shore power when docked.
While no large ships were scheduled to stop at Nice this summer, its schedule will welcome 124 smaller and mid-sized ships that meet the new requirement.
Spain
Spain made quite a few headlines last year about overtourism. Residents in destinations like Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca took to the streets by the thousands last summer to protest crowds of tourists and the ensuing housing crisis, mainly due to many short-term vacation rentals.
Spain is the second most-visited country in the world, so Barcelona is bound to have its run-ins with overtourism. Last year, new laws were created to help change that. Barcelona hopes to ban short-term rentals by 2028, while Alicante is banning new short-term rentals for the next two years.
As a deterrent, Spain’s federal government is proposing a 100% tax on non-European Union residents who purchase property in Spain.
Greece
Greece made some changes to combat overtourism last year, too. The nation increased its tourist tax to help generate funds for climate emergencies like wildfires, which was estimated to generate an additional €300mil (RM1.509bil) a year.
The country’s prime minister also noted last year that he plans to limit the number of cruise ships visiting islands like Santorini and Mykonos sometime in 2025. There’s been no word yet on when or if this will happen, but other destinations have changed to limit cruise tourism, so it’s highly possible.
Athens also limited the number of visitors to the Acropolis last year to 20,000 per day.
Travellers heading to Santorini and Mykonos by cruise ship also now pay more with a new US$22 (RM97) tax designed to help preserve the islands.
Italy
Italy is one of the most visited countries in the world, and Venice, a popular city, was one of the first destinations to gain global attention for its overtourism problem.
Cities across Italy are finding ways to combat overtourism: Venice implemented a day trip tax for travellers who don’t stay the night during high-tourist days and later added a size limit for tour groups, so groups can only be 25 people maximum.
Rome also put a limit to the number of people at the highly popular Trevi Fountain – only 400 people are now allowed within the visiting section at any one time.
In December, the nation banned self-check-in options for accommodations, including key boxes outside of short-term rentals like Airbnbs, ahead of the 2025 Jubilee Year, which is expected to bring millions of travellers to Rome and other parts of Italy this year.
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic cracked down on unregistered short-term vacation rentals in major cities like Prague in September 2024. While it shouldn’t impact travellers themselves, it does provide more oversight for those who own short-term rentals in big cities, which would address growing housing crises for residents.
Japan
Japan has become increasingly popular post-pandemic, thanks mainly due to the pandemic’s halt in travel to the destination and a weaker yen that allows people to enjoy less expensive travel to Japan.
With that being said, the country created a few measures over the past two years to help curb overtourism. It launched a bullet train to the less-visited Fukui Prefecture to encourage a greater spread of tourism, implemented barriers against tourists overcrowding certain areas while taking photos of Mount Fuji, and have also discussed increasing tourist taxes or fees for certain iconic attractions for their preservation.
Another popular travel year will likely bring a few more changes to combat the crowds, especially in popular places.
US national parks
In the United States, the National Park Foundation was given a US$100mil (RM442mil) grant from Lilly Endowment Incorporated in August 2024, in part to help the national parks research and create plans to combat overtourism’s negative impacts.
During and after the pandemic, many of the most popular parks in the US implemented a reservation system to limit the number of daily visitors and spread visitation more evenly.
Now, however, with the Trump administration firing an estimated 4,000 national parks employees and speculation about the administration defunding them, the future of the national parks has never been so uncertain. – TravelPulse/Tribune News Service
