Since the end of the pandemic, travel is back to normal and in some cases, there are too many travelers and things are going too far. In recent months, Amsterdam in the Netherlands took steps against what is termed “over-tourism” but also rowdy visitors, getting drunk and upsetting the local residents. Regrettably, similar scenes have also been experienced on the Costa del Sol in southern Spain.

Crackdown on stag and hen parties and over-tourism

As noted by Euro Weekly News, the city of Malaga has taken steps against rowdy tourists. In particular, the city is targeting those wearing inappropriate or sexual clothing out on the streets during rowdy stag and hen parties. In fact, Malaga has introduced a fine of €750 ($820) in such incidents. Meanwhile, across Europe, other popular destinations are introducing measures to combat both over-tourism and anti-social behavior by visitors.

In days gone by, touring Europe was a costly experience. However, more recently the introduction of low-cost airlines, such as Ryanair, and affordable accommodations such as Airbnb have made European vacations more accessible to those with lower incomes. Now, cheap city breaks in Europe are becoming a popular trend.

This has led to popular European destinations taking measures to try to control the number of tourists crowding their streets and beaches. However, it is also related to preventing anti-social behavior by drunken tourists.

‘Tourism Carrying Capacity’ (TCC)

A while back, the UN World Tourism Organization coined the term “Tourism Carrying Capacity” (TCC). The organization defined this as:

The maximum number of people that may visit a tourist destination at the same time, without causing destruction of the physical, economic and social environment.

Since then growing numbers of cities in popular tourism destinations have revealed that they have exceeded their Tourism Carrying Capacity. Moreover, local residents agree, with many revealing their unhappiness via more and more anti-tourism movements, demonstrations and guerilla actions.

One particular incident happened in Barcelona, Spain, in a popular residential district known for its lively festivals. Local residents had finally had enough of the crowds and on the first day of a festival, they marked the streets of the neighborhood with graffiti. However, rather than being destructive, the graffiti voiced the residents’ true concerns about the impact of tourism on their city.

One particular phrase voiced in the graffiti was “Tourists, go home.” Meanwhile, others added the words “We spit in your beer.” Another topical piece of graffiti read, “Tourists go home, refugees welcome.” Those are strong words indeed.

Fighting over-tourism

Authorities are now finding ways to combat over-tourism including Athens in Greece which has placed caps on visitor numbers during certain time periods for the Acropolis. Amsterdam in the Netherlands has increased its tourist tax by 12 percent this year and Venice is introducing a fee for daytrippers in the Italian city.

Other action by local authorities includes banning new hotels and resorts from being built and finding ways to limit the number of private vacation rentals.

In 2022, France was the most popular European destination, attracting 71.66 million tourists, followed closely by Spain. One of Spain’s most popular cities, Barcelona received 12.4 million visitors in 2022. Now, Barcelona is one of the first European cities to ban the development of new hotels, while restricting short-term room rentals. The city also shut down around 8,000 unlicensed tourist apartments.

San Sebastian is another popular Spanish destination that also plans to ban the construction of new hotels and vacation rentals as early as this year. Moreover, Alma de Mallorca was the first city in Spain to outright ban Airbnb in 2018 to try to combat over-tourism.

Meanwhile, the small town of Hallstatt in Austria is home to only 800 residents but has recently been swamped by tourists. The town had featured in a popular South Korean reality show, leading to it receiving more than 10,000 visitors each day in peak season. Here, locals took action by staging anti-tourist protests, including blocking tunnels that give access to the town.

At a time when more people are traveling, especially in Europe, visitors are likely to find changes to combat over-tourism. Whether there is a true way to stop the crowds is currently unknown.