With travel becoming more accessible, overtourism has emerged as a serious challenge for many places around the world. Popular spots can become overcrowded, straining local resources, disrupting daily life for residents, and harming the environments and cultures that tourism is meant to celebrate and support.
I first realized the impact of overtourism while living in Venice, Italy. The streets would flood with crowds from cruise ships, making it difficult to walk through some parts of the city.
Locals I spoke with expressed frustration at how tourism had reshaped daily life, and many told me they’d memorized the cruise ship schedule just so they could plan errands around peak crowds. It was a clear reminder that the burden of overtourism falls hardest on the people who actually live in these places.
The damaging side effects of overtourism often overshadow its benefits. But that doesn’t mean tourism itself is inherently bad. It means we, as travelers, need to be more intentional about how and where we travel.
Awareness is the first step. Once we understand what overtourism is and why it matters, we can make small but powerful choices to avoid contributing to it.
In this post, I’ll share practical overtourism solutions and tips you can use to reduce your impact and travel more responsibly.
What is Overtourism?
Overtourism happens when the number of visitors in a place exceeds what the place can sustainably handle, causing strain on local communities, culture, and the environment.
While tourism can bring enormous benefits, fueling local economies, creating jobs, encouraging conservation, and supporting the restoration of historic sites, there’s a tipping point. For small communities in particular, tourism can be a lifeline.
For example, a study in Bangladesh found that there are now 944 tourism-related jobs for every 100 visitors to the country, which means there are roughly nine jobs created for every single tourist. That’s a powerful example of how tourism can directly support livelihoods.
But when visitor numbers grow too high, the positives begin to unravel. Overtourism is the umbrella term for the negative side effects of mass tourism: overcrowding, rising costs of living, strain on infrastructure, damage to heritage sites, and disruption to the daily lives of locals.
The Negative Impacts of Mass Tourism
When tourism becomes unsustainable in a place, you start to see negative consequences. These consequences have the potential to impact local life, culture, the land, animals, and more. Before diving into overtourism solutions, it’s important to know what the consequences are:
1. Displaced local residents
In some places, overtourism has resulted in unaffordable rent that pushes local residents out to make space for short-term holiday rentals. This has been especially visible in Barcelona, Spain, where locals report that an an influx of Airbnb apartments has caused housing prices to skyrocket.
Entire residential buildings in popular neighborhoods have been converted into tourist rentals, leaving fewer options for locals and driving up demand, and therefore rent, for the limited housing that remains.
Barcelona isn’t alone in this struggle. Similar trends have been documented in Lisbon, Venice, and New York City, where residents have protested against the rapid growth of short-term rental platforms.
For locals, this often means being priced out of their own neighborhoods, while tourist demand reshapes communities into temporary playgrounds for visitors. The result is a loss of community fabric, as long-term residents are replaced by a constant rotation of tourists.
This kind of displacement shows how the benefits of tourism can quickly tip into harm when not carefully managed.
2. Environmental damage
Tourism can provide essential funding for conservation, but when it grows unchecked, it can also put fragile ecosystems at serious risk. In the Galapagos Islands of Ecuador, for example, revenue from park fees has helped fund protection efforts.
Yet tour operators have raised concerns that the popularity of land-based trips, where visitors stay overnight rather than only arriving on cruises, is leading to overcrowding on beaches, disruption of nesting sites, and greater pressure on local wildlife.
Similar issues have been happening elsewhere, too. In the Philippines, the island of Boracay became so overwhelmed by visitors that its infrastructure couldn’t cope. Untreated sewage was leaking into the ocean, beaches were littered, and coral reefs were severely damaged. In 2018, the government shut the island to tourist for six months to allow it to recover, a drastic but necessary measure to rehabilitate the environment.
Other places, from Maya Bay in Thailand (temporarily closed to allow coral regrowth) to Machu Picchu (which now restricts daily entries), show that without regulation, tourism can quickly erode the natural landscapes that drew visitors in the first place.
3. Endangered species
Mass tourism can perpetuate exploitative wildlife practices by creating constant demand for animal encounters, and this can put already vulnerable species at greater risk.
For example, in India, the impact that tourism has had on the country’s Bengal tiger population has long been debated. While tiger safaris can help fund conservation and raise awareness, they can also disrupt natural behavior when too many jeeps crowd the same areas, stressing the animals and degrading their habitat.
This pattern isn’t unique to India. Across the world, mass tourism has encouraged activities like elephant rides in Thailand, swimming with captive dolphins in the Caribbean, and posing for photos with drugged tigers in parts of Southeast Asia.
These practices often prioritize tourist entertainment over animal welfare, and in some cases directly harm endangered species by keeping them in captivity or interfering with their ability to survive in the wild.
Even well-meaning tourism can have unintended effects. For example, large groups visiting nesting beaches can disturb sea turtles, reducing hatchling survival rates. Without careful management, what starts as a way to appreciate wildlife can end up accelerating the very threats that conservation aims to address.
4. Threats to local life
Mass tourism doesn’t just affect landscapes and wildlife. It can deeply disrupt local ways of life and cultural practices. When neighborhoods become saturated with visitors, the traditions and rhythms that define a community often get reshaped to meet tourist expectations, sometimes at the expense of authenticity and resident comfort.
A clear example is the neighborhood of Gion in Kyoto, Japan. Known as a historic geisha district, it has long been a place of cultural significance. But in recent years, exponential growth in tourism has brought crowds of visitors into Gion’s narrow streets.
Many tourists, drawn by the allure of spotting geishas, began photographing them without permission, sometimes even following them. This intrusion created growing discomfort among residents and geishas themselves. In response, Gion’s local resident group voted in 2018 to ban photography in the community’s private streets and homes, with fines for those who ignore the law.
Kyoto isn’t alone in facing this challenge. In cities like Havana, Cuba, and Chefchaouen, Morocco, locals have voiced concerns that cultural spaces and traditions are being treated as spectacles rather than respected practices. Over time, this kind of pressure can lead to cultural erosion, where traditions are altered, or even abandoned, to cater to tourist demand.
5. Disruption to neighbourhoods and businesses
Usually, tourism benefits local businesses, which in turn can positively impact communities …until it tips into mass tourism. When the scale of visitation becomes overwhelming, the downsides often outweigh the initial benefits.
A prime example is Train Street in Hanoi, Vietnam. Once just an ordinary residential street built around a functioning railway line, it transformed into a global Instagram hotspot when travelers began posting photos of themselves sipping coffee just inches away from passing trains. The narrow street, lined with small cafés, became a tourist magnet. At first, this brought a welcome boost in business for locals, many of whom had converted their homes into makeshift cafés to meet the demand.
But as crowds swelled, the street became increasingly dangerous. Trains had to slow or stop because tourists were lingering on the tracks for photos. In 2019, the Vietnamese government shut the street down to the public, citing safety hazards, and ordered the cafés to close.
While the move was necessary to protect visitors and residents, it also wiped out the income many families had come to rely on, showing how quickly a seemingly positive tourism trend can turn unsustainable.
This is just one example among many. Tourism has the potential to uplift communities, but when it spirals into mass tourism without safeguards, it can erode the very cultures, livelihoods, and spaces that make a place unique in the first place.
What Causes Overtourism?
It might seem very straightforward: overtourism is caused by tourists. Yes, individual tourists are responsible to a degree, but it isn’t actually that simple. Collectively, tourists are influenced to choose places to travel based on many different factors like traditional advertising, social media, travel influencers, flight prices, and more.
Blaming individual tourists for overtourism doesn’t address these root causes, and these root causes can range depending on where you are in the world. For example, many blame the burst of overtourism in Europe on budget airlines like Ryanair and Easyjet.
Another culprit is cruise ships, which drop tourists at ports for less than 24 hours, which means that those tourists cannot meaningfully contribute their dollars to the local economy, instead, creating inconveniences to residents.
The point is to recognize the forces that help shape our tourism choices. While yes, individual tourists can avoid contributing to overtourism by choosing to visit places that haven’t been hit as hard by tourism, it is also important to think about how we can restructure the tourism industry to better control influxes of tourists.
The Industry Solutions for Overtourism
We can absolutely work toward solutions for overtourism, but it requires collective effort. Tourists, local governments, tourism boards, businesses, and even the media all play a role in shaping how places are experienced and sustained. No single group can solve overtourism on its own, it’s a shared responsibility.
For places around the world, that can mean setting limits on the number of visitors, investing in infrastructure that can support tourism, or promoting lesser-known regions to spread travelers out more evenly.
For the media and travel industry, it means moving away from only promoting “bucket list” places and encouraging travelers to explore responsibly and off the beaten path.
I’ll dig into what we, as individual tourists, can do shortly, but for now, let’s take a closer look at some of the solutions that the travel industry and places themselves can put in place.
1. Limit transportation options.
One of the fastest ways to overwhelm a place is through unrestricted flights, cruise ships, or tour buses.
By limiting transportation options, places can manage how many visitors arrive at once and reduce the sudden influx of people in a concentrated area. This might mean restricting the number of cruise ships that can dock in a port each day (something Venice has started doing), or capping the number of daily flights into small airports that serve fragile ecosystems.
By regulating entries, places have more control over crowd flow, allowing local infrastructure and communities to function more smoothly.
2. Introduce a tourist tax.
Tourist taxes are becoming increasingly common in places struggling with overtourism. Countries like Bhutan and Spain have implemented them, with fees often added to hotel bills or paid as exit taxes at airports.
These taxes aren’t just a deterrent to casual or “cheap” mass tourism. They also generate funding that can be reinvested into maintaining public spaces, protecting natural resources, and supporting local infrastructure.
In Bhutan, for example, the Sustainable Development Fee is intentionally set high to limit the number of visitors and ensure that tourism directly benefits local communities.
3. Improve marketing and education.
How places are marketed has a huge influence on where travelers go. For decades, many tourism boards and media outlets have funneled attention toward the same handful of “must-see” places, which has helped fuel overcrowding.
By diversifying marketing campaigns and encouraging second-city tourism (visiting lesser-known regions or towns), visitor numbers can spread out more, and relieve pressure on popular sites.
Education also plays a key role: campaigns can remind tourists about respectful behavior, cultural norms, and sustainability practices. That said, this needs to be done carefully. Promoting a “hidden gem” aggressively risks creating a new hotspot that isn’t ready for mass tourism.
4. Restrict time spent at popular sites.
Some of the world’s most iconic landmarks already use this approach. Machu Picchu, for example, issues timed entry tickets to stagger visitors throughout the day, while the Taj Mahal limits both the number of daily entries and how long each visitor can stay inside the monument.
These systems reduce crowding, protect fragile heritage sites from wear and tear, and give visitors a calmer, more meaningful experience. While this might frustrate tourists who want more flexibility, timed entries and caps ultimately protect the very sites people have traveled to see.
5. Invest in sustainable infrastructure
Overtourism puts pressure on housing, waste management, and transportation systems. To cope with high visitor numbers, places can invest in infrastructure that makes tourism more sustainable for both visitors and residents.
This might mean building efficient public transit so locals and tourists aren’t competing for space on the roads, expanding waste and recycling systems to handle seasonal surges, or regulating short-term rentals so housing remains affordable for residents. Thoughtful infrastructure investment ensures that communities aren’t left carrying the burden of tourism while visitors enjoy the benefits.
These are just some of the industry solutions that can help to curb the impact of mass tourism in places that are overwhelmed. Because these strategies limit the choices that tourists can make, it has a bottom-up effect, which can make a difference quickly.
What Can Travelers Do About Overtourism?
While big-picture solutions for overtourism often fall to governments and the travel industry, individual travelers also have an important role to play. The choices we make, like where we go, when we visit, how we spend, and even how we share our trips, can either add to the problem or help ease it.
Here are some practical steps that all of us can take to reduce our impact and contribute to more balanced, sustainable tourism.
1. Avoid “bucket list” places.
It’s tough to skip world-famous places, but the reality is that these places often draw the biggest crowds and feel the brunt of overtourism. Cities like Venice, Barcelona, and Dubrovnik are perfect examples. Locals are often outnumbered by tourists during peak season, and daily life becomes harder as housing, transportation, and even grocery stores are reshaped for visitors rather than residents.
Instead of adding to that strain, consider visiting lesser-known places, smaller towns, or regions that don’t get as much global attention. These places often have just as much history, beauty, and culture to offer, without the overwhelming crowds.
For example, rather than spending all your time in Amsterdam, you might split your trip and head to Utrecht or Haarlem, both of which have lots of history, beautiful architecture, and great activities… but far fewer tourists.
By choosing these kinds of alternatives, you’ll likely have a more relaxed and positive experience. You’ll also help spread out the economic benefits of tourism, supporting communities that don’t usually see the same influx of visitors and whose local businesses can really benefit from your presence.
Utrecht, The Netherlands
2. Make second city tourism a habit.
I know there are some famous places that are hard to skip. Sometimes we’ve dreamed about seeing a place for years, and it feels impossible to pass it by. But one way to balance that desire with responsible travel is through second city tourism.
Second city tourism means pairing a well-known, high-traffic place with a lesser-visited one nearby. For example, if you visit Amsterdam, you could also spend time in cities like Utrecht, Haarlem, or Rotterdam. These places are very much worth visiting, but they don’t draw the same overwhelming crowds that Amsterdam does.
This approach helps in a few ways. First, it eases the burden on overcrowded places by spreading visitors more evenly across a country or region.
Second, it supports local economies in places that don’t usually benefit from mass tourism. And third, it often creates a more relaxed experience for travelers, since smaller cities and towns usually aren’t as tourist-driven and retain more of their local character.
If you can’t bear to skip the big-name landmarks, incorporating second city tourism into your travel habit is a great compromise. You’ll still get to see the icons you’ve dreamed of, but you’ll also broaden your perspective of the region by experiencing places that are less represented in guidebooks and social media.
3. Highlight lesser known places.
If you’re a blogger or influencer (and even if you’re not!) you can play a role in shifting attention away from overcrowded places. Sharing your experiences in lesser-known places on social media, in a blog, or simply by word of mouth can help inspire others to look beyond the same few “bucket list” spots.
I’ve noticed this on my own platforms. After my trip to the Yukon, I posted about Dawson City, a small community that many travelers in western Canada skip. I had so many people comment or message me saying they’d never heard of Dawson before, but now wanted to travel there.
This kind of ripple effect matters: when we highlight places that aren’t saturated with tourists, we help distribute tourism more evenly and encourage more meaningful travel experiences.
By choosing to showcase the charm of these lesser-known places, you can help curb overtourism, and give visibility (and potentially income) to communities that don’t always see the benefits of mass tourism.
4. Travel as slowly as possible.
Slow travel is all about prioritizing quality over quantity. Instead of racing through as many places as you can squeeze into your itinerary, slow travel encourages you to spend extra time in each stop. By doing so, you give yourself the chance to properly engage with the community, explore beyond the main tourist highlights, and notice the everyday details that make a place unique.
Spending longer in one place also means you’ll naturally contribute more to the local economy. More nights in locally owned accommodations, more meals at independent restaurants, and more time to discover small businesses all add up to a greater positive impact. Plus, traveling slower often reduces your environmental footprint since you’ll take fewer flights, trains, or bus rides between places.
I’ve seen the benefits of slow travel in my own trips. When I spent a week in Lagos, Portugal, instead of hopping between multiple cities, I got to know the rhythms of the town, like the morning markets, and the quieter beaches. That wouldn’t have happened if I’d only passed through for a day or two.
Slow travel doesn’t have to mean months abroad. It can be as simple as choosing one city for your entire trip instead of trying to fit in three, or spending a few extra days in a small town that most people treat as a quick stopover. In the end, slowing down makes travel more meaningful for you, and less overwhelming for the places you visit.
5. Travel in smaller groups.
Traveling in smaller groups helps to lessen the size of crowds at landmarks and famous sites, making your presence less overwhelming for both locals and other visitors.
Traveling in small groups also creates opportunities for a more genuine connection with the place you’re visiting. Instead of being swept along in the pace of a large tour, you have more flexibility to slow down, ask questions, and follow your curiosity.
In smaller groups, you’re less insulated in a “tourist bubble.” You’re more approachable to locals, and more likely to notice what’s happening around you, whether that’s stopping to chat with a shopkeeper, stumbling into a community event, or simply observing the everyday rhythms of local life.
These are often the experiences that stick with us long after a trip ends, and they’re much harder to find when traveling as part of a big crowd. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t join group trips, by the way. But it certainly helps to book onto small group tours.
6. Make sure people in your photos have given consent.
It might feel natural to want to capture photos of locals, their daily routines, or cultural traditions when you travel, but it’s important to pause and consider how it feels on the other side of the camera.
Having strangers photograph you without permission can feel intrusive, and when it happens repeatedly in tourist-heavy areas, it can contribute to the commodification of people and their culture. This is why responsible travel content practices are so important.
If you’d like to take someone’s photo, the simplest and most respectful thing to do is ask first. A smile and a gesture toward your camera, or simply asking explicitly, will usually result in a clear “yes” or “no.”
If you plan to share that photo widely, on social media, a blog, or any other public platform, it’s even more important to get explicit consent. Let the person know that you intend to share the image or video, and check that they are okay with that. What I like to do, is offer to send them the image or video, so they can have it, too!
Consent shows respect, and it can also lead to more meaningful interactions. In my own travels, I’ve found that when I ask before taking a photo, it sometimes sparks a conversation, whether it’s learning about someone’s craft at a market or being invited to hear more about a local tradition.
7. Support local as you travel.
Do your best to always support local businesses so that the people who actually live in a place benefit from your visit. This can be as simple as choosing a family-run café over Starbucks, staying in a guesthouse instead of an international hotel chain, or booking a tour with a local guide rather than a global operator.
Where you spend your money matters. Every meal, souvenir, or experience purchased from a local business helps keep money circulating within the community, supports jobs, and sustains cultural traditions. By contrast, money spent at international chains often “leaks” out of the local economy and provides little long-term benefit to residents – this is called economic leakage.
8. Travel in the off peak, or low season.
Traveling off-peak, or in the low season, means visiting a place at the time of year when it sees fewer tourists. In Europe, for example, the busiest months tend to be May through October when the weather is warm and predictable. Choosing to visit outside of those months not only changes your own experience, but also makes a big difference for local communities.
When you travel in the low season, you help reduce the strain that high visitor numbers place on infrastructure, housing, and daily life for residents. It also means you’ll encounter fewer crowds at popular landmarks, making for a more relaxed experience.
Beyond that, your visit provides much-needed income for businesses during their quieter months. Restaurants, hotels, and tour operators often rely on this off-season revenue to stay afloat year-round.
Of course, traveling in the off-season can look a little different. You might deal with cooler weather, shorter daylight hours, or fewer events. But it often comes with benefits too, like lower prices, more availability, and a chance to experience a place at a slower, more local pace.
By choosing off-peak travel, you not only avoid the stress of packed tourist spots, but also contribute to a healthier balance for communities that rely on tourism.
I love visiting The Netherlands in the early spring, before the tourist rush.
Let’s Travel More Responsibly
Much of the change needed to reduce overtourism rests in the hands of governments, corporations, and local authorities. They have the power to control tourist numbers through strategies like limiting transportation, creating tourist taxes, investing in infrastructure, and shifting their marketing approaches.
But that doesn’t mean our role as individual travelers is insignificant.
Every choice we make, whether it’s visiting lesser-known places, traveling in the off-season, supporting local businesses, or simply slowing down, shapes the impact of tourism. While we can’t solve overtourism on our own, we can decide to travel in ways that ease pressure on communities rather than add to it.
If we approach travel with intention, awareness, and respect, we help ensure that tourism remains something that benefits both travelers and the people and places we visit. Responsible travel isn’t about giving up what we love. It’s about making sure those places we love are preserved, respected, and able to thrive for generations to come.
If you enjoyed this blog, you’ll love my newsletter, as well as my Facebook group. You’re welcome to join these communities – would love to see you there!
Want to travel in a way that’s better for people and the planet? Here are some guides to get you started:
- Learn the main tips for being a responsible tourist.
- Use sustainable tourism tips to travel eco-consciously.
- Travel to places that aren’t facing overtourism to reduce your impact.
- Practice second city tourism when you do want to visit more popular places.
- Be aware of cultural appropriation and avoid it.
- Support Indigenous communities when you travel.
Overtourism FAQ
What is mass tourism?
Mass tourism (sometimes called overtourism) is when a place or tourist attraction receives more visitors than it can sustainably handle. This often leads to negative impacts such as overcrowding, strain on local infrastructure, environmental damage, rising costs of living, and disruptions to the daily lives of residents. In short, overtourism is an umbrella term for the many side effects caused when tourism numbers exceed what a place can comfortably support.
What can I do about overtourism?
Travelers can play an active role in reducing overtourism by making more mindful choices. Consider visiting popular places during the off-season or shoulder season to avoid peak crowds. Travel in smaller groups so your impact is lighter, and embrace slow travel by spending more time in each place instead of rushing through multiple stops. Most importantly, support the local economy by staying in locally owned accommodations, eating at family-run restaurants, and booking tours with local guides. These small shifts help ease the pressure of mass tourism while ensuring your trip benefits the community.
What causes overtourism?
Overtourism is caused by a combination of factors that push too many visitors into the same places at the same time. Common causes include inadequate tourism infrastructure, a lack of regulations to manage visitor numbers, aggressive destination marketing that promotes the same few “bucket list” spots, and seasonality, where most travelers visit during peak months. The growth of low-cost flights, cruise tourism, and short-term rental platforms has also made it easier for large numbers of tourists to flood popular areas, often overwhelming local communities and resources.
Why is overtourism bad?
Overtourism is harmful because it puts unsustainable pressure on places and the people who live there. It can displace local residents as housing turns into short-term rentals, drive up the cost of living, and disrupt daily life in neighborhoods. Overtourism also damages natural environments, endangers wildlife, and places strain on cultural heritage sites that aren’t designed to handle large crowds. In the long run, it threatens the very communities, ecosystems, and traditions that make a place worth visiting.
