Overtourism: From Barcelona To Lake Como, Locals Start Campaigning

24.04.2024 - 20:49 / forbes.com / Lake Como / Antoni Gaudí

It's the summer of the Paris Olympic Games and Taylor Swift's Eras Tour across European cities, but for locals, this summer is already heating up to be one of protests—across Lake Como, Barcelona, the Canary Isles, Venice and Amsterdam, residents are already fighting what they perceive as overtourism.

Residents living in La Salut often have to contend with tourists ramming the 116 bus route as it heads towards Antoni Gaudí’s Park Güell—the second most visited attraction in Barcelona, after the Sagrada Familia basilica.

The Guardian reports that locals living on the 116 bus route successfully petitioned the local council to ask Google and Apple maps to take the bus route offline. One local joked that the next thing would be to ask them to remove the park altogether.

Bloomberg makes the case, however, that a better solution could have been to raise the bus fares or to run more buses to the park to alleviate overcrowding in the city.

The Italian lake is the third largest in the country and receives 1.4 million tourists a year, many of whom are day trippers, who generally don't bring in as much revenue as long-term guests and locals complain of overcrowding.

The Mayor of Como says he wants to introduce an entrance fee to combat overtourism, reports EuroNews. Mayor Alessandro Rapinese is thinking of introducing a Venise-style daily charge (due to go live in Venice for the first time this week).

The Lake Como area has had a huge influx of non-residents buying homes in the area and then renting them out to tourists—since 2016, the number of holiday homes and private rentals has increased by 673%.

Incidentally, Venice residents recently protested against the entrance fee, because they believe the city needs a new vision that focuses on housing its residents rather than controlling its tourists—the city has more tourist beds than resident beds.

Locals in the Spanish Canary islands are planning mass protests over what they believe to be the unchecked flow of tourists to the islands—in 2023, the archipelago received 14.1 million tourists, the most it has ever had in one year.

One group in Tenerife is planning a hunger strike because of two new hotels and graffiti can be seen saying 'tourists, go home'—lots of residents hit the streets to protest. Like Lake Como, Venice and Barcelona, an increase in rental costs has priced residents out of the local housing market.

Dutch authorities announced that no more hotels will be permitted to open in Amsterdam as the city clamps down on overtourism, reports The Washington Post. New hotels will only be given the go-ahead on a one-out, one-in basis and even then, new hotels can only take an old one's place if it is considered to be an improvement—more sustainable, say, than