BRUSSELS, Sept 25 — At a time when more and more measures are being taken to limit the number of tourists visiting Europe's most popular destinations, a study has focused on the attitudes of local residents towards overtourism.
And it's in Spain that the pressure of tourism is felt the strongest. From the Canary Islands to Barcelona, demonstrations denouncing the effects of overtourism have been multiplying since the springtime.
Remember how the summer began in Barcelona?
Thousands of people demonstrated in the streets of the Catalan capital, holding up signs with anti-tourism slogans.
Residents shared their anger as city hall took a new decision to limit the presence of tourists, namely by putting an end to short-term rental permits by 2029.
In Barcelona, rents have soared by 68 per cent in the space of a decade.
Indeed, Spain regularly features prominently in all manner of travel rankings that give people ideas for their vacation plans, as with a recent list compiled by Travel+Leisure magazine.
And this kind of attention is not without its effect on the impression of overcrowding felt by locals.
According to a YouGov Surveys* study, 32 per cent of people in Spain consider that their country welcomes too many international visitors.
And in a region like that surrounding Barcelona, popular with vacationers, the pressure is felt even more greatly, since 48 per cent of Catalans agree that there are too many visitors.
While Spain is not the only popular destination in Europe, opposition to tourism is less pronounced in France and Italy.
In the world's leading tourist destination, 44 per cent of French people feel that the density of the tourist population is just about right.
The same is true of 39 per cent of Italians.
Generally speaking, 28 per cent of Spaniards say they have a negative opinion of foreign visitors, while this proportion falls to 16 per cent among the French, 14 per cent among Germans, 13 per cent among the British and 11 per cent among Italians.
Logically, short-term rentals, singled out as one of the factors attracting (too) many tourists, are not viewed favorably by people in Spain.
In fact, 37 per cent consider that short-term rentals cause more harm than good in the country. By comparison, 51 per cent of Italians believe there are more benefits than harm, rising to 61 per cent among people in Sweden.
A number of measures are being taken by local authorities to try and limit the effects of overtourism.
Some of these initiatives are more actively supported by local residents than others, the survey found.
The measure on which there is the greatest consensus is requiring advance booking for visitors to gain admission to popular sites.
Support for this kind of measure is between 57 per cent and 76 per cent, depending on the country.
Numerous tourist sites have opted for this kind of solution, including some of Marseille's calanques and Rome's Pantheon.
Recently, the Italian authorities even announced that they were considering charging for access to the Trevi Fountain.
Generally speaking, charging for access to a city — like in Venice, which charges admission for day trippers — is more divisive, while the idea of banning day-trippers outright meets stronger opposition.
*YouGov Surveys carried out research from August 6 to 20, 2024 among 9,621 people in 7 countries (France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Great Britain, Sweden, Denmark) with samples representative of the national adult population. — ETX Studio
