Tourism in Europe: Is it over?

Europe is a continent that is often a popular holiday destination for many travelers. The countries in this continent often welcome tourists with open arms and warm hospitality. Tourists view these countries as a paradise with crystal blue waters, the golden Mediterranean sun and cities with preserved ancient monuments. Let's not forget about the delicious food, friendly people and beautiful landscapes that you can watch incredible sunsets at. All sounds perfect right?

It's no wonder why many people flock to certain countries such as Greece, Spain and Italy, as an annual visit, because they just can't get enough of what these countries have to offer.

But due to the high rise of tourism, the locals are fighting back. Why? Well, many companies, especially real estate see it as an opportunity to raise the prices of living costs as well as property values. In Barcelona recently, they held a protest and sprayed water at tourists who were dining at restaurants and told them to 'go home'.

There is also a similar narrative in Greece, where people are fed up with over-tourism due to the rise of living costs, and the fact that many hospitality workers are paid on low wages. On top of that, Greece has recently introduced a 6 day working week, which will also put a strain of pressure on their locals.

Ever since we recovered from the pandemic, there has been a surplus in the tourism industry, including the rise of airfare prices, accommodation and general spending costs. This has also caused mass tourism, eventually taking over the population of locals, and creating a greedy opportunity for private businesses.

The mass tourism is creating traffic around ancient landmarks such as the Parthenon in Athens, and in order to combat this, a private tour costing 5,000 euros has been created by the Ministry of Culture. There was of course a negative reaction to this, and many locals have also been protesting on the Greek islands such as Santorini, where private businesses are charging people to rent out sunbeds for 100 euros.

It has left a bitter taste in the mouth of locals, and they are starting to shift the blame on the tourists, which has resulted in becoming aggressive towards them. It is causing homelessness in countries such as Spain, due to the high costs of rent, and the fact that most properties are turning into holiday homes, rather than long term accommodation for locals. Instead, people are competing for a new home when they see a golden opportunity, since there is a lack of housing in major cities.

The government in these countries see tourism as a great value, but are sacrificing the lives of their people for it. Tourism will never die as an industry, but there needs to be more sustainable rules in order to create a fair balance. If we also flip the coin, tourists will not travel to places where they will feel unwelcome, which locals may seem happy about at the time, but will also realize that they will lose income during the most important tourist seasons. It won't just effect large companies, but small businesses too.

We cannot limit people from travelling to different countries, but we can implement rules for tourists in order to try and sustain the mass tourism. For example in Asia, Japan has banned tourists from visiting certain preserved and historical areas due to over-tourism. They are also starting to set different prices for tourists, so that the locals don't suffer from the increase of living costs, due to mass tourism.

Another sustainable way of travelling is to try to travel off-season, which may actually be cheaper for tourists, and less crowded for locals too.