Tourist invasion: how your holiday choice might be destroying the cities you love

Every year households in Britain take individual decisions on where to take an overseas holiday (if they can afford it). Taking into account the price, ease of travel and the temperature, they will be likely to stay in a beach resort or a historic city in continental Europe. And when they arrive in, say, Barcelona, Prague, Torremolinos, Amsterdam or Dubrovnik they will find that they happen to be one of tens of thousands of other tourists.

This has led to the syndrome known as overtourism. The World Tourism Organization defines it as "the impact of tourism on a destination … that excessively influences perceived quality of life of citizens … in a negative way". Few tourists want to see themselves as part of a global problem, but the collective weight of their individual decisions delivers just that.

Dubrovnik is one of many cities to host swarms of tourists. With a standing population of just under 42,000, the daily influx of tourists can easily outnumber them. The volume of visitors arriving in one place has led to streets being congested, accommodation being taken up with hotels and wholesale conversions of flats into holiday flats on platforms such as Airbnb and Booking. Then, the prices of drinks and meals are impacted by the increased demand from people with fatter wallets than the residents.

Dubrovnik offers from overtourism. Photo: author

National and urban governments are keen to capture the economic benefits of tourism in the form of spending, taxes and job creation. But these benefits bring offsetting costs: social ones such as price rises and blocking up the city for daily living; and environmental harm via pollution, greenhouses gas emissions and waste production. Academics and policymakers have identified these concepts as the three pillars of urban sustainability: economy, society and environment.

Tensions arise when economic concerns trump the other two. My taxi driver to the airport — who relocated from a village outside the capital Zagreb to work first in kayak tourism and then taxiing — said that in 2024 as many as eight cruise ships would berth at the port each day in July and August, each turning out between 3,000 and 7,500 passengers. Fleets of coaches would line up to take between 24,000 and 60,000 people to the tiny mediaeval Old City.

Each cruise ship can deposit up to 7,500 tourists every day. Photo: author

This year, the driver said, the number had been capped at two ships a day because of the city’s concern over overcrowding and pollution, likely fuelled by anger among residents. One example of this anger was displayed, ironically, as a public art gallery aimed at tourists. The artist, Slaven Tolj, used a map that is ubiquitous around the city showing where Serbian shells fell during the 1991–1992 Homeland War. Instead he replaced, for example, “roof damaged by direct hit” with “facilities intended for catering and tourism services” and “direct hit on the pavement” with “tables and stands on public grounds”. Tourism as a hostile activity is a painful metaphor.

The original map on war damage (top) and the adapted version on tourism development (below). Photos: author

But it is a tricky paradox, as there is little industry in Dubrovnik outside fishing and tourism supports jobs ranging from hotels, restaurants, taxis, events and attractions, to boat tours, kayak adventures and the wider maritime industry. Indeed, many of those jobs only last seven months of the year, at which point the workers go back to elsewhere in Croatia. The Old City might have 800 residents, falling to perhaps just 200 in the autumn and winter, the driver said.

Policymakers can intervene to attempt to stem the tide or find ways to make tourists’ activities less impactful. Dubrovnik may be rewarded for its efforts to date. The city has been named a finalist for the European Green Pioneer of Smart Tourism awards 2026 for acting to reduce negative impacts of overtourism and managing crowds by regulating the number of day trips to the city.

What tourists can do

The question that the millions of tourists from western Europe, North America, and from China, India and the rest of Asia should ask is whether there are steps they themselves can take to reduce their impact. An obvious stratagem is to travel less and holiday more at home. But humans want to explore and to enjoy the benefits of other countries (even if just to be able to lie on a beach and soak up the sun).

It would easy to pick on cruise ships as they are polluting. According to analysis by Statista, although cruise ships make up only 1 per cent of the global fleet, they account for 6 per cent of black carbon emissions. But my own flights into Pula and back from Dubrovnik were both fully sold out taking 180 passengers on one of many planes each day.

But assuming that you do plan to travel to an overtouristed city, there are three easy ways to reduce your impact. First, do some research and discover less frequented attractions rather than joining the herds flocking to the headline venues: you will reduce the pressure, but probably have a more enjoyable time.

Second, your choice of accommodation is important. Seek out options like hotels, bed & breakfasts, or rental properties that focus on eco-friendly practices like using clean energy sources, minimising water usage, cutting down on waste production and supporting nearby communities. You might also want to consider staying at smaller, family-run establishments, that often create less environmental harm compared to big hotel chains while providing more direct economic benefits to the area.

Lastly, be respectful of the places and people you are visiting. Be polite to the people working to make your stay better, avoid littering and behave as you would do at home (or better if you are in a hen or stag do).

A simple message of respect in Dubrovnik. Photo: author

What about London?

And what, if any, are the learning points for London? The UK’s capital city is plainly very different with its 9 million citizens than cities such as Dubrovnik with a resident population in 2025 of fewer than 42,000. Huge numbers of tourists come to London every day but cannot overwhelm the natives in quite the same way. Museums and attractions such as Camden Market, the Tower of London and Oxford Street will be very busy, but Londoners can go elsewhere for the summer.

Big cities need to look to the future. Amsterdam offers a good example where the city authorities have looked at the potential to nudge tourists away from hotspots. It uses its “I AMsterdam City Card” to offer tourists an easy-to-use way to explore transport options to various attractions. Its database keeps track of which museums a visitor is going to, enabling the authorities to tell them the most efficient route.

London’s authorities have introduced several strategies to address the effects of heavy tourist traffic. These measures encompass controlling short-term property rentals, encouraging visits to the city's less popular districts, and increasing public understanding of environmental protection needs.

If London seeks to keep its status as one of “the best cities in the world to visit” as it continues to encourage novel visitor attractions and accommodation facilities — while maintaining the community's special characteristics and conserving its constructed and ecological legacy — it will need to take more measures to regulate this powerful engine.