Are you one of those travellers whose smartphone photo gallery has as many pictures of cats as it does of monuments or beach shots?
Cats have become a genuine tourist draw, including in European destinations, but not necessarily the ones you might think.
While Greece is famous for its large cat population, Belgium is where you’re most likely to come across one on a street corner.
A tomcat with a black coat bright enough to stand out against the iconic white roofs of Santorini, or a group of kittens that have found refuge in a small alley shaded by the bougainvillea that dots the island of Paros, or even that cute little cat posing nimbly on the blue table of a traditional-style tavern ... each has the potential to catch your eye as an amateur photographer.
In Greece, the opportunity to take a portrait of our feline friends seems to present itself around each corner we turn. But in fact, this is not the European country offering the most opportunities to meet cats during your vacation. This is the conclusion of a study that comes at a time when it seems that everyone is taking their vacation photos with felines.
An island in Japan, Tashirojima has been given the nickname “Cat Island” because cats there outnumber people.
Meanwhile in Istanbul, stray cats are also a real tourist attraction. But beyond the legend and renown of cats inhabiting – and adding colour to – various destinations around the world, it is necessary to take into account the number of cats per square kilometre and note the percentage of households that own cats, in order to truly identify the places where there is the greatest opportunity to encounter one of these furry four-legged creatures.
And that is precisely what the online tour operator Go Voyager has done, based on data provided by veterinarians, national statistics offices and Eurostat figures.
And the country with the most cat lovers is Romania where 48% of households have at least one. In Poland too, cats are found in a large proportion of households (41%). However, it is impossible to determine a destination solely through this prism, if only because of the presence of so-called apartment cats. Meaning that you will have no chance of photographing them in the street.
Thus, by considering the number of cats per square kilometre, it is possible to target the right haunts. And so it is in Belgium that you have the best chance of spying a feline where there are 81.89 cats per square km. Surprisingly, despite the famous stray cats of Athens, Greece is at the bottom of the list with 4.61 cats per sq km. Hungary comes in second (25.80 cats per sq km) and Poland is third (22.71 cats per sq km).
Top 10 cat-dense European countries:
Belgium
Hungary
Poland
Malta
Romania
France
Slovenia
Germany
Netherlands
Austria
