Press
The holiday season is just around the corner. In recent years, some travel destinations have been overrun with visitors. Which regions are most affected?
Munich – In summer, a particularly large number of people go on holiday. The Mediterranean region is particularly popular among Europeans. As statistics from the Federal Office show, some destinations in southern Europe are particularly popular with travellers – mass tourism is causing great discontent among many locals.
Overnight stays per inhabitant: ratio most unbalanced in the Southern Aegean
In the ranking of overnight stays per inhabitant, a Greek region tops the list. The Southern Aegean, which includes the islands of Santorini and Mykonos, has a particularly unbalanced ratio between locals and tourists, as the Federal Statistical Office has found based on data from the EUStatistics office Eurostat announced on Tuesday (28 May). In 2022, the region recorded an average of 110 overnight stays per inhabitant.
Most visited EU regions | Overnight stays per inhabitant 2022 |
Southern Aegean (Greece) | 110 |
Ionian Islands (Greece) | 81 |
Croatian Adriatic coast (Croatia) | 66 |
South Tyrol (Italy) | 65 |
Balearic Islands (Spain) | 53 |
Crete (Greece) | 51 |
Tyrol (Austria) | 46 |
“On the Ionian Islands, which include Corfu, there were 81 overnight stays per person,” the statement continued. The Croatian Adriatic coast came in third place with 66 overnight stays. South Tyrol in Italy only came in fourth place among the most visited EU regions. By comparison, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is the German region “with the highest tourism intensity and around 18 overnight stays per inhabitant.”
Canary Islands are the number one tourism hotspot in Europe
In absolute terms, the Canary Islands are the most popular holiday destination in the EU. In 2022, around 89.3 million overnight stays were counted there, which corresponds to an average of around 245,000 people per day. “This was followed by the Croatian Adriatic coast with almost 85.6 million overnight stays and the Île-de-France region (Greater Paris) with around 80.4 million overnight stays in 2022,” the statistics continue. In Germany, Upper Bavaria is the most popular travel destination with 37.8 million overnight stays in 2022.
Mass tourism burdens population
But mass tourism also has its downsides. In many holiday regions, the locals suffer from the effects. Although many residents benefit from tourism, rising housing costs, such as on the Balearic Islands, are a burden on them.
According to police, around 10,000 people protested against mass tourism in Mallorca, reported the Mallorca Daily or Last Hour on Saturday. A village on Menorca even wants to close itself off to tourism. There have also been demonstrations and hunger strikes on the Spanish island of Tenerife. (hk)
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