Mass tourism: Here locals are outnumbered in Europe

In many popular holiday regions in Europe, tourism has long since become the dominant factor in the economy and everyday life – sometimes with drastic consequences for locals. Especially in sun-drenched coastal regions and on islands, the high number of travelers is leading to rising prices and growing dissatisfaction on the ground. New statistics now reveal where the ratio between vacationers and locals in the EU is particularly unbalanced.

117 overnight stays per capita – tourism in Greece's southern Aegean Sea is more intense than in any other EU region. This was recently reported by the Federal Statistical Office , citing data from Eurostat, the statistics office of the European Union. The popular holiday region, with islands such as Santorini , Mykonos , and Rhodes, is a prime example of a trend that is evident in many parts of Europe: locals are increasingly outnumbered by mass tourism.

For several years now, more and more regions in Europe have been complaining about a serious problem of mass tourism. Locals no longer feel represented by politicians, can no longer afford to live in their homeland due to high rents and food prices, and fear losing their traditions and cultural identity. Recently, residents on numerous Balearic Islands once again took to the streets to demonstrate against mass tourism and its effects.

The extent to which tourism has grown in some European regions is now revealed by the Federal Statistical Office's analysis of 237 EU regions, which analyzed overnight stays and the tourism sector's impact on gross value added. Figures from 2023 were compared for the analysis.

According to the Federal Statistical Office, the indicator "guest overnight stays per inhabitant" shows the extent to which tourism influences everyday life in a region. In the southern Aegean , for example, there were an average of 117 overnight stays per resident in 2023. This puts the region in undisputed first place in the ranking in Greece . Close behind are the Ionian Islands, which include Corfu and Zakynthos, where the figure was 98 guest overnight stays per inhabitant.

Third place goes to South Tyrol in Italy with 68 overnight stays, closely followed by the Croatian Adriatic coast with 67. The Balearic Islands , including Mallorca and Ibiza, also recorded a high intensity with 57 overnight stays, ranking fifth.

Santorini is one of the places that gets overrun in summer.

Source: imago images / Action Pictures

Crete (55) and Tyrol in Austria (50) rank 6th and 7th, respectively. The most visited German region in the analysis is Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania . A total of 18 guest overnight stays per inhabitant were recorded there in 2023. This places the state in 17th place in the overall European ranking.

In terms of the total number of overnight stays by travelers, the Canary Islands lead the EU ranking: 95.6 million overnight stays were recorded in 2023 – equivalent to around 262,000 tourists visiting the islands every day. Other regions of Spain and Croatia also performed well: for example, the Croatian Adriatic coast came in second with 87.3 million overnight stays, and Catalonia came in third (85.6 million). The Paris metropolitan area (85.2 million) came in fourth, followed by Andalusia (73.9 million). Upper Bavaria, the most visited region in Germany, recorded 41.6 million overnight stays in 2023, ranking 14th in the EU.

The Canary Islands record the highest number of overnight stays in Europe. Tenerife is one of the most visited islands.

Source: IMAGO/Joko

The data from the Federal Statistical Office's analysis is based on hotel and holiday accommodations, as well as campsites. Private accommodations and specialized clinics such as rehabilitation clinics are not included. The survey refers to medium-sized EU regions with between 800,000 and three million inhabitants.

The importance of tourism to the economy varies considerably within the EU. In Greece, the hospitality sector accounted for around 7.1 percent of gross value added in 2023 – the highest figure in the EU. Spain followed with 6.7 percent and Croatia with 6.4 percent. Portugal , Italy, Austria , and the Netherlands followed.

Germany is at the bottom of the rankings. Here, the tourism industry accounted for only 1.5 percent of gross value added in 2023. This is the lowest figure in the EU. However, not all regions in Europe are affected so severely by tourism and its impacts.

At the other end of the scale are regions in Poland and Romania, such as Mazovia, Opole, Southern Romania-Mutenia, and Northeastern Romania. Here, tourism intensity was just one overnight stay per inhabitant per year. Those looking to travel off the beaten track are therefore in good hands in many areas of Eastern Europe.

What do travelers need to know right now? You can find all the important vacation news at reisereporter , and the best travel offers on our deals page .