While Athens, Majorca, Malaga and Barcelona have been focal points of the unrest, a recent study from Money Transfers found that they are not among the destinations with the highest proportions of tourists to locals.
Brits may want to avoid Europe’s ‘hyper-tourist’ cities where locals are outnumbered by more than 20 to one.
Issues over holiday hotspots overwhelmed by visitors have become more acute over the past year, with protests breaking out in Greece and Spain as locals grow tired of public services and roads becoming clogged, and rents shooting up as Airbnbs and hotels push prices higher and higher.
While Athens, Majorca, Malaga and Barcelona have been focal points of the unrest, a recent study from Money Transfers found that they are not among the destinations with the highest proportions of tourists to locals.
The European spot with the most tourists per-capita is Heraklion in Greece, which has more than 6.5million annual visitors, according to the study. Last year its visitors numbers were up 7% from 2023, the Deputy Regional Governor for Tourism announced
That means Heraklion has about 22 tourists per resident – an influx that can lead to overcrowding, particularly during peak tourist seasons. The attraction of the capital of Crete is clear, Heraklion being rich in history and culture, boasting attractions like the Palace of Knossos and several museums. However, the pressure from tourists can strain local resources and infrastructure.
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Locals in Crete are becoming frustrated at the numbers, with a recent piece of graffiti in nearby Chania reading ‘migrants welcome, tourists can f*** off’. One unhappy citizen wrote on Reddit: “It’s not nuclear science, overtourism is killing locals lives and local societies, the same is happening to every major destination. Accommodations, working conditions etc are killing the lives of locals and especially in a country like Greece, where all the important infrastructure, hotels etc are sold out the benefits of all that overtourism is minimum.”
Joining Heraklion across the Aegean Sea at the top of the European over-tourism charts is Rhodes, where there were 20.3 tourists for every resident, according to Money Transfers study.
Rhode Trip – a travel company made up of islanders who encourage better, less impactful tourism to Rhodes – recently wrote: “Rhodes suffers from overtourism, excessive use of natural resources during the half of the year and environmental abuse. The rapid growth of tourism, since the 1960s, was not followed by the appropriate development and tourism is being treated as an INDUSTRY.”
As Mirror Travel found during a trip to Rhodes following the wildfires which led to evacuations from the island in 2023, the importance of tourism income to many who live on the island is difficult to balance against the strain visitor numbers is causing.
The other European entry into the global top ten is Venice, where locals have long struggled to deal with the popularity of the water-logged city and preserving what makes it so special. Last year, authorities in Venice introduced a daily visitor tax in a bid to raise some revenue from the millions of people who head there each year.
The world’s top ten ‘hyper-tourist’ cities
- Phuket (Thailand) – 118.5 tourists per inhabitant
- Pattaya (Thailand) – 98.7 tourists per inhabitant
- Krabi (Thailand) – 72.2 tourists per inhabitant
- Mugla (Turkey) – 40.2 tourists per inhabitant
- Hurghada (Egypt) – 28.6 tourists per inhabitant
- Macau (China) – 26.9 tourists per inhabitant
- Heraklion (Greece) – 22 tourists per inhabitant
- Venice (Italy) – 21.3 tourists per inhabitant
- Rhodes (Greece) – 20.3 tourists per inhabitant
- Miami (USA) – 18.6 tourists per inhabitant
