Summer 2025 may go down in history as the season when Europe turned against tourism. Locals unable to walk through Barcelona’s clogged streets sprayed visitors with water guns. Thousands marched to demand an end to mass tourism on the Spanish island of Mallorca. Residents of Genoa paraded a cardboard ocean liner through the Italian city’s narrow alleyways to protest against its seasonal flooding by cruise goers. In Paris, a protest by Louvre staff against overcrowding in the museum’s galleries saw throngs of frustrated visitors locked out. Jeff Bezos’ main wedding reception was moved out of the heart of Venice after demonstrators carrying “Save Venice from Bezos” placards complained that the Amazon boss’s mega-nuptials to Lauren Sanchez were taking over the city.
As the number of people traveling for leisure returns to pre-pandemic levels, places that always attracted a lot of visitors are experiencing “over-tourism,” a tipping point beyond which daily life becomes unbearable for local people. In 2023, one of Europe’s worst over-tourism hotspots — the Greek island of Zakynthos — drew 150 times more people than it has permanent residents. European countries hosted an estimated 756 million tourists in 2024, 46 million more than in the preceding year.
