Summertime is peak season for tourism—and rage against tourists. Locals in Barcelona are squirting visitors with water guns—others want Google to literally take their town off the map. We look at the issue of ‘overtourism’—and why it’s become a focus of public anger around the world.
Who is hating on tourists?
Folks in Barcelona, for instance. They just made news for squirting tourists with water guns—targeting diners at sidewalk restaurants. It’s part of a noisy rally protesting mass tourism—which saw protesters tape up hotel exits to prevent guests from leaving.
Beyond Barcelona: This is not the first such anti-tourist protest in Barcelona. Nor is the incident a stray example of cranky Catalans. Anger against tourists has been building around the world:
- There have been similar rallies all across Spain—from Majorca to Malaga.
- Around 200,000 demonstrators took part in large-scale protests across Tenerife in the Canary Islands.
- The small town of Fuji Kawaguchiko in Japan installed a 65-foot screen in April to obstruct views of Mount Fuji—to keep outsiders away.
- The Dutch have banned the construction of new hotels in Amsterdam—“to make and keep the city livable for residents and visitors.”
- Authorities are so desperate to keep English lads at bay, Google searches for 'cheap hotel Amsterdam' trigger pop ups threatening huge fines for misbehaviour.
A very internet problem: The moment a show becomes a hit, residents of its scenic location immediately panic. Like the people of Atrani on the Amalfi coast—who are worried about the Netflix series ‘Ripley’. They probably don’t want to end up like Dubrovnik—which is still dealing with the fallout from ‘Game of Thrones’. Also: Social media has helped bring disproportionate attention to certain locations. Conscious travel experts blame influencers for destroying some of the most pristine spots in India.
This is because of overcrowding?
It is one reason. The phenomenon is called ‘overtourism’—which was first used by columnist Freya Petersen to describe the plight of Pompeii in 2001. At its simplest, it refers to the fact that some destinations receive far more tourists than they can accommodate. For example, residents of Hallstatt, Austria took to the streets—because their little town of 800 residents was swamped with 10,000 visitors every day. But it’s about a lot more than overcrowding.
Whose city? Tourism has hijacked entire cities—which are reshaped to serve the needs of outsiders—not their own citizens. Venice, for example, has more tourist beds than resident beds—because it is more lucrative to rent to tourists than a local. Barcelona’s housing costs have soared by 68% in the past decade—and rent has jumped 18% in just the past 12 months. Even local shops are squeezed out to make room for stores that serve outsiders. When visitors and rental properties start to outnumber locals, entire communities are lost.
Data point to note: The number of holiday homes and private rentals has increased by 673% in Lake Como since 2016.
Who profits? According to conventional wisdom, tourism creates wealth for local communities. But the reality is that some benefit more than others. In Barcelona, hotels and restaurants are booming—while locals “are in a very poor situation and they don’t have enough money to live.” In fact, the rise of luxury travel in Europe is making public spaces inaccessible to not-so-rich locals:
Wild beaches that had been open to families for generations were becoming inaccessible because concessions for those beaches were being bought by big out-of-town developers. In Lisbon, for example, I was told there was mounting anger about development of the Cascais coastline. In Milan, there was outrage about the upward luxurification of shores around Santa Margherita Ligure and the bay of Paraggi, where it could cost as much as €500 ($542) to rent a spot on a beach for a day.
Where are the resources? Climate change is putting new pressures on communities in Europe—especially with wildfires, droughts and floods. Tourists consume precious resources in times of scarcity:
In one of the first signs of water conflict between residents and tourists of 2024, the north east of Spain is planning on restricting water to tourists if the current drought continues. Catalonia would limit tourists staying in hotels to 100 litres (26 gallons) per day, although this does not include the water used to top up swimming pools
Reminder: Barcelona received 12 million visitors in 2023. Its population: 1.6 million.
And how about India?
Hill stations offer a classic example of overtourism in India. The catastrophic floods in Uttarakhand were triggered by rampant construction—to cater to Char Dham pilgrims. Then there’s Ladakh.
The tourist swarm in Leh: Tourist traffic to the region has jumped from 50,000 in 2007 to 320,000 in 2018—and over 500,000 in 2022. Unregulated tourism creates severe pressure on limited resources in a cold and mostly arid land—of which water is the scarcest:
A report on water-related issues… calculated that in Leh, a tourist used about 100 litres of water a day in summers and 60 litres in winters whereas a local used about 75 litres a day in summers and 50 litres in winters. The poor, especially migrant workers, had access to only 25-35 litres per person per day.
But unlike Catalonia, there is no policy to preserve water supply for the locals. Instead, the government has unilaterally decided to upgrade the airport in Leh—so it can handle 2 million passengers each year—a colossal increase from its current capacity of 900,000. The total population of Leh: around 30,000.
Point to note: Leh’s great popularity among Indian tourists was sparked by ‘3 Idiots’. Before Netflix, there was Aamir Khan.
Deja vu in Spiti: The same pattern is repeating itself in newly ‘hot’ destinations like Spiti—swamped by a boom in adventure tourism:
There are around 100 hotels in the town of Kaza alone, with another 20-25 coming up. Water was already scarce, but with more hotels, there’s huge pressure on the resource. During the season, they buy water daily from tankers
Quote to note: As travel writer Shivya Nath points out, the real problem in India is the mindset:
In India, especially with state tourism boards, we urgently need to redefine what a successful tourism destination looks like. Right now, policies are largely based on increasing the number of visitor arrivals, which is unsurprisingly leading to over-tourism, more pressure on natural resources and negative externalities for local communities.
The bottomline: The problem of overtourism is best summed up by this single stat: “80% of travellers visit just 10% of the world's tourism destinations.” By 2030, there will be 1.8 billion travellers—which means even bigger crowds in those spots.
Reading list
Firstpost and Business Standard have lengthy curations on the anger at overtourism in Barcelona. This WEF essay lays out the problem of overtourism at length. Bloomberg News (login required) looks at how luxury travel is creating inequality among tourists, as well. Economic Times is best on overtourism in India.
